The entrepreneurial quality comes through in the tenacity and resilience needed to hire the most brilliant scientists, raise hundreds of millions of dollars and build elaborate research facilities, knowing that, more often than not, your core technologies won’t work. “And that’s the essence of being an entrepreneur,” said Crowley.
One can only imagine how many whiteboards and other collaborative tools grace the meeting spaces of Amicus Therapeutics. But the key to Crowley’s success isn’t the number of such tools at his disposal but rather the distinctive approach he takes to filling them up with ideas. Here are a few examples of his methods at work:: Crowley describes himself as a “mediocre” athlete who used to think of his high school wrestling and football years as object lessons in “getting my butt kicked.
Having grown Amicus Therapeutics from four to 500 passionate entrepreneurs, Crowley appreciates the power that comes when employees act like owners. “I still love the story of when JFK visited NASA as America was developing its space program,” “JFK asked a janitor what he did at NASA, and the janitor told him he was helping to put a man on the moon. That’s my kind of teammate.”