Anthony Farina of Biotech Giant CSL Discusses How a Successful Company Continues to Purposefully Evolve

Anthony Farina is no stranger to transformation, as he leads the Communications, Brand and Corporate Affairs functions at one of the world’s top biotech companies— CSL, a century-old organization founded in Australia. The company has grown from 12,000 to 30,000 employees and now provides medicines in more than 100 countries in less than a decade.  This August, CSL unified under a single global brand, which now includes: CSL Behring, a specialist in delivering therapies for rare and serious diseases; CSL Plasma, the company’s plasma collection business; CSL Seqirus, a provider of influenza vaccines; and the recently acquired Vifor Pharma, a specialist in therapies for kidney disease, now known as CSL Vifor. 

Anthony Farina talks about what it takes to come together as “one CSL” in terms of culture, values, and purpose.   Interestingly, he initially tackled these issues when named to CSL’s first-ever global Communications function, when he launched the company’s first global brand positioning and employer brand and transformed its digital and content capabilities. Few executives have the opportunity to extend these core principles as the company grows; however, Anthony Farina believes that constantly refining the DNA of “why we exist” keeps any organization relevant, while ensuring their employees continue to be passionate about their corporate mission.

To learn more from Anthony Farina about what he fondly calls “CSL 2.0” as he considers how a company evolves, grows in significance, and continually reinvents itself in an increasingly purpose-driven corporate world, view the full interview on Internationalist Marketing TV on YouTube.

CLICK HERE for interview.

In our conversation, we discuss the following:

• How would you advise any company to go about finding its purpose?
• In your opinion, should every organization become purpose-led?
• Conduct and culture… how are they related in terms of purpose and your organization?
• Why is it so important to be able to articulate concepts of purpose by corporate employees?
• How do you ensure that purpose is part of an organization’s DNA?
• Could purpose be the solution that helps organizations prosper even if they face a recession?
• Have marketers gone too far in the pursuit of purpose?
• Do you think a “purpose gap” exists now between most companies’ or brands’ stated values and the actions they take? If yes, how do you prevent this?
• Just as movements change, do notions of purpose evolve to reflect societal issues? Or are there core elements of purpose that are unchanging?
• Is there is now purpose message fatigue?

To hear more from Anthony Farina about what he fondly calls “CSL 2.0” as he considers how a company evolves, grows in significance, and continually reinvents itself in an increasingly purpose-driven corporate world, tune in to our Trendsetters podcast,  CLICK HERE

Anthony Farina is globally recognized as an innovative and results-oriented strategic communications leader with an established record of developing and leading creative, high-performance global teams that deliver against business objectives. He has held a range of progressive leadership roles during his 30-year communications career in both the private and public sectors, including as an Associated Press award-winning journalist and executive communications director for the governor of Delaware.

Under Anthony’s leadership, CSL has evolved from “the largest company no one has ever heard of” to a global brand leader in in biotech. During Anthony’s tenure, CSL’s CEO has emerged as a global thought leader, earning a number of recognitions including “CEO of the Year” by the highly respected Australian Financial Review. Forbes also named CSL among its Top 50 employers in the world in 2017 and 2018 for the first time.

Anthony was named among the world’s top 5 communications and marketing leaders twice in three years by PR Week and as “Internationalist of the Year” for championing innovative communications strategies and advocating responsible brand-building. He is widely recognized for his Public Relations excellence, including receiving the Best of Silver Anvil Award and 2 additional Silver Anvil Awards by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA.)