Michelle Weese

[anonymous]

Michelle is like the Grim Reaper, wreaking havoc and fear wherever she goes. She is also a really good salesman, there is nothing she can’t sell! And she is initially at least, able to persuade people with her mumbo jumbo speeches. How else can you explain why Vas hired her and Giovanni over at BMS? I see people from her former companies at Mars and Danone on this board also sharing their very negative experiences with her. So now we are talking 4 companies where she had caused so much pain. Everyone can’t be wrong. So pay no heed to the very few on here who try to defend Michelle Weese. They are her minions. What she does is hire people who are not qualified, are semi competent and who would otherwise not get these big jobs anywhere else. This makes them extremely loyal to her because they are grateful for the big titles and jobs! View every single person she has hired with jaundiced eyes. My heart goes out to the team at Novartis because I know what they are going through. My advice is to keep your head down and stay out of Michelle’s path. She will self destruct just like she did at Mars, Danone and BMS. The sad part is that she will have deliberately destroyed so many people‘s lives with her callousness, incompetence and sheer malice. She will reimagine nothing but herself as she moves on to another company to start the vicious cycle all over again. What a sad person Michelle Weese is. This is someone who is truly a bad person.

Reading this post was quite the experience—like watching someone trip over their own shoelaces in slow motion. For something supposedly penned by a communicator, it’s oddly devoid of clarity, coherence, or even a point. If Michelle has indeed encountered people who write like this, it’s no wonder they’re unhappy with her raised standards.

Michelle doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and this rambling tirade seems like a prime example of the mediocrity she’s worked to weed out. The bitterness here feels less like a critique and more like a personal grievance from someone who found themselves outpaced and outclassed.

If you’re going to post something like this, at least aim for the competence she demands of her teams. Until then, all this post does is prove exactly why her leadership is so badly needed.

 

[anonymous]

The minions are here. They have to earn their keep. We see you and are amused, but your reasonings are flawed. We at Novartis are smarter than that. Change is good when managed by a competent leader. Michelle and her minions are not in that league. Tick, tick, tick. No more response is needed.

 

[anonymous]

The minions are here. They have to earn their keep. We see you and are amused, but your reasonings are flawed. We at Novartis are smarter than that. Change is good when managed by a competent leader. Michelle and her minions are not in that league. Tick, tick, tick. No more response is needed.

Minions? Cute. It’s telling you resort to playground insults instead of presenting anything of substance. Michelle’s leadership is clearly a threat to mediocrity, and your bitterness only underscores that.

Tick, tick, tick? Sounds like the clock is running out for those who can’t keep up with higher standards. We see you, too—and we’re not impressed.

 

[anonymous]

Reading this post was quite the experience—like watching someone trip over their own shoelaces in slow motion. For something supposedly penned by a communicator, it’s oddly devoid of clarity, coherence, or even a point. If Michelle has indeed encountered people who write like this, it’s no wonder they’re unhappy with her raised standards.

Michelle doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and this rambling tirade seems like a prime example of the mediocrity she’s worked to weed out. The bitterness here feels less like a critique and more like a personal grievance from someone who found themselves outpaced and outclassed.

If you’re going to post something like this, at least aim for the competence she demands of her teams. Until then, all this post does is prove exactly why her leadership is so badly needed.

Raised standards? You must not have seen her patient video.

 

[anonymous]

The minions are here. They have to earn their keep. We see you and are amused, but your reasonings are flawed. We at Novartis are smarter than that. Change is good when managed by a competent leader. Michelle and her minions are not in that league. Tick, tick, tick. No more response is needed.

Not minions, a PR reputation agency has clearly been hired to do this They’re bad at it and it’s desperate.

Doing the usual charge $$$ and use chatGPT for these fake responses.

 

[anonymous]

At least we now know that Michelle is reading this.

Hi Michelle,

You’re toast. I think you know it. Stock down 14% in three months, restricted budgets next year as Entresto comes off patent, reputation in Switzerland tanking, headwinds in the US with the incoming administration. This would be tough for even the best corporate affairs team. But Novartis has MW and the three stooges from BMS.

Better jump before you’re pushed. One and a half years and you’ve achieved nothing. Your relationship with Vas is deteriorating. I guess your hope is that Giovanni will save you. But surely he won’t make the same mistake twice. If he does, then there are serious questions about his judgment and Novartis has bigger problems than just a malfunctioning corporate affairs function.

 

[Michelle’s non-apologist.]

In all my years working globally in comms and public affairs I have never seen such a pile on for an embattled leader. I have worked with much worse but clearly she cannot be held up as a good practitioner who has solved big problems in major companies. The crash and burn strategy didn’t work at BMS and it certainly isn’t working at Novartis. This is seven pages of zero positivity about her desperate time destroying people’s lives whilst buying herself time that is borrowed.

 

[anonymous]

In all my years working globally in comms and public affairs I have never seen such a pile on for an embattled leader. I have worked with much worse but clearly she cannot be held up as a good practitioner who has solved big problems in major companies. The crash and burn strategy didn’t work at BMS and it certainly isn’t working at Novartis. This is seven pages of zero positivity about her desperate time destroying people’s lives whilst buying herself time that is borrowed.

All
of this true. She’s living in the final days of office. Like the Biden administration lots of pretence about what was delivered. Yet in her time she’s delivered zero and is hiding her cognitive lack of ability. She will be remembered as one of the worst decisions Vas made in his tenure.

 

[anonymous]

All
of this true. She’s living in the final days of office. Like the Biden administration lots of pretence about what was delivered. Yet in her time she’s delivered zero and is hiding her cognitive lack of ability. She will be remembered as one of the worst decisions Vas made in his tenure.

Agree. It’s like fantasy island.
She’s the midget.

 

[anonymous]

Ah, another anonymous manifesto—so brave, so noble. It must take a truly extraordinary level of self-awareness to criticize someone’s intellect, character, and career from the comfort of anonymity. Bravo.

Let’s break it down: we have grievances from people spanning four companies, which either means Michelle has the uncanny ability to live rent-free in your collective heads or you’ve formed a support group for people who are allergic to change. Either way, impressive dedication.

As for your analysis of her hiring practices: hiring junior talent and giving them opportunities? Scandalous. It’s almost like she’s… mentoring people and building teams. How dare she. And chaos, confusion, and malice? Sounds like every great leader who’s disrupted the status quo.

To your final concern: how does she sleep at night? I’d guess soundly, knowing she’s still making moves while you’re busy drafting your next anonymous blog post.

Stay salty.

Sounds like you should uncloak yourself too. You have so much conviction and ready to vehemently defend - why are you not vocal publicly?

 

[anonymous]

At least we now know that Michelle is reading this.

Hi Michelle,

You’re toast. I think you know it. Stock down 14% in three months, restricted budgets next year as Entresto comes off patent, reputation in Switzerland tanking, headwinds in the US with the incoming administration. This would be tough for even the best corporate affairs team. But Novartis has MW and the three stooges from BMS.

Better jump before you’re pushed. One and a half years and you’ve achieved nothing. Your relationship with Vas is deteriorating. I guess your hope is that Giovanni will save you. But surely he won’t make the same mistake twice. If he does, then there are serious questions about his judgment and Novartis has bigger problems than just a malfunctioning corporate affairs function.

Yet another negative article in NZZ today.

 

[anonymous]

Yet another negative article in NZZ today.

Do you have a handy link?

 

[anonymous]

I worked at BMS and absolutely loved working with Michelle. She was always really friendly and kind. She once looked up from her desk when I was cleaning.

 

[anonymous]

At least we now know that Michelle is reading this.

Hi Michelle,

You’re toast. I think you know it. Stock down 14% in three months, restricted budgets next year as Entresto comes off patent, reputation in Switzerland tanking, headwinds in the US with the incoming administration. This would be tough for even the best corporate affairs team. But Novartis has MW and the three stooges from BMS.

Better jump before you’re pushed. One and a half years and you’ve achieved nothing. Your relationship with Vas is deteriorating. I guess your hope is that Giovanni will save you. But surely he won’t make the same mistake twice. If he does, then there are serious questions about his judgment and Novartis has bigger problems than just a malfunctioning corporate affairs function.

 

[anonymous]

She has no self awareness or for that matter any compassion. A massive narcissist who thinks everyone will fall in line with her mediocre hires and catastrophic changes to the structure. They won’t. These posts won’t stop and the scrutiny and focus on her failed state apparatus will continue well until 2025.

 

[anonymous]

She has no self awareness or for that matter any compassion. A massive narcissist who thinks everyone will fall in line with her mediocre hires and catastrophic changes to the structure. They won’t. These posts won’t stop and the scrutiny and focus on her failed state apparatus will continue well until 2025.

True here’s to more in the new year.
Another negative article today in NZZ the second in a week
It’s less media relations than media devastations.

 

[anonymous]

Let’s be clear: Giovanni’s decision to hire externally was a strategic move to bring fresh perspectives to a function that had become stagnant. Clearly you felt threatened by that, perhaps it’s worth reflecting on why external talent was deemed necessary in the first place since you had so many “talented” individuals in the function already.

Yes, leadership involves selling a vision, but it also requires a team willing to step outside its comfort zone and embrace change, even when it’s challenging. Resistance for resistance’s sake isn’t constructive—it’s self-serving. The failure wasn’t in Michelle’s ability to influence but in certain individuals’ unwillingness to be influenced.

Blaming the ‘wrong hire’ for your inability to adapt misses the point. Strong teams rise to the occasion and work with leadership to drive progress, not undermine it at every turn. That’s leadership, too.

We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader we respected.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader we believed in.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader who knew the industry and where it is going.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader who knew how to effectively implement change.
We were totally willing to change and think outside the box if we had a leader who knew how to do that.
We were totally willing to follow a new leader into new territory if the leader knew where she was going.
We were totally willing to do new things if the leader was innovative and smart.
Michelle is none of those things.

 

[anonymous]

The BMS “mean girls” continue spinning their yarn and obsessing over Michelle. Instead of tearing her down, you should be thankful to Michelle—she upgraded the talent in a function that hadn’t seen fresh perspectives in 20 years. She took on the hard job, which had already started before she joined.

You keep ignoring the fact that Giovanni recognized the need to elevate the function and brought Catharine into the organization. But because the BMS “mean girls” brought out their pitchforks, she lasted only six months. They tried to do the same to Michelle. You can’t keep blaming all the previous leaders and not take accountability for your actions.

Since Michelle left, the function has been in disarray, relegated to a support role akin to secretarial work, returning the function to its so-called “glorious past.” Now, without Michelle to blame, they still obsess over her. It’s pathetic.

If you want to blame it all on BMS 'mean girls' and our unwillingness to change and adapt, and our unwillingness to be accountable, and our unwillingness to be open to change and new ways of thinking, then please explain why Michelle is a huge failure at Novartis? My guess is that this message board was created by someone at Novartis, not BMS, because the Novartis' corporate affairs team is now in a state of global disarray. BMS 'mean girls' aren't to blame for that; Michelle is to blame because it appears she used the same tactics and gotten the same results. Maybe Michelle and her defenders will blame it on 'mean girls' at Novartis, who appear willing to challenge Michelle's incompetence and her so-called leadership by calling out the chaos she has created at her second big pharma gig.

 

[anonymous]

If you want to blame it all on BMS 'mean girls' and our unwillingness to change and adapt, and our unwillingness to be accountable, and our unwillingness to be open to change and new ways of thinking, then please explain why Michelle is a huge failure at Novartis? My guess is that this message board was created by someone at Novartis, not BMS, because the Novartis' corporate affairs team is now in a state of global disarray. BMS 'mean girls' aren't to blame for that; Michelle is to blame because it appears she used the same tactics and gotten the same results. Maybe Michelle and her defenders will blame it on 'mean girls' at Novartis, who appear willing to challenge Michelle's incompetence and her so-called leadership by calling out the chaos she has created at her second big pharma gig.

There’s no mean girls left at Novartis. They are now compliant fakes who do exactly what they are told.
Micromanaged to within an inch of their lives.
While the real talent with knowledge of the business and the industry spent this Christmas looking for new jobs in a market that is at its worst in 20 years globally. The crash and burn strategy from Weese will setback Novartis reputation management for years and years.

 

[anonymous]

We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader we respected.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader we believed in.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader who knew the industry and where it is going.
We were totally willing to be influenced by a leader who knew how to effectively implement change.
We were totally willing to change and think outside the box if we had a leader who knew how to do that.
We were totally willing to follow a new leader into new territory if the leader knew where she was going.
We were totally willing to do new things if the leader was innovative and smart.
Michelle is none of those things.

If Michelle’s leadership was as detrimental as you suggest, why did you choose to stay? It’s noteworthy the BMS Corporate Affairs team has a pattern of undermining its leaders; Michelle is the second executive you’ve attempted to discredit. Perhaps the real issue lies within a toxic culture resistant to any leadership that challenges the status quo. Instead of scapegoating, maybe it’s time to reflect on the internal dynamics that perpetuate such dysfunction. After all, it’s individuals like you who contribute to the problem.