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His True Calling
Tony Murphy was a young change-management consultant and researcher at the University of Bath in England when he took on some work for a new client, the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. Now, almost 29 years later, Murphy, who serves as senior vice president of human resources for the company, is set to retire this month. That initial contact led him join Eli Lilly as a personnel representative at the company's Basingstoke, U.K.-based manufacturing plant in 1980, where he began to realize his true calling. "I was there 24 hours a day, and I loved the issues, from micro to macro," he says. "I always enjoyed the ability to cycle between an individual's issues and the broader business issues." Since that first post, Murphy has held a variety of HR leadership positions within the company, including executive director of HR for Europe, Japan and the intercontinental region. He was appointed senior vice president of HR in 2005. "Tony has played a key leadership role in driving the essential transformation of our company, while keeping respect for people at the forefront of every discussion," says John Lechleiter, chairman, president and CEO of Eli Lilly. "I will miss his wisdom and friendship in our daily interactions." Among the many changes Murphy has seen throughout his time in HR, he says the single biggest transformation has been the expansion of the playing field. "Without a doubt, it's the globalization of both the business and of the people issues," he says. "In the early '80s, [at Lilly's headquarters in Indianapolis], we had very few international senior leaders. Now, they make up approximately one-third of management." Another big change Murphy sees happening now is "the whole work/family balance in the U.S. and the move to much more flexibility, which I think has to be welcomed. Companies must enable their people to have much more flexible working lives." As for his own new-found flexibility, Murphy says he looks forward to returning to a small English village with his wife Elizabeth and getting back into teaching. He was once a lecturer of industrial relations at the University of Bath and his educational background includes a doctorate in psychology from the University of Wales and a bachelor's degree from the University College Dublin. When asked to share the best piece of HR advice he ever received, Murphy doesn't hesitate. "Stick to your company's values," he says, "because in HR, especially, there are so many gray issues and it's simply not possible to have an answer for every single question."
April 1, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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