How do you drive innovation inside one of the most regulated, complex industries in the world?

In this episode of Transformation 2.0®, we sit down with Stephen Ranjan – Global Head of Digital Health at Roche – to explore how the pharmaceutical industry is embracing (and resisting) change, why strategic partnerships matter more than ever, and how leaders can build learning cultures that enable real transformation.

From accelerating R&D with AI, to navigating compliance and risk, to scaling ideas beyond pilot purgatory – this conversation unpacks the human and organisational shifts required to make innovation work in practice, not just theory.

If you work in pharma, healthcare, or any highly regulated sector, this episode offers practical insight into how transformation actually happens – and why people, not platforms, are the key to change.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Innovation in pharma must balance risk, compliance and experimentation

✅ Strategic partnerships can de-risk innovation and accelerate learning

✅ Pilots fail when they don’t have a landing zone in the core business

✅ Culture change begins with curiosity, not control

✅ Compliance shouldn’t kill innovation – it should guide responsible progress

✅ Organisational friction is inevitable; leaders must actively manage it

Resources & Links:

🔗 Learn more about the work we do at Anthosa: https://www.anthosa.com

🔗 Connect with Stephen Ranjan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenranjan/

About Our Guest:

Stephen Ranjan is a collaborative healthcare executive with over 20 years of experience leading high-performance teams and delivering digital innovation across global markets. Currently serving as Global Head of Digital Health at Roche, he has held senior roles at Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Epic, and sits on multiple advisory boards.Stephen’s leadership combines strategic vision with a deep commitment to people development, making him a trusted voice in the evolving world of pharma innovation.

How do we lead real transformation, the kind that sticks, in organisations wired for comfort?

In this special episode of Transformation 2.0®, we welcome strategy and transformation expert Taural Rhoden as a regular co-host. Together, Chamara and Taural dive into the uncomfortable realities of change, why organisations resist it, how leaders can navigate it, and why individual growth is the real engine of business transformation.

From the boardroom to the front line, transformation isn’t just about new systems or strategies - it’s about helping people make sense of uncertainty and take action when the future feels unclear.

If you’re a change leader, transformation consultant, or executive navigating complexity, this episode will give you frameworks, language, and inspiration to lead with more clarity and confidence.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Real transformation requires people to get uncomfortable and stay there

✅ Change fails when we treat it as a tech project instead of a people challenge

✅ Organisational homeostasis is real: success depends on disrupting the status quo

✅ Courageous leadership isn’t about rank - it’s about conviction

✅ The best change agents use experiments, not overhauls, to learn and scale

✅ Resistance is insight in disguise; treat it as information, not defiance

✅ A learning mindset will be the #1 skill for future-fit leaders

Resources & Links:

🔗 Learn more about the work we do at Anthosa: https://www.anthosa.com

🔗 Connect with Taural Rhoden on LinkedIn

About Our Co-Host:

Taural Rhoden is the Principal of Rhoden Consulting, where he helps experts think commercially and build resilient, profitable service businesses. Over the last 20 years, Taural has worked across the sharp end of international consulting, advisory, and transformation, holding leadership roles at IBM, DXC, Mercedes-Benz, and the US Army.

He’s built independent businesses, returned to corporate leadership, and led high-impact digital transformations across industries. Today, he helps solopreneurs and small consultancies craft premium offers, build scalable delivery models, grow authority, and create sustainable revenue without burnout.

His mission:Equip experts to think commercially - so they can act with clarity, grow with confidence, and build businesses that last.

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How can asset-heavy industries reinvent themselves in the age of AI and real-time data?

In this episode of Transformation 2.0®, we welcome back Professor Venkat Venkatraman to dive into his latest work, Fusion Strategy - a practical framework for navigating digital transformation in traditional, physical industries.

Co-authored with Vijay Govindarajan, Fusion Strategy explores how companies can integrate digital and physical capabilities to unlock new value, rethink competitive advantage, and reshape their industries from the inside out.

From manufacturing to healthcare to logistics, the message is clear: digital transformation isn’t just for tech companies. It’s for every business with a physical footprint and a future to protect.

Whether you're in operations, strategy, or innovation leadership, this episode will help you understand what it takes to thrive in a fusion-driven world.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Traditional companies must shift from product portfolios to capability ecosystems

✅ Winning in the future means fusing physical assets with digital intelligence

✅ AI, sensors, and real-time data are reshaping the scale, scope, and speed for every business

✅ Transformation happens in three zones: automation, augmentation, and amplification

Resources & Links:

🔗 Learn more about the work we do at Anthosa: https://www.anthosa.com

🔗 Get Venkat’s book Fusion Startegy

🔗 Connect with Venkat Venkataraman on LinkedIn

About Our Guest:

Venkat Venkatraman is Professor Emeritus of Information Systems and an acclaimed authority on digital transformation and business strategy. With a distinguished academic career spanning over three decades, Venkat has deeply explored how established companies adapt to disruptive digital technologies.

Venkat earned his Bachelor of Technology from IIT, followed by an MBA, and completed his PhD in Strategic Management in Information Systems at the University of Pittsburgh. His academic journey included roles as an Associate Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a notable 30-year tenure at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business as the David J. McGrath Jr. Professor of Management.

His groundbreaking insights, first presented in his influential 2016 book, The Digital Matrix: New Rules for Business Transformation Through Technology, are now evolving further in a forthcoming book focusing specifically on digital transformation in asset-heavy, information-rich industries such as automotive, logistics, healthcare, and agriculture.

He has co-authored another influential book, Fusion Strategy: How Real-Time Data and AI Will Power the Industrial Future, alongside renowned strategist Vijay Govindarajan. Venkat continues to shape the conversation around digital strategy, guiding business leaders through the complexities of digital disruption.

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