Leadership: Lenz Therapeutics CEO gives people autonomy and responsibility

Evert “Eef” Schimmelpennink is a busy guy.

He’s the president and CEO of Lenz Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company in Solana Beach that recently rolled out a new product to treat the millions of people who have presbyopia.

A normal part of aging and common in people after the age of 40, presbyopia is when your eyes gradually lose the ability to see things clearly up close. Patients typically find they need to hold reading materials farther away to see them clearly.

The product, called Vizz, is the first and only FDA-approved aceclidine-based eye drop for the treatment of presbyopia in adults.

Born and raised in the Netherlands, Schimmelpennink has held leadership positions at multiple companies in countries that include the U.S., Iceland, Australia and the United Kingdom.

The married 53-year-old father of three is recognized for leadership in this year’s Top Workplaces special awards in the midsize company category. This interview has been condensed for space and clarity.

What’s your leadership philosophy? 

Wherever you are in the company, everyone runs their own little business — your own little kingdom or queendom, so to speak, and that means that’s what you’re responsible for. So a lot of autonomy in whatever you do.

But the second thing is responsibility comes with accountability. It’s very easy to be accountable when things go well, but if it’s not going well, you also need to stand up and say how I’m going to fix it. Always think about what you want to do from a solution point of view. Don’t go spreading problems around, but start with spreading solutions around.

You take a very analytical approach?

A super analytical approach. I’m a process engineer by background. The third piece I look for is the 80-20 rule — it takes 20% of the time to get to 80% of the information that will take another 80% of your time to get to 100%. I believe very strongly that you can make good decisions on 80% of the time, which means that you can go quick. It’s fine if weeks or months later, when you have that last bit of info, and realize, “Ah, maybe we made the wrong choice.” That’s OK — you backtrack and course-correct. That time is never wasted because you usually learn something new and you’ve figured out what’s the best way forward. But most importantly, you keep moving rather than sit on your hands and wait until everything is perfectly clear.

What’s your theory on what motivates employees?

I think the key is you want to give people autonomy to do their best and succeed. Don’t box them in. Help them grow.

What advice would you give to someone who has aspirations to be a CEO?

The most difficult step to make is actually going from a senior director to a VP. That’s where most people stall out. It’s no longer, “How do I make sure that the trains are running on time?” Instead, it’s, “My trains are running on time, where am I going to go next with my trains?” And that requires a different skill set. That’s also less easy to learn. Also, consider if this is really what you want. Think about that because it looks real nice from the outside, but it’s not always that fun. A bit of luck, hard work, know your stuff — that is sort of what it all comes down to.