Win Thurlow on leadership: ‘If it’s about you, you’re doing it wrong’

Growing up in Cortland in the 1970s and ‘80s, Winthrop (Win) Thurlow watched Upstate New York bleed manufacturing jobs, population and economic vitality.

Now as executive director of LifeSciences NY (formerly MedTech), a nonprofit association fostering the biotech/biomedical industry across New York state, Thurlow sees a new vibrancy in places like Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse.

These Erie Canal cities have shaken off the rust and focused their deep expertise in manufacturing on new industries, from medical devices to diagnostics to pharmaceuticals.

“The outlook today is so much more positive than it was 30 or 40 years ago,” he says. “It really is incredible.”

LifeSciences NY comprises roughly 125 members in three categories: life science companies large and small; academic research institutions; and companies that serve those entities. The association’s goal is to help bring bench research to the commercial market, improving people’s health while also creating jobs and attracting more investment.

The next big thing could be a smart toilet seat that monitors a patient’s vitals, a blood test for autism or an artificial intelligence-aided data breakthrough.

New York generally ranks third or fourth nationally in biotech investment, Thurlow says. Boston/Cambridge is still No. 1, but costs have gotten so high, “it’s harder and harder to attract people to live there,” he says.

That’s an advantage for Upstate New York: “Pull out your map. You cannot get from Boston to Cleveland other than across Upstate New York. You can find manufacturing partners or opportunities that have capacity, that have a well-trained workforce, and can do it at a lower cost in a location that’s convenient.”

At the same time, each of Upstate’s “canal cities” have pockets of concentrated poverty. “Solving this problem requires us to find ways to bring those who are left out of the economy, into the economy,” he says.

Thurlow, 62, lives in Syracuse. He has two adult children. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell me a little about your journey to this role. You started out practicing law.

With the exception of three years that I spent at Georgetown Law School, I’ve been an Upstate New York guy my entire life. I came back to Syracuse to start practicing law in 1987, worked for several years in private practice, then was offered the position of regional director for the New York Attorney General [then Eliot Spitzer].

I then joined SUNY Upstate Medical University, first as in-house counsel and then as vice president of compliance and ethics. In that space, I did things that got me to where I am now: compliance and ethics, technology transfer, commercialization. That’s ultimately how I got to this position. [LifeSciences NY] was looking for executive director. ... And I was the guy who was promised I’d never have to do science and math in my adult life!

You spent a lot of years in public service. But was there a turning point where you said, I just don’t want to do that anymore?

What I’m doing now is a natural progression. My parents were both teachers. My father was a high school history teacher. Civic engagement, civics, community were always important to them. They raised us with that understanding. I’m super lucky now, because I get to work with people who are coming up with lifesaving, life-enhancing opportunities, and at the same time, are the backbone of successful communities across the state. … It’s the same outcome, whether you’re doing it at the Attorney General’s office or in some other position.

Your members are a diverse group – big, small, startup, multinational. Some are competitors. How do you reach a consensus on, well, anything?

It’s all about understanding the commonality of interests. In the immediate post-World War II years, industry spent millions of dollars developing in-house research and development operations, such as Bell Labs. By and large, that model has gone away. Companies are finding their next product, their next innovation, the next startup through business development. They’re out scouting entrepreneurs. That’s the space that we’ve we fit into. It’s all about making these connections.

You don’t have employees, you have stakeholders. How do you lead people who don’t work for you?

I don’t work for any one of my members... but I believe the success of our individual members translates into the greater successes of the larger industry. [We’re asking,] what are the pressure points? What are the things that an individual member needs? We spent a lot of time looking for those commonalities and then addressing them. Working with individual members to solve their individual problem almost invariably reveals a larger set of problems that are existing across the industry.

Do you have a theory of leadership?

A mentor once referred to me as a utility player. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with that characterization at the time, but I’ve come to understand and really embrace it. As soon as it becomes about you, you’re doing it wrong.

Leadership is about identifying what the goal is, what the strategic vision is, and then putting yourself in a position to help those who you’re working with reach that goal. And that means putting away your preconceived notions about what your role in this space should be. Where do want to be? What is the team that we have to get us there? What does that team need? A leader fills in those empty spaces.

Did you have leadership roles growing up?

I was the student government nerd. If it involved civics, if it involved government, that was what really motivated me as a kid. I see that it’s kind of a through line. It was always about jumping in, being engaged in one way or another, finding an opportunity to advance an interest that didn’t necessarily have to be my interest. Nobody, perhaps after third grade, gets invited to do anything. [Meaning, you have to take the initiative.]

I understood growing up in a town like small town there was no room for social stratification. We all went to one school. We all lived in the same community. Whether you were faculty at SUNY Cortland or worked at the Smith Corona typewriter factory or the Brockway truck factory, there really just was no room for separations. It’s one of the reasons that that I’ve always lived in the city of Syracuse since I moved up here. I feel very strongly about the unique qualities of living in a city that is diverse and puts you in close proximity to the diversity of the regional population.

What’s the best advice that a boss or a mentor ever gave you?

If it’s about you, you’re doing it wrong. There’s plenty of room in our personal lives to make it about you. A career is almost never about you. Nor should it be unless you’re a singular artist with a singular vision. But for most of us, it’s not about you. It’s about that collective.

Any tips for somebody who aspires to be a leader?

Start networking. Get out there and engage. Nobody’s going to invite you in. And yet, Syracuse has been an incredibly open and welcoming place. You need to take the first step, find what drives your interest and your passion, and then set out to make it happen. And you can do that in Syracuse.

If you could go back in time, what career advice would you give your younger self?

To quote The Indigo Girls: “Take my life less seriously. It’s only life, after all.”

I spent way too much time, in my younger years, concerned about whether this path or that path was the right path. By the way, I never predicted it correctly anyhow. My career has taken a number of turns that I would never have anticipated, often because of other people’s behavior. There’s change in leadership. So, I found a new opportunity, or faced a new challenge. What’s the old saying? “Man plans, God laughs.” Stop trying to guide it. It’ll happen one way or another.

You’ve served on a lot of nonprofit boards. What does that experience contribute to your leadership abilities?

This is the first time that I’ve been an executive director of a nonprofit organization. I was unprepared for the breadth of the demands. You’ve got to make payroll, you’ve got hit your budget numbers. The work of an executive director all too often focused on, how are we going to get from today until tomorrow? An effective board strengthens the organization, and really take seriously its role as a fiduciary. I’m probably a better board member today having had this experience.

To be an effective board member, you really need to understand how all aspects of an organization work. You don’t necessarily get those same perspectives in your job. If you’re in finance, you’re in finance. You may understand occasionally what folks in other parts of the business are doing, but you don’t really have a day-to-day connection to the entire entity.

Also, there’s a selfish aspect of board service. We’ve got organizations that are doing incredible stuff. And I’d have been poorer for not having had that experience. I hope I contributed something, but the reality is I probably got more out of it than I gave to it.

With Micron on its way, our community is growing. How would you sell someone on relocating to Central New York?

I am an evangelist for New York state, for Upstate New York, for Central New York. Spend any time on Zillow and look at other communities. You’ll discover that we have an incredible opportunity here. Think of the challenges that millennials are having in buying homes.

You can more quickly integrate yourself into the fullness of this community in Central New York than just about anyplace else.

If you’re an outdoors person, if you’re a recreational person, there aren’t many places in the country that gives you easy access to all that we’ve got in Central New York: good schools, safe communities, opportunities, and frankly, a future that looks really great.

The weekly “Conversation on Leadership” features Q&A interviews about leadership, success and innovation. Next week: Amanda Delaney, director of Le Moyne College’s ERIE21.

To suggest a candidate for Conversations on Leadership, email Marie Morelli at mmorelli@syracuse.com. Read previous entries in the series.