J&J CEO talks tech

What do you obsess about when you're CEO of Johnson & Johnson? Well, it's not Band-Aids. In an interview with the Financial Times, Bill Weldon (photo [1]) admits to a fascination with technology. Perhaps that's one reason he's so determined to get new ideas from his so-called "Office of Strategy and Growth" set up in November. Could J&J soon partner up with the likes of, say, Google? "Who knows who it's going to be?" Weldon says.

The interview glances off controversy--Weldon briefly defends his decision to let Boston Scientific outbid J&J for device-maker Guidant, and all he says about suing the American Red Cross [2] for trademark violation is that it was "the last thing we wanted to" do. It only mentions J&J's restructuring --and 4,000 layoffs [3]-- in passing. But it gives Weldon plenty of space to talk over J&J's virtues, as he sees them, such as its approach to innovation and its decentralized management structure [4]. Though the latter, he says, causes at least some people to wonder just how he spends his time in exchange for that his most recent annual paycheck of $28 million. "My son says I just sit around and drink coffee and go to meetings," he says.

- read the rest of the interview [5] in the Financial Times

Related Article:
J&J weathers fallout from Red Cross suit [2]