CEO & Chairman, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson CEO on Fighting Cancer, AI and Medical Innovation | WSJ Leadership Institute
On this Leaders episode, recorded at the 2026 WSJ CEO Council Summit in London, Johnson & Johnson Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato joins WSJ Leadership Institute President Alan Murray to discuss the company's focus on tackling some of healthcare's most complex challenges, breakthroughs in cancer treatment, the future of longevity, and the role AI is playing in accelerating medical innovation.
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About Joaquin Duato
Joaquin Duato, Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, has been discussing the company's strategic focus on medical innovation and its financial performance. In interviews, Duato explained that the company spun off its consumer division to concentrate on areas such as oncology, cardiovascular disease, and dementia, stating, "We wanted to be a more focused company dedicated to medical innovation." He described the company's goal as trying to "eliminate cancer" and noted that Johnson & Johnson is unique in having "more modalities to address the disease than any other company." Duato also commented on competition from China in healthcare innovation, saying China is "good in being fast followers" but not yet at the level of "breakthrough innovation" seen in the U.S., and he emphasized the need for the U.S. to continue investing in research and protecting intellectual property. On earnings calls, Duato reported that 2025 was "one of the best years for Johnson & Johnson history in terms of total shareholder return" with a 47% return. He stated that the company is on track to reach $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time in 2026 and has "line of sight to double-digit growth by the end of the decade." Duato also announced the planned separation of the orthopedics business into a standalone company called Pew Synthesis, describing it as a move to "sharpen our focus as a healthcare innovation leader." He noted that the company does not need to rely on large acquisitions to drive growth, saying, "We rely on a thoughtful long-term approach to growing through any loss of exclusivity."
Transcript (77 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
J
Joaquin Duato0:00
The goal for us is to try to eliminate cancer. So that's a high goal and we are already making significant progress in certain cancers.
I
Interviewer0:34
I mentioned yesterday, by the way, that we had published a new ranking of S&P 500 companies, best companies for the future. Happy to say Johnson & Johnson was in the top 20. Right up there with all the tech companies and number one among the pharmaceutical companies. So congratulations on that. It says something about your leadership.
J
Joaquin Duato0:53
Thank you. No, I we are pleased with the recognition, but I would aim to be number one in the total ranking.
I
Interviewer1:04
Overall, okay. Nvidia, look out.
J
Joaquin Duato1:06
And liver, look out. And look, I think it reflects the state of opinion of things right now. There's a tremendous focus on the technology companies that we see everywhere and hence why when you do a ranking, the majority of the companies that are on top are technology companies. Now, the value ultimately would be created by companies like us when we deploy that technology and our moment will arrive.
I
Interviewer1:28
So you're arguing 20 is too low. 20 out of 500 is pretty good, but
J
Joaquin Duato1:32
Yeah, yeah, it's look, we are a company that has embarked in a significant transformation in order to make sure that we focus on areas where we can make a bigger difference. And that's medical innovation, medical breakthroughs. And I think that's a high cause and something that we are being successful at. So now we are squarely focused in medical innovation through medicines and medical technologies trying to address some of the most complex diseases that have a big social impact and that's what we are trying to do and I think that's driving growth for the company and a good perspective for the coming years which is also helped by technology too, right?
I
Interviewer2:16
Yes, well let's dive into the transformation a little bit. I asked this group last night is there any CEO in the audience who isn't leading the transformation? I didn't get any hands on that so I assume everyone is but you really have. You've been there four years. It's a pretty phenomenal change over that four-year time. You've spun out the consumer business. You've made 30 to 35 billion dollars worth of acquisitions. You've changed Johnson & Johnson pretty dramatically. How would you describe the change? What's the difference between Johnson & Johnson of four years ago and Johnson & Johnson today?
J
Joaquin Duato2:57
That we are more focused and that we have more clarity on what is our strategy and it has a common umbrella which is we're going to make a difference in diseases that are complex that affect millions of people around the world. We're going to focus on cardiovascular disease, oncology, and neuroscience and we are going to be able to bring advances in the standard of care that are going to affect millions of people. So that's our focus today. So we are a medical innovation company.
I
Interviewer3:27
Big complex problems.
J
Joaquin Duato3:28
You know it used to be said that the consumer business, the baby shampoo etc., provided the company stability, a little more predictability. What was wrong with that thesis?
The fact of the matter is that the company has evolved very positively and it has more focus today. So I think it's important for a company to share a common mission. And our mission is to address these important diseases through medical innovation. And in that context, consumer was better served by being an independent company like Kenvue. So, now we are a more focused company. We have clearer priorities. We can allocate capital better, and we can rally all our employees around the common cause of bringing medical breakthroughs to address these diseases.
I
Interviewer4:16
You can tell the difference in the employees.
J
Joaquin Duato4:18
I can tell that.
I
Interviewer4:19
Yeah.
J
Joaquin Duato4:19
And while our consumer business was important for our identity, and still when we talk about Johnson & Johnson today, people may still believe that we are about baby shampoo or Band-Aids, the reality is that the majority of our business had already migrated into medicines and medical technologies. So, we were just acknowledging something that was real. This is giving us the opportunity to have higher revenues and higher growth. As a matter of fact, our 2025 trajectory was the best in our company history. We have a total shareholder return around 50% that had never happened in the past. And I trace that back to the focus that we have now squarely in medical innovation.
I
Interviewer5:02
And part of that, of course, was a pretty aggressive M&A campaign. A number of big companies, Abiomed, Shockwave, Laminar. What ties those acquisitions together in your mind?
J
Joaquin Duato5:16
External innovation is always a way of trying to build your portfolio in a way that you are in the areas where medical need meets science, so where you can bring real improvements of the standard of care. The majority of our growth comes from our internal innovation or from acquisitions that we do very early on that take time to mature. For example, this year we have announced two acquisitions, both in the area of oncology, where we aim to be the number one global oncology company. We're already number two. So, you wouldn't say Johnson & Johnson
I
Interviewer5:52
Uh you know, I prefer for them to do that, right?
What? You don't want to advertise for them, okay.
J
Joaquin Duato5:57
So, I mean, we acquired two companies. One company we announced yesterday.
I
Interviewer6:03
Yes.
J
Joaquin Duato6:04
So, both companies are companies that have new platforms to attack cancer. So, it's different ways of trying to attack cancer. Both of these companies will mature over the next decade. So, the majority of the times when we're doing M&A, we are building platforms that are going to have an impact over the long term.
I
Interviewer6:23
Yeah.
J
Joaquin Duato6:23
You can only do that if your existing portfolio is strong enough to drive business in the short term. So, the majority of the acquisitions that we do are things that are going to utilize our scale in discovery, in development, in manufacturing, in commercialization, and will mature over the long term. Those are value-creating acquisitions.
I
Interviewer6:41
Well, let's stick with oncology for a minute. With these acquisitions, with Johnson & Johnson aiming to be number one, where will we be in the treatment of cancer 10 years from now?
J
Joaquin Duato6:51
The goal for us is to try to eliminate cancer. So, that's a high goal. And we are already making significant progress in certain cancers. For example, in multiple myeloma.
I
Interviewer7:05
Mhm.
J
Joaquin Duato7:06
The life expectancy of a multiple myeloma patient now is more than 10 years. Before, it was only single years. We have treatments now that utilize your own immune system to attack the cancer that for patients that were already going into hospice, so they didn't have any other alternative, they are more than 5 years with a single administration in remission. That's spectacular. Keep in mind that a single administration of a small bag for a patient can keep them without any other treatment alive without remission for 5 years. When patients see that, they cannot believe because they have been coming to the hospital every week during a decade having multiple therapies. So, we are working in order to understand on one hand the biology of cancer, understanding what are the drivers that are making cancer and tumor cells grow, and then coming up with different technologies that are going to address that. So, it's a combination of better understanding of the biology behind cancer, and then better technologies that are going to address that.
I
Interviewer8:07
And curing cancer, of course, is a grand ambition, but is it a realistic ambition?
J
Joaquin Duato8:12
I think it's realistic to believe that we are going to cure certain cancers, and some others we're going to turn them into chronic diseases. And cancer is an important thing. I mean, I cannot think about anybody who has not been touched by cancer. But there are many other opportunities for us to actually advance science to address very important social problems. Let me give you one example. Dementia, cognition overall. I think that's an important problem for society. I cannot think about something more important because as we age, it's normal that our cognition declines, and it becomes a social problem, an economic problem, too. So, investing in understanding better the underlying causes of dementia and developing medicines or medical technologies that are going to address that is a fundamentally important thing that we have to do as a company, and we are up to the challenge.
I
Interviewer8:58
Do you think over the course of the next decade we will see a significant increase in longevity?
J
Joaquin Duato9:04
I think we are going to see an increase in the life expectancy overall as we have seen in the 20th century. A massive increase in the life expectancy. The idea here is to be able to have an increase in the life expectancy with high quality of life. And there is where issues like dementia come into play. We can live longer, but we have to live longer in a way that is with dignity.
I
Interviewer9:24
How does AI fit into this picture? What is the Whenever I ask someone where we are going to see the biggest social benefits from AI, they almost always answer health care. Do you agree with that? Where are we going to see it? Are you starting to see it already? How long will it take?
J
Joaquin Duato9:41
AI in a company like life sciences like us is a force multiplier because it's going to help us meet and fulfill our purpose better. If our purpose is being medical technologies and medicines faster and better for patients, AI is only going to help. So in that context, AI is a positive thing and within Johnson & Johnson we embrace AI. And we are deploying AI in multiple areas of the company. Like any other company, we deploy AI in managing the overall transactional aspects, operational aspects of the company, but we do have two areas in which AI can have a significant impact in advancing our mission. One is in developing better medicines faster and the other one is incorporating AI into our medical technologies to make medical procedures with better outcomes.
I
Interviewer10:36
And are you today seeing measurable differences in top line, bottom line performance of the company or are we not there yet?
J
Joaquin Duato10:44
I see that we can develop medicines faster. For example, we already have in the clinics already in humans medicines that it would have taken a long time, close to a decade to get into the clinic we have done in a single year. So we have accelerated the process of getting medicines into the clinic. I see today that our medical technologies already incorporate AI for example in helping electrophysiologists navigate when they are doing procedures into the heart, navigate into the heart and giving them the ability to understand where they are and what they have to do next. So I see AI already advancing. To what extent that's already coming into our bottom line is still to be seen, but we see AI amplifying our ability to develop better medical technologies and better medicines.
I
Interviewer11:36
And when you think about the transformation that you've been leading for the last four years, where would on a scale of one to 10, if one is where you started and 10 was your destination, where are you now?
J
Joaquin Duato11:47
Yeah, as far as our portfolio, as far as the markets that we are focused, we're focused on three areas in innovative medicines, which are oncology, immunology, and neuroscience, and three areas in medical technology: surgery, vision, and cardiology. I think we are there essentially today. I mean, what we are focused now, it's to be able to be a better company in the way we execute and we deliver. So, that's our focus today. It's not the strategy. I think the strategy is clear. It's more about how we are able to execute and deliver better than before. For a large company like Johnson & Johnson, it's very important that in every single area that we are operating, we aim to be number one. And therefore, in every single area that we are operating, we try to be as agile, as fast, as competitive as the pure play companies which we are competing with.
I
Interviewer12:40
And may you have just answered my next question, but what makes Johnson & Johnson different from other pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, the companies you compete with?
J
Joaquin Duato12:51
We are unique in as much that we have a focus on the patient and the disease, and we have more modalities to address the disease than any other company. The rest of our competitors are either medical device companies or they are pharmaceutical companies. But, the patient requires, let me take cancer, multiple modalities. You have cancer, you may need a medication, you may need surgery, you may need radiotherapy. So, we are the only company that can provide a full package for that patient. So, we have more modalities, more capabilities to address diseases than any company, and that gives us a competitive advantage. We also have a competitive advantage in which we are a company with multiple areas. So, we are not dependent on a single area. We are not dependent on a single cycle. We have multiple options to drive improvement, to drive growth for the company. That makes us different. And we are a company with a long history. 140 years of history. We have a company with a strong value system. Our Credo has 80 years plus. And our employees have a tremendous ability to evolve and transform because mission-driven companies, values-based companies have a higher purpose, and that drives people to constantly try to reinvent themselves.
I
Interviewer14:07
I'm going to come back to the mission in a minute, but sometimes people think companies with 140 years of history, that makes them slower, more sluggish, harder to move. How do you keep J&J moving quickly for the world you face?
J
Joaquin Duato14:21
I like that you asked me that question, and I can tell you that the employees of Johnson & Johnson have as much passion, dedication, and sense of urgency that an employee in any other company. I mean, for us it's quite easy to energize our employees when they see the impact that our therapies and medical technologies have on patients. I can tell you that's an energizing experience. That's something that nobody can resist. And our employees are highly motivated. They have high sense of urgency to do what they need to do every day in their job to be as fast as any. I tell every employee of the company, you are the CEO of your own work. You are accountable for your own work. I want you to treat your work like if it were your company. I want you to make decisions on the spot. I was visiting plants yesterday, and that's the spirit we have in our plants. We ask our frontline employees to be able to make decisions on the spot.
I
Interviewer15:16
Have you eliminated management layers in order to empower those
J
Joaquin Duato15:19
Look, like any other company, we try to build units that are end-to-end, that combine everything in our value chain. So, from research to manufacturing to commercialization, so we are competitive in that area. So, it's not only about the typical de-layering thing that everybody does, it's about making sure that structurally you're organizing units that can make decisions, and at the same time people are empowered in order to make that decision.
I
Interviewer15:45
So, another aspect of the focus you were talking about earlier, how internal units can focus on their business end-to-end.
J
Joaquin Duato15:52
But I want to make it clear. I mean, when people make these comparisons, a large company cannot be as passionate and dedicated as a small company. I can tell you absolutely no way.
I
Interviewer16:02
All right. I want to talk about your leadership and your leadership style. I think you've already given us a sense of it, but where did you learn leadership? Did you have a coach? Did you have a mentor? Was there a book that was important to you?
J
Joaquin Duato16:16
Yeah. Look, I am a 37-year veteran of Johnson & Johnson. So, I have been 7 years in the company, so I've been there a while. So, I am a product of the development opportunities that Johnson & Johnson provided me. Johnson & Johnson is a built company. People made careers at Johnson & Johnson. It's not only about a single job. So, that's something not infrequent in Johnson & Johnson. When I go around and we also have a lot of CEOs in other companies that came from Johnson & Johnson. That's because we are a company that pays a significant attention to talent development, and that's a source of growth and a source of differentiation for us, too. As far as how am I as a leader, you will have to ask our people to know how they perceive me as a leader, but I am because of the company I am, I am a mission-driven individual, and I'm a people-focused individual. So, I think that ultimately the difference that I can make as a CEO it's about how I can catalyze, how I can channel the energy of our 140,000 employees to do their best every single day. If I am able to do that, then I'm doing my job.
I
Interviewer17:20
So, it's more about inspiring them than about telling them what to do.
J
Joaquin Duato17:24
It's a You cannot think and I tell you that from the perspective of a 37-year veteran, you cannot think that you can tell employees what to do. You have to be able to set a framework in which you want them to make the right decisions and you have to trust that they are going to be the right people with the right integrity to do what's right.
I
Interviewer17:43
Yeah, so you had 30-plus years of experience with Johnson & Johnson before you became CEO, but everyone always says the CEO job is different in ways you can't always imagine. What was the biggest surprise to you about the job after you assumed it 4 years ago?
J
Joaquin Duato18:02
So, I look, I had a long career in Johnson & Johnson that prepared me well for the job, absolutely, and it gives me the ability to have perspective when I look at things even as big as I became CEO. So, I mean, overall, the CEO, you know, is normally the last voice in making many decisions, right? So, when I talk to CEOs and when I look at myself, there's always a common thing that I hear and it applies to myself, too, is that sometimes you wish you had made some decisions earlier. Let's say that sometimes we delay taking the tough decisions. So, that's something that is a common denominator. If I look back, you know, I may have benefited from and the company may have benefited from taking some tough decisions earlier. And I think that's something that when I reflect back, I have to consider. At the same time, you know, you are not making the decisions in isolation. It's important to have a sounding board. It's important to think through things and it's important not to rush into decisions. But my lesson is that you have to face the tough decisions and make calls.
I
Interviewer19:09
I had a similar conversation recently with Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, who said Jack Welch gave him that advice. He said, "You have to particularly on people, you have to move fast. Don't delay. Move very fast." And Brian said he said to Jack Welch, "Well, is that what you did?" He said, "Of course that's not what I did, but that's what you should"
J
Joaquin Duato19:27
Absolutely. I think it's easier after the fact.
I
Interviewer19:29
It's easier said than done, let's say. But normally when you look back, you said I should have done it earlier.
J
Joaquin Duato19:34
I wish I had. Any other mistakes you've made that you feel you've learned from over the course of your life?
I learn every day and I learn from the successes and from the things that I don't do right. So I think that, you know, part of our role as CEOs is always being in a learning mode and that's the spirit I want to instill in the employees of Johnson & Johnson. I want everybody at Johnson & Johnson, no matter your job, to be able to be in a learning mode and to progress every year. As a matter of fact, we have a full dedication to learning at all employees. We have a Every employee at Johnson & Johnson has one day to prepare what we call a learning plan. So as part of your objectives, I want to see what is your learning plan. And we have a lot of resources today.
I
Interviewer20:16
Every employee, no matter if you are a first-line operator, a clinical representative, an assistant, everybody at Johnson & Johnson has to have a learning plan and that's part of your goals. I think that learning is something that is required for Johnson & Johnson to be able to advance and to evolve. If we are a company that are a big company, where people stay long, our average tenure is more than 10 years globally, then every year we need to evolve, we need to learn, otherwise we're going to lag behind. So everybody needs to learn, everybody needs to progress, not only the people that are high potentials, everybody in the company.
By the way, I should have mentioned to the script those of you who were up early this morning that Chris Jordan, who led our morning workout, used to be with the Johnson & Johnson
J
Joaquin Duato20:57
employee, you know, I mean
I
Interviewer20:58
human performance institute.
J
Joaquin Duato21:00
We had a company called the Human Performance Institute. Chris was part of it and it came from the idea that you have to train executives like they were performance athletes.
I
Interviewer21:10
Athletes, yeah.
J
Joaquin Duato21:11
And that's what we develop and all our employees go through this course.
I
Interviewer21:18
Yeah, my understanding is it used to offer this as a service to the world. Now it's exclusively for your employees.
J
Joaquin Duato21:24
Now it's for our employees, but you know, we have the IP and we are willing to share it if somebody wants to know more about it. What we are not trying to do now is to commercialize it, but our employees all have gone through the human performance institute.
I
Interviewer21:38
Well, I went through it myself, the executive program 10 years ago. I highly recommend it. So if you do open it up a little bit to our members, I'm sure some of them would appreciate it. I want to go back to the Credo because you've referred to it several times. It sits there on the wall at Johnson & Johnson. I think cynics sometimes roll their eyes it's just a bunch of words on the wall. How do you take something like that and make it real, make it living, make it have meaning to your employees?
J
Joaquin Duato22:03
Thank you. So the way the Credo comes to life is in the way you use your judgment to make decisions. So that's very important. The Credo is not only a principle statement. Everybody can have one and now everybody has it. Ours has more than 80 years as I said before. But it comes to life when you make decisions and it clearly states that the priority is the patient, the employees, the communities and then if you do well for these three stakeholders, then you are going to do well for your shareholders. So what do we do? I mean, we rate all our managers based on the Credo values every year.
I
Interviewer22:39
Really? It's part of the year.
J
Joaquin Duato22:41
It's part of the rating system. We survey all our employees on how the company is doing. We have Credo action plans at all levels of the company every single year and we do Credo challenges in which we train our employees on how to make decisions based on the Credo. So we put a problem and then we discuss based on the Credo what type of solution or decision you may address. And it helps our people to make decisions based on values and based on our credo. And it's very often in the company that people say stop, this is something that we need to think about because it may interfere with
I
Interviewer23:17
And what happens when the credo answer comes into conflict with the P&L?
J
Joaquin Duato23:22
Look, over the long term, being a company that is based on values and ethics always pays. So, when the credo has short-term interference with economic issues, we always look for the long term. Because ultimately, over the long term, you need to be able to balance the interest of all the stakeholders and always putting the patient first.
I
Interviewer23:44
Very quickly, before we go, do you have your own personal longevity hack?
J
Joaquin Duato23:49
Look, I try to be disciplined in everything I do, and that's my longevity hack. And I try to instill that discipline also in the company. I think a company like Johnson & Johnson needs to be good and disciplined in our execution. We need to have clear priorities, clear goals, and we need to measure our progress, benchmark ourselves with the competition, and whether we do it right or we do it wrong, we need to learn from that.
I
Interviewer24:13
Joaquin, fascinating conversation. Thanks for taking the time to be with us. Really appreciate it.
J
Joaquin Duato24:19
Thank you.