Breaking Point: Who Cracks Under Pressure?

Heat and high pressure have a way of magnifying the significance of flaws—a fact well-known to potters, glassblowers and private equity investors. Under ordinary circumstances a particular biotech executive might be a paradigm of ethical behavior. She could easily enjoy a 40-year career at a pharmaceutical company without demonstrating a single serious lapse in judgment. But install that same executive at the helm of a biotech startup. Have her put her life savings at risk. Then tell her the company’s prospects for raising a second round of financing hinge on the results of the latest clinical trials. Your odds of having picked the right executive for the job may be lower than you think.

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