Leadership has many aspects, but I think it is best defined as the vision that moves other people in a purposeful direction. Aside from my refereeing, I also coached sports teams for 30 years. I developed most of my leadership style from my coaching experience. To win as a coach, you must know your athletes’ strengths and weaknesses and then employ them effectively. All of this begins with the vision of what you need them to do and getting them to see the vision with you. If you can do this, you will have their full attention and cooperation for a season. This same set of ideas can work in companies and applies to any group large or small.
Aspart of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Matthew Beckman.
Dr. Matthew Beckman began his career as a graduate student in Nutritional Physiology at Iowa State University where he earned his Master’s and PhD degrees performing his graduate dissertation work at the National Animal Disease Center, in Ames, IA. He did his post-doctoral work in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied molecular mechanisms of vitamin D metabolism. Before moving into private industry and his present position at GENETWORx, Dr. Beckman served a dual role as a professor for 12 years in the Departments of Biochemistry and Orthopedic Surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical Center, Richmond, VA. Currently, Dr. Beckman is the Director of Laboratory Services at GENETWORx, a molelcular diagnostics laboratory. At GENETWORx, Dr. Beckman has overseen the performance of more than 10,000,000 COVID tests to date and is an early diagnostics laboratory partner for pharmacogenetics, infectious disease, cancer genomics, pathogen, and toxicology services.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
From my youngest memories I have loved and appreciated the biological world. Growing up, I also lived in several places across the U.S., so I was able to explore many differences in our great country’s landscape and extreme differences in fauna from my West to Midwest to East coast stints.
The one constant in my mind was that I loved to help people and I loved working in science. As I trained for my eventual career, doors began to open as mentors along the way steered me toward opportunities. One day I recognized that I had no real idea how I got to where I was in my career, but I sensed that I was not completely happy. So, in my 40s, I made a crucial decision to restart my career, this time more purposeful and more in line with my goals and inner compass. My decision was to use my background in technical molecular biology and enter the field of healthcare. The pace is much faster, and my love of innovation and dedication to science helped my first few endeavors to be successful. My past training in academics also provided great value during the pandemic. We were able to apply big ideas right from the onset of the COVID-19 virus in March 2020 to create functional workflows that our molecular laboratory used to expand and scale to capacities that enabled GENETWORx to make a positive impact during the pandemic by providing expedited accurate testing nationwide. This gave me great satisfaction and validated decisions to change the course of my career.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I think it is interesting that we used a county library building to start a lab, and I was the very first employee to physically come in to work as restrictions began to ease from the pandemic. In some ways, a library is a very ideal setting to develop a lab space. The staging area and book return are in the back, the space in front is wide open, and in general people feel very comfortable upon entering even if they do not recognize the inner library. But when I mention it, they immediately connect, and the concept works for them. We have now transformed every square inch of the building, except for the old elevator in the middle as the only reminder of its history. I have joked to our CEO, Brian O’Neill, that this place is busting at the seams with people and equipment. Pretty soon, we may need a bigger library.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I once took my son and two of his friends to a course in refereeing soccer. It was for them to be licensed to referee and make a little cash. We registered late so I had to take the boys to a city an hour away and spend two full days while they were in training. When I complained about this upcoming event, a friend mused that I should sign up, too, and become a referee. I thought, why not, and signed right up. The funny part is that all three boys finished their day 2 test in half the time I did and all of them beat my score. I barely passed even though I thought I knew the game of soccer well. It took a while to live that down, but eventually, I became an avid local referee and refereed adult league for many years before my kids grew up. There is a characteristic tan line on the legs of soccer refs, which helps identify you in that sport. Just saying.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
GENETWORx offers lab testing services for physician groups, universities, businesses, government, and many others across the spectrum of the economy. This great opportunity is, likewise, a responsibility we have to the community and the nation as a whole. We are continually striving to provide fast, accurate and comprehensive testing products.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
A local Richmond, Va., doctor at an elderly care center during the early stages of the pandemic was desperate to save the lives of his patients. Once the illness took hold of this small inner community, many of these individuals were dealing with secondary complications associated with age and the deaths were mounting. The outbreak made the evening and printed news and really scared the Richmond area. GENETWORx reached out to the doctor and offered testing when, at the time, other testing services were taking several days to report patient results. We made their testing a top priority and within 24 hours all patients in that facility were identified as either with or without COVID-19. I remember the doctor on the news that night praising GENETWORx for saving the lives of his patients. As laboratorians, we do not always see our impact that close to home. When you save a life, you also save that life for their families and loved ones. The true impact is immense.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
GENETWORx was founded in 2013 as a pharmacogenetics testing company. Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects their response to drugs. So many individual traits can be identified to help patients with their course of drug therapy. This knowledge avoids adverse effects of a medical drug and can lessen complications with determining an optimal dose. This testing is also key to understanding an individual’s risk to pharmaceutical therapies and the need to learn more on the effects of race and genetic, socioeconomic, and environmental dynamics at play. It is a concerted effort to get all parties on the same page and educate on the need for individualized medical practice because it nudges at barriers in the conventional patient-doctor relationship.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership has many aspects, but I think it is best defined as the vision that moves other people in a purposeful direction. Aside from my refereeing, I also coached sports teams for 30 years. I developed most of my leadership style from my coaching experience. To win as a coach, you must know your athletes’ strengths and weaknesses and then employ them effectively. All of this begins with the vision of what you need them to do and getting them to see the vision with you. If you can do this, you will have their full attention and cooperation for a season. This same set of ideas can work in companies and applies to any group large or small.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why.
- You are accountable for everything you say.
- You are accountable for everything you do.
- Start every day by being organized.
- Don’t forget to show your appreciation to the people who do the work.
- Be nice to everyone, because it does matter, and people are watching.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂 The movement I would choose would be “Rise of the Human.” I think we forget how specialized we are as humans and that we are designed for incredible accomplishments. We have a lot of narratives prominent today where we focus too much on limitations rather than our best traits. I would like to see this swing back to our greater aspects, and who knows, if enough individuals take this up, we could realize another dimension of potential.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“On the anvil of adversity, character and strength are forged” — William Iatesta. I read that as a young man and never forgot it. It pretty much sums up my life.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I identify with Elon Musk. I have not created an electric car or a space craft; however, I identify with his work ethic and love to watch his interviews. I have the thought now and then about what it would be like to meet incredible people in history, and what it must have been like to know them when they were alive. Then I think of how we have geniuses among us now.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook.
You can follow GENETWORx at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/genetworx
https://www.facebook.com/genetworxlab/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!