Faces of HR: Jayson Johnson’s Journey to Impact

Jayson Johnson’s career took an unexpected turn when he decided to trade in his fundraising hat for a role in talent acquisition at Genentech. Driven by a desire to make a significant impact in the tech industry, he was drawn to the company’s commitment to scientific innovation and its people.

“As a fundraiser, I had the opportunity to guide donors in making a positive difference through their philanthropic support,” Johnson explained to HR Daily Advisor. “In talent acquisition, I saw the chance to recruit individuals who could contribute to Genentech’s mission of improving patient outcomes through groundbreaking research.”

Now leading Strategic Partnerships and serving as Chief of Staff for the Diversity Office, Johnson plays a pivotal role in driving Genentech’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. His focus on fostering belonging, advancing inclusive research, and transforming society reflects his passion for creating a more equitable and inclusive workplace.

In our latest Faces, meet Jayson Johnson.

Who is your biggest influence in the industry?

Quita Highsmith, the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Genentech and my current manager, is my biggest inspiration. She is a bold and visionary leader. She is a changemaker.  She knows how to inspire and influence others to bring about change and does so in a thoughtful way that resonates with our people and with the business. 

Even before I had the chance to work directly for her, I had the opportunity to collaborate with her on several projects, and it struck me how she invests in her team members and collaborators. As an example, my first interaction with Quita was when I asked her to be a panelist for a diversity recruitment event at Genentech that I had just started called The Change Sequence. Being new to Genentech at the time, I was grateful that she took the time to be a part of the inaugural Black History Month event, and even more grateful that we were able to share her authentic leadership with prospective talent who were considering careers at Genentech. 

At another Change Sequence event a few years later, I asked Quita to be the keynote speaker covering Advancing Inclusive Research^Ⓡ(AIR), Genentech’s core initiative to design and implement inclusive clinical studies that represent the diverse world around us. At that time, there was another very senior Genentech leader who was considering leaving the company to pursue other career opportunities. And it was Quita’s speech, passion and expertise on the topic, and the tremendous opportunity we had to improve the lives of our patients through AIR, that inspired that leader to stay and be a major catalyst for this and many other D&I initiatives.  

Working with Quita has pushed me to be a better and stronger leader, and to be a leader who shows up authentically. Her leadership has given me the permission that so many of us often need to be ourselves in the workplace. One thing that I pride myself on is being a connector – she and I are alike in that way. She has helped me see how to leverage that skill set for the good of the organization and to Transform Society.

What’s your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

My biggest mistake was showing up at a leadership team meeting not prepared to speak in depth about a topic on which I was presenting. I remember vividly going into this leadership team meeting with a recommendation with only surface-level data to support my recommendation, and I got asked a lot of questions from business leaders in the meeting that I was not prepared to answer. It was a hard lesson and reminder that anything we do in the HR space needs to align to not only what is good for our people, but also what is good for the business. I quickly learned the importance of thoroughly preparing for meetings, collaborating cross-functionally to get data and insights from key stakeholders, and even practicing my presentations with colleagues who can challenge me to think holistically about my remarks, and anticipate the questions I might receive. 

What’s your favorite part about working in the industry?

My favorite part of my job is fostering an inclusive environment where people can thrive and do their best work, producing the best outcomes for our patients. One of the ways I do that is by fostering a sense of community that helps break down barriers and connects people. A lot of the work that I do centers on brokering meaningful relationships between people who may not otherwise intersect with each other or even feel like they have permission to intersect with each other. So, for example, a more junior level person may have the perception that “I’m too junior to talk to that VP!” One of my skills as a connector is to break down those barriers—whether they are real or perceived—and help people make those connections so that they can thrive in the work they are doing. 

What makes Genentech unique is that, while we have hierarchies by virtue of our titles and tenure, I find that our leaders are eager to engage with employees at all levels to offer advice, share and learn best practices, and coach our people on navigating their careers. I’m proud that we have instituted formal inclusive programs such as annual Manager Belonging Goals and Officer D&I Action Plans that help our leaders pull belonging and equity into their everyday business and management practices in meaningful and tangible ways. Also, the tremendous strides we have made in embedding belonging and equity into our people practices, and workplace facilities goes a long way.

Belonging is a powerful word. It is the difference between one believing that they deserve to occupy a particular space, role or environment versus one having to validate or be granted permission to be there. I strive to ramp up that sense of belonging so that all of our people know that they have earned their seat in our organization and deserve to be there and enable behavior that reinforces that. By cultivating this sense of belonging, our people can bring forth ideas and collaborate across the enterprise and ultimately bring forward new discoveries for our patients.

What’s your least favorite part, and how would you change it?

My least favorite part of my job is that I wish I could easily and quickly scale behavior and activities that break down barriers that do not foster belonging in our organization. Cultivating community and brokering connections between our people takes time and is highly personalized. So, in an organization of over thirteen thousand employees, I find it challenging to play that role of connector for all of our people.

A sentiment that I live by is we can’t achieve inclusion by standing in isolation. By that, I mean that we can’t continue to isolate ourselves or operate in our own silos. Doing so prevents us from the inclusion that allows us to thrive as people and innovate as an organization.

I encourage employees to proactively branch out and forge meaningful relationships with colleagues across the organization and industry, and at various levels. Identifying common interests on a professional as well as a personal level adds business value to the organization and helps us operate with efficiency and quickly deliver outcomes. 

Imagine if each of us in our company set a goal to get to know at least one new person each month. For those who lead teams, such a practice could potentially help with talent development, retention, and succession planning. For individual contributors, meeting a new person each month could help identify synergies in the work, strengthen collaborations and help share best practices. From a diversity and inclusion perspective, such proactive networking would help foster cultural awareness and appreciation. And from a business value perspective, learning more about communities other than your own further helps you understand the unique needs of our patients.

How can HR most effectively demonstrate its value to the leadership team?

As HR professionals, it’s important for us to understand the business. We do our best work by understanding the day-to-day lives of our people in the business they are advancing. 

This is so important both in my current D&I role and was especially true of my time in talent acquisition. The more you understand the business and how it works, what drives business value, what creates revenue for the company, the more you can provide strong recommendations on how to shape strategy. I was new to the biotech industry when I stepped into my first role in HR as a diversity talent discovery partner sourcing talent for our manufacturing organization. I had to quickly get to know the pharma manufacturing business – the process, structure, timelines, as well as the skill sets, and training needed by people who work in that line of business. The more I dove into understanding the business, the more effective I was in proactively building strong talent networks of prospective talent to support our hiring needs. 

From a DE&I perspective, it is also important to proactively build relationships. A large part of the value I brought in my talent acquisition role was creating spaces for the broadest talent pool possible to get to know our company at events like the Change Sequence or through establishing a Genentech presence at key industry conferences.

This allowed me to position Genentech as an employer of choice among diverse prospective talent communities and make it clear that we are a welcoming place where all talent can thrive.  My deep understanding of the business coupled with the market intelligence of where talent lived allowed me to reach the broadest talent pool possible and made sure that we were finding the best and brightest minds to work at Genentech – not leaving any talent community uncovered. 

What are you most proud of?

What I’m most proud of is being in a position to lead people, lead teams, see their growth, and see our collective impact on our patients, our business, and our society. I have seen my direct reports grow. I have celebrated my mentees getting promotions. And I applauded colleagues tackling business challenges. 

I’m equally proud of the opportunity I have to make a broader impact by coaching and leading a network of people who don’t report to me. As a Black, gay man working at a senior level in the organization, I embrace the chance I have to support others along in their respective journey whether it’s sharing best practices with peers and senior leaders on how to lead inclusively, advocating for organizational policies that embrace our unique differences, or mentoring and sponsoring talent from all backgrounds.

Do you have any advice for people entering the profession?

As HR professionals, we are responsible for embedding diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of our profession. My advice to any HR newcomer would be to deepen your understanding of how DE&I is not an afterthought but instead woven into your people practices from the beginning. This includes everything from pay transparency and equity, to cultural awareness in learning curricula, to equitable succession planning and talent development, to diversity in candidate sourcing. DE&I is everybody’s business, and it’s our collective effort that will cultivate a brighter future. For example, at Genentech, we developed an Inclusive Hiring Certification, an interactive program required of all employees to help teams and hiring managers consistently and effectively conduct equitable and inclusive candidate selection processes.

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