"I think that Israel has a lack of leadership," outgoing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) president and CEO Shlomo Yanai told Channel 2's "Meet the Press". "What is leadership? It is to present a vision and deal with the challenges to achieve it. Who is dealing with the diplomatic and economic problems? Where is concern for the citizen?"
Yanai called for opening a dialogue with Hamas. "We should open a dialogue with whomever we can, including Hamas." He said that it would not be easy, adding, "We cannot pick our neighbors, and when they are in power, their conduct changes. It will be hard at first, but it has to be done, because we must continue to hope that we can reach where we want to go."
Yanai said that the public debate over executive pay was completely justified, but that the question should be changed. "The source of the debate should be the link between a company's performance and the salary its CEO receives."
Asked by Dana Weiss why he left Teva, Yanai replied, "I think I said it as simply as possible. After 32 years in the IDF and after laying the groundwork at Teva for the coming years, the time had come to embark on a new road." He dismissed rumors that Teva's board of directors has basically forced him out, saying they were inventions by headline-seeking journalists.
As for a possible entry into politics, Yanai said, "I have not yet decided whether to enter politics. I don’t know what I want to do, but I know that I want to contribute to the community. In the business world, I have a lot more to do, and I have many ideas and options that I want to examine."
As for politics, he said, "Of course I have a world view, but I don’t know which party it suits. The situation is complicated, because there is no longer a clear differentiation between Left, Right, and Center."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 8, 2012
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