How Gilead Sciences' High Performers Reached Even Higher Heights with CCI

The Challenge 

In their quest for excellence, our partners at Gilead Sciences faced an intriguing challenge. They wanted to elevate the performance of their already elite executive sales representatives even further. These top performers, representing the highest tier of three sales levels within the company, needed a fresh approach to reach new heights of success in an increasingly competitive and pressure-filled environment.

As their name would suggest, the folks at Gilead Sciences love making decisions based on science. Gilead read CCI’s research on how developing high levels of coachability can lead to improved performance. They decided that training to further develop their high performers' coachability was necessary. Gilead saw that the road to excellence requires seeking out, being open to, and acting on nuanced, even "nit-picky" feedback and coaching, so even the already-coachable can continue to elevate to highly coachable levels.

Gilead also wanted a learning experience that would be deeply engaging for their people – a session that was both effective and enjoyable. 

So, CCI got to work crafting a program that met Gilead’s needs. 

Starting with Soccer: Building the Coachability Foundation

The journey began in April 2024. Our first program with Gilead, entitled “Mastery on the Field,” took place at the University of Central Florida. Here, we connected coachability to mastery, which we describe as “the ability to perform a skill at an elite level across contexts, situations, and pressures.” True mastery is a level of skill proficiency that few reach.  We emphasized that even some of the very best in their fields haven’t reached the level of expertise mastery requires. 

Even high performers have room to grow, and coachability plays a huge role in getting them there. We shared how to identify the right coaches, ask for specific feedback, practice a skill intentionally and with quality, and remain receptive to new insights – even from challenging sources.

Because our CCI team members Jake Weiss and Marcia McDermott have backgrounds in soccer, all of the research on mastery was presented alongside examples of how mastery looks in the soccer world. In fact, we chose to host the workshop at UCF so we could learn more about mastery from their award-winning soccer coach and 1999 World Cup champion, Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak. Participants got a chance to learn the science of mastery from CCI, listen to the the real-world experience of a true master in her field, practice their own soccer skills a bit on the field and then apply the  concepts to their own work journey. 

Participants reported that the session was exactly what we hoped for (5 stars out of 5 stars!) – both effective and enjoyable. 

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for High Performers: Delivering Peer Feedback

Building on this foundation, CCI’s next session with Gilead addressed peer feedback. Gilead sales reps were working within matrix teams, an organizational structure where employees from different teams communicate and work together.  This meant that the sales reps were often giving and receiving feedback from peers and colleagues who were neither above nor below them in the company hierarchy.

So with a basis in coachability established, Gilead and CCI determined that the next program executive sales reps needed to continue to ascend toward mastery was a session on giving and receiving peer feedback. We created a session that didn’t just train a feedback model or framework in isolation; rather, we wanted to train folks on how to have a full feedback conversation that mirrored what their real-life experiences would be like. 

The new initiative, "Delivering Feedback: The Rocket Fuel for Mastery," launched at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando in May 2025. Day one began with participants re-examining their coachability assessment reports and writing their preferences for receiving peer feedback on flip charts. These charts revealed how differently each person receives feedback. This crucial insight helped representatives understand the importance of tailoring their feedback delivery to individual differences and preferences.

Another highlight was the participation of astronaut Dr. Don Thomas, who spent over 45 days in space across four missions. He shared valuable insights about feedback dynamics in space teams, contrasting the direct, life-or-death nature of space feedback with the more conversational approach needed in corporate settings. His facility tour and discussions about mastery reinforced the program's core principles about practice, repetition, and understanding different communication styles.

The second day focused intensively on practical application through simulations. Participants engaged in three hours of small group exercises, receiving real-time feedback from CCI facilitators. The program uniquely challenged representatives by having them practice with various personas - from highly receptive to resistant individuals - helping them develop adaptable feedback approaches beyond the basic SBI (Situation, Behavior, Impact) framework.

The Future: Virtual Integration

Looking ahead, Gilead plans to continue this momentum with virtual feedback labs. These sessions will focus on real-world scenarios, allowing representatives to practice their newly acquired skills through Zoom. CCI’s peer feedback framework will continue to guide these conversations, ensuring feedback remains a two-way dialogue rather than a one-directional message.

Impact and Continuous Growth 

Developing their coachability has helped Gilead's top performers continue to level up in their overall performance. By addressing both sides of the feedback equation – improving in both receiving and delivering coaching and feedback – CCI’s program has equipped these elite sales representatives with the tools needed to continue their growth and maintain their competitive edge in an ever-evolving marketplace.  And in 2026, we’ll continue building on this foundation with another innovative program that impacts their bottom-line success. 

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