McKesson Medical-Surgical’s Brad Hilton outlines a new commercial model designed to create greater integration across teams, reduce friction and deliver greater value to customers.
As he steps into his new role as Chief Commercial Officer at McKesson Medical-Surgical, Brad Hilton is focused on a central objective: bringing a large, complex commercial organization into tighter alignment so it can operate with greater speed, consistency and customer impact and position the business for continued growth as customer needs evolve.
In a recent conversation with Repertoire Magazine Publisher Scott Adams, Hilton described the rationale behind the new structure as both practical and performance driven.
“Historically different markets and sales teams operated independently with a high degree of specialization, and marketing was working independently with each of those teams,” he said. While that model had benefits, it also created opportunities to be more integrated. “The goal of this new structure is to help us move faster, move more effectively, and win more by simplifying how the organization works across teams.”
At the core of the reorganization is the integration of sales, marketing and sales operations functions that have historically operated in parallel. Hilton’s vision is to create a more unified commercial engine that ensures “the right strategies, the right priorities and the right investments” are aligned across the business, and that customers experience a more consistent version of the organization.
“From my perspective, McKesson Medical-Surgical is an incredible machine,” he noted. “And sometimes our customers don’t get to experience the full breadth of what we offer.” That disconnect, he suggested, is exactly what the new model is designed to address: ensuring the organization “consistently puts its best foot forward in front of customers.”
Equally central to Hilton’s vision is how technology reshapes the day-to-day experience of sales teams. He pointed to the opportunity to streamline administrative work so reps can spend more time focused on customers and growth.
“Right now, the urgent is crowding out the important,” he said, referencing routine tasks like order status updates that pull time away from customer engagement. The goal, he added, is to
“let technology handle the rest” so that reps can focus on the work only they can do such as building relationships and solving customer problems.
That includes a more deliberate use of AI, not as a replacement for human interaction, but as a tool for enhancing it. “It’s not here to replace you, it’s here to assist you,” Hilton said. In his view, AI can act as a kind of digital partner, surfacing relevant insights and opportunities while allowing sales professionals to spend more time building relationships and solving customer problems.
Bringing customers closer
Hilton acknowledged that specialization across the business is both a necessity and a strength at scale. Within McKesson’s Medical Surgical organization, deep expertise across markets and functions is essential given the complexity and regulatory demands of the healthcare supply chain. As the organization continues to evolve, there is an opportunity to bring that expertise together in a way that makes the experience more seamless for customers. While many interactions are already smooth and efficient, the goal is to ensure that consistency holds true across every touchpoint, especially when customers need support the most.
“Most of the time a transaction or experience goes off without a hitch and customers think, ‘Wow, that was seamless,’” Hilton said. “But on the rare occasion there’s a challenge, it can be complicated because we are working with different expertise, different specializations.”
The intent behind integration, he explained, is to reduce that friction especially when things don’t go as planned. “Part of this work is bringing the team together to identify our leverage points and the most pressing pain points across all our markets,” he said, “so that we are a unified team for customers and are more responsive, better at solving their biggest problems, with a quicker and more coordinated response when they need us most.”
Hilton also emphasized that the effort extends beyond frontline sales to the sales operations function, which he described as a critical behind-the-scenes driver of consistency. By standardizing tools, processes and training across teams, he said, the organization can better equip both employees and customers with a more streamlined experience.
The discipline of staying customer-focused
For Hilton, the difference between a good sales organization and a high-performing one starts well before strategy, structure or technology; it originates with purpose.
Performance is anchored in a clear sense of why the work matters. Within McKesson’s Medical-Surgical business, that purpose is rooted in enabling a healthcare system where providers and patients can thrive.
“Our purpose is to deliver a future where healthcare providers and patients thrive,” Hilton said. “Are we laying bricks, or are we building a cathedral?” For him, that framing matters. It shifts the focus from transactional output to meaningful impact on the front lines of care. “It’s hard out there as a patient… and it’s hard as a provider,” he added. “So how can we work hard to help them thrive?”
That sense of purpose, he argued, is what keeps teams from getting lost in activity that may be interesting but not essential. It also informs how leaders think about investment decisions particularly in tools, training and technology that are necessary for long-term competitiveness.
“We have to invest to win not just this year, but a decade from now,” he said, noting that sustained performance often requires trade-offs that favor long-term capability over short-term gains.
Hilton also pointed to adaptability as a defining trait of high performing teams. With the pace of change accelerating across healthcare and supply chain environments, he challenged leaders to be intentional about building their capacity to evolve.
“The world is changing faster than ever, so it’s important to work on your ability to keep up,” he said, framing growth as a deliberate discipline rather than an assumption. That mindset, he added, requires embracing discomfort and treating learning as an ongoing process.
At the same time, Hilton underscored a fundamental reality: no matter how much systems or tools evolve, customers remain in control. “Our customers have a choice every single day,” he said. “The day we forget that… we’ve lost our way.” That reality, he suggested, demands constant vigilance in keeping the customer at the center of everything we do.
Finally, Hilton returned to what he described as the foundation that determines whether any strategy succeeds or fails: culture. “Great tools, great purpose, great strategy… the culture is the activation layer,” he said. Elements like respect, engagement and enjoyment are not soft considerations, he argued, but daily conditions that determine whether teams can perform at their best.
Hilton’s framing of customers as “friends” captures a deeper cultural shift away from transactional selling. Indeed, authenticity is ultimately what drives outcomes. “Most of what we sell, they’re buying every single week,” he said. “We buy from people we think care about us and have our best interests at heart, and we avoid the people who feel transactional. It’s just humans buying from humans.”
Looking ahead
Hilton pointed to the strength of the team as the most immediate source of optimism within the organization. After a period marked by post-COVID adjustments and broader external and organizational shifts, he noted that the business is now entering a forward-looking phase.
“What I’m most excited about is my team and how we’ve evolved,” Hilton said. “That work is behind us. It’s time to go. I’m really excited about that.”
That sense of reset extends to culture as well. While he described the organization’s culture as strong, he emphasized that it cannot be static. “Recommitting to our culture is critical,” he said. “Our culture is strong and it can always be better. That won’t happen on its own. It requires effort, work and commitment.”
A key priority moving forward is accelerating growth with customers by deepening relationships and focusing on solutions that address real operational challenges. Hilton pointed to the opportunity to move beyond transactional engagement and instead build more consultative, value-driven partnerships. “We can bring them valuable solutions, and I think we can build something good together,” he said. “I’m looking forward to deeper customer relationships getting out there, really understanding their opportunities and pain points, and delivering value that helps them thrive.”
Personal development is also a central focus. “We need to continue to focus on growth and development for our own team career pathing, training, making sure everyone has a clear path forward,” Hilton said.
Finally, he pointed to recent momentum-building events, including a national sales conference, as important inflection points for the organization. The challenge now, he suggested, is sustaining that energy and translating it into consistent execution in the field.
Ride Days as Relationship Investments, Not Transactions
Hilton believes in the importance of ride days between manufacturer and distributor reps. They are long-term investments in trust, capability and partnership across the healthcare supply chain within McKesson’s Medical-Surgical business.
He emphasized the value of pairing newer and more experienced reps, noting that each brings complementary strengths: “The newer rep might bring a little more tech savvy; the seasoned rep brings experience navigating challenging situations. Everybody’s better for it.”
Hilton said ride days are most effective when they are viewed as relationship-building, not transactional sales calls. “If you view a ride day as an investment … it’s a completely different experience,” he said. Over time, those shared experiences build trust that often lasts decades.
“It’s almost impossible to spend a whole day in a car with someone and not get to know them,” he added, underscoring how those connections help shift the focus from selling products to delivering solutions.