Women Who Lead in Life Sciences Executive Breakfast (a Reflection...)

Key Take-Aways

Last week, the leaders of Slalom’s Healthcare and Life Science teams hosted several clients at the Women Who Lead in Life Sciences Breakfast put on by the San Francisco Business Times. There were over 300 attendees including AbbVie, Nektar, J&J, Slalom, Bayer, Exelixis, Gilead and more.

Slalom was able to serve as a connective tissue among female Chief Executives and Directors in the Bay Area, specific to the Life Sciences space, who are passionate about how life sciences companies are transforming culture, policies, and programs that will result in more equity and opportunity for women. 

This was a timely discussion about the state of diversity in the region’s booming life sciences industry. 

Slalom had the pleasure of hosting 20 female executives with a discussion focused around sharing their personal stories on how many women have made it into the C-Suite, the boardroom, and the lab, and what does the leadership pipeline look like. 

“It's inspiring and encouraging to see this across the board.” 

-Purti Kanodia, a Digital Health Solution Principal at Slalom.  

The lively Q & A format was moderated by San Francisco Business Times biotech reporter, Ron Leuty. 

Here are some key take-aways: 

1. Always negotiate! Men are “much more likely to negotiate when first coming onboard then women,” noted several of the panelists. Negotiating a higher than average increase helps to even the playing field for everyone at the company.
2. Give back: Look to mentor two individuals every year. If every person does this, the ROI will be unparalleled. It's easy to get busy and overlook this step, however, we could make the biggest direct impact with the future generations.
3. Women need to be each other's allies: Several panelists remarked that men were more likely to be an ally for them than other women in terms of referring them to roles or championing their career growth.  Remember to support other women who are going through a similar journey as yourself, your experience can guide them exponentially and it becomes a chain reaction for future generations.   
4. We now have the data to support diversity: Real diversity is needed to drive innovation and change - diversity in thought, race, gender, etc. Companies are more likely to be successful with a diverse leadership group. While the data shows this, it won’t stand alone, we have to act to create these diverse teams.
5. Ask for transparency: Metrics are key to success.  You cannot change, that you don't measure. Ask for transparency around this issue. Updating metrics and increasing visibility with promotions and management structure is also necessary for ensuring equitable pay.  

Large pharma players have clearly prioritized diversity as one of their top goals. They are promoting and growing women leaders in their organizations. They have created lots of opportunities for them via rotation opportunities, affinity groups, or leaders just being available to offer mentorship. It's inspiring and encouraging to see this across the board.   

These conversations are only the start of how we would like to serve as a platform for these creative collaborations.

Specifically, in areas where Slalom can use our expertise in and around technology to accelerate the mission of organizations in the Healthcare & Life Science space, and how together we can significantly move the needle on cancer. 

If you’d like to stay part of future conversations or to learn more about Slalom’s work in this area, please email Aisha Quaintance, Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Solutions, Slalom at Aisha@Slalom.com.

Slalom is a modern consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation.