BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

A Top Pharma Exec's Warning To Millennial Women: Avoid The Perfection Trap

Following
This article is more than 8 years old.

As one of pharma's most powerful leaders, Christi Shaw is not only committed to improving the lives of patients and addressing the needs of healthcare professionals, she's also committed to creating a culture of diversity and inclusion as President of Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation. With more than 25 years of leadership experience in the industry, Shaw understands all too well the unique challenges that women face in climbing the corporate ladder and creating high-performing cultures of growth.

I recently spoke with Shaw where she candidly shared her insights on what it takes to make it to the corner office, and specifically, how women can avoid the "perfection" trap.

What’s one piece of career advice that you would give to millennial women?

Celebrate your diversity and individuality – be yourself. It’s critical to stay true to who you are, and to use your experiences to fuel you as you move forward. This is your unique social capital that can ultimately help you move up in your career.

An important part of this authenticity is avoiding “perfection” as a goal.  This is a non-starter because there is no such thing as perfection, and so many of us hesitate to try new things or innovate because we’re afraid of failure, or of being perceived as imperfect. I think it’s important to never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.  Rather than seeking perfection, I strive for excellence and doing what feels right: for me, it’s not about how I can be perfect, but where and how I can have the greatest impact.

Describe your approach to building your professional network.

Building a support system of mentors – a personal board of directors – with different strengths really helped me grow early on in my career, and I highly recommend that others seek out mentors with diverse skill sets that can help in different ways.

I also believe it’s important for leaders to find mentees – especially as they rise in seniority – because a mentee can give you a sense of what’s going on in your organization. In the years since I’ve joined Novartis, the number of women that have reached out to me—to ask for mentoring or to say that they want to work with me—has been remarkable. It’s been really rewarding to not only foster their professional growth but also have insight into the needs and concerns of associates across the organization.

Your biggest career risk?

Believe it or not, my riskiest career move was joining Novartis. I had no previous experience in oncology, the division where I first entered the company, or in managing the medical affairs and clinical development side of an organization. While I wasn’t actively looking for a new position, I was captivated during my first meeting with the head of Novartis Oncology, where he convinced me that I’d be enlisting in a deeply meaningful “mission to the moon” to cure cancer. I saw this as an opportunity to channel my passion for helping patients, and so I pushed myself to leave my comfort zone. This turned out to be a hugely rewarding move for me, and it reinforced my belief that it’s important to shatter one’s own assumptions about what’s possible.

What’s been one of the toughest leadership lessons you’ve learned over the course of your career?

Earlier in my career, I mistakenly thought that the time it takes to get different perspectives hampered our ability to get things done quickly. I have since realized that inclusiveness doesn’t slow things down – in fact, it has the opposite effect.  Making a quick decision on your own and then having to revisit things again and again, actually wastes time and resources in the long run. However, getting diverse input and collaborating in the upfront allows us to make the best decision and progress rapidly once that decision is made.