For Strength is But a Matter of Focused Will
By Quincy Nang
Dr. Belén Garijo, Member of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, CEO Healthcare and a trained physician from Spain, was an ideal choice for the Voices in Leadership series on February 9, 2016 at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. An established leader on the global scale, Dr. Garijo shared with palpable enthusiasm lessons learned from a long journey of perseverance and successes.
Garijo’s unique experiences gave the audience a rare glimpse of multiple dimensions of the word “global”. “Global” leaders, in her view, are those that move beyond the known Europe and the United States contexts. “Global” organizations are those built around and empowered by diverse groups of individuals united by a shared vision. For Garijo, herein lies the key to a successful team: seeking across ranges of experiences is vital to ensuring “diversity” never becomes an objective, but instead transforms into a direct “consequence of good leadership”.
On the topic of training future leaders, she contends there is no better arena than the job itself to enhance personal growth. Identifying the individuals that seek to be owners of their own careers is the first step. Giving them opportunity to learn and apply newfound skills are subsequently critical portions of the mentorship process and leads them to build on successes and failures alike. “When you see a talented individual in the organization, you really throw [them] to the pool and you hope the person will really find [their] way to swim successfully.” This sink-or-swim environment is highly reminiscent of the brutally effective environment of clinical training, where fast progress is fueled by proactivity.
“I threw myself into the pool. I didn’t have to be pushed.”
This important tenet clearly paid off in her career.
Of the many qualities a future leader must possess, Garijo’s story provided plenty of traits to emulate. From the fervor not to let one’s career be shaped by social paradigms, to being flexible yet disciplined, many things stemmed from strong determination and willingness to chart new territories. Yet most importantly, it is the ability to develop trust that Garijo opted to emphasize. It is no surprise that someone who once shared her cellphone number with her entire company as an executive would hold transparency, mutual respect, and credibility high on her list of a leader’s most needed attributes.
The public health future leader has much to learn from Garijo, regardless of any reticence toward `Big Pharma`. Garijo cautioned that “Demonizing the [pharmaceutical] industry won’t fix the issues”, but leaders like her that combine passion for a common mission to build a healthier world, and determination, will forever reflect the bridging of forces that is greatly needed for positive change.
For more from the Voices in Leadership (@VoicesHSPH) series at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (@HarvardHSPH), visitwww.hsph.harvard.edu/voices.
Story edited by Esther Velasquez
