Karen Kaufman is a top executive coach, consultant, and keynote speaker. Her firm is KPartners. Karen is a pioneer in impression and relationship management.  Karen is currently partnering with me in our program Personal Power, The Art of Influencing Without Authority. 

In this episode Karen talks about the key impression factors that are precursors to building a “compatible and trusting” relationship with a senior leader. She shares practical tips for gaining access and stepping up in the everyday opportunities for impact. We talk about our own personal barriers that can hold us back and how to overcome each one.

You can find Karen on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/karendkaufman or at her company website at https://kpartners.com/. 

Lilian Li is a Compound Development Team Leader at Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In her role, she has been accountable for leading a cross-functional team focused on clinical development of pharmaceutical assets from first in human all the way to post-launch. 

In this episode, she shares about learning to both clarify expectations and seek and give feedback. She talks about the challenges that arise when we assume our manager’s lack of openness to a candid discussion, along with the culprit in our personal fears.

You can find Lilian on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/lilian-ying-li.

Pat Renzi is a Principal with Milliman, an international actuarial and consulting firm. Pat leads the Life Technology Solutions Practice, empowering insurers to understand and manage their risks, maintain profitability, and discover opportunities by building digital solutions.

In this episode, Pat focuses on her lessons in developing her leadership from technical team member through to global practice leader. She advocates for “being yourself,” rather than trying to emulate other leaders around you. Pat has developed an intentional approach to building trusted relationships and empowering a team.

You can find Pat on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/patricia-renzi-836764a.

This is the second "mini" episode of Season One. In each of the mini-episodes, Mary answers a question that she often hears from young leaders. 

The question for this episode is: How do I deal with naysayers at work? Mary begins with a story that turned her thinking around, from resisting naysayers to using them well.

Marc Ceusters is the owner of The Marc Ceusters Company and a consultant to life sciences companies. His work focuses on scientific advice about new therapies in mental health and strategic advice on disease identification for new biological targets. At the same time, he provides mentoring and coaching for key team leaders on many of his assignments. Marc is an exceptional drug development team leader himself, having spent many years with Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Beerse, Belgium.

In this episode, Marc tells a powerful story about a team that worked hard to make a difficult recommendation on a project and then found themselves with an unexpected shift in plan. He shares what he learned as a leader in order to bring the team back into alignment.

You can find Marc on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/themarcceusterscompany.

Julian Kaufmann is the CEO and President of the JDK Group. As an organizational consulting and coach, he works with top leaders and teams as well as those in the middle of organization. Prior to his current practice, he held numerous executive Human Resources roles across different industries.

In this episode, Julian shares the wisdom he has developed, what he calls some unifying theories about success in organizational life. You will hear about our tendency toward separateness and turf-building and how leadership can counter that natural drift, along with wisdom on how to bring a diverse set of people and interests to the table.

You can find Julian on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/julian-kaufmann-a2843 or his company website at https://www.jdkgroup.net/. 

John O'Brien is the Co-Founder and Chairman of ARdVRk Technologies, a technology firm transforming the way biopharmaceutical and medical device companies use augmented and virtual reality to engage and educate healthcare practitioners, and especially patients. In addition to his entrepreneurial venture at ARdVRk, John has a broad and deep experience leading sales forces, therapeutic areas, and strategy work in the pharmaceutical industry.

In this episode, John shares his experiences of learning to be strategic and intentional about influencing the people who matter to his results. That influence starts with being curious enough to really understand someone else, and mostly importantly understanding yourself. The web or matrix in our organizations are more complex than ever. His story about shifting gears to engage his boss rather than avoid him is priceless.

You can find John on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/john-o-brien-a2515154. Learn more about ARdVRk Technologies at https://www.ardvrktech.com/. 

Episode #4 is the first "mini" episode in season one. In each of the mini-episodes, Mary answers a question that she often hears from young leaders. 

The question for this episode is: How can I get to know senior leaders when I don't have  easy access to those leaders? The underlying concern often is how to understand what they care about in order to most effective engaging and influencing those leaders.

Mary shares how to use two of her Possibility Thinker Tools to support your effort.

Rachel is a Partner at Press Ganey, leading the Strategic Integration & Transformation practice. Prior to Press Ganey, she spent over 15 years at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Rachel began her career in a clinical role in the intensive care unit. She took several moves before being asked to lead Patient and Family Services. She essentially became the manager of the very people with whom she had started her career. 

Rachel shares her experience as a very young leader engaging her team in the work to develop a vision. At the same time, she had to reimagine her own leadership approach in the complex environment of a top academic hospital system.

You can find Rachel at linkedin.com/in/rachel-biblow

Sandra Morgan recently retired from HCA Healthcare as the Sr Vice President, focused on physician and healthcare provider relations. Prior to HCA, she held numerous commercial leadership roles in pharmaceuticals. 

In this episode, Sandra outlines her key lessons learned in assimilating into a very different culture at HCA Healthcare. She shares about the heads-up she got in the interview process and the intentional transition from a fast-talking New Yorker to a more relaxed southern environment. From a sales focus to an operations focus. Her mantra became “Don’t become the organ that the body rejects.” 

You can find Sandra at linkedin.com/in/sandra-morgan-3026a56