"Women are 80% of the healthcare workforce in the US, up to 70% globally. So I always say if women aren't healthy, the entire world is at risk of not being healthy."

Mary Stutts has spent decades dismantling barriers for women in healthcare—first as a senior executive at Stanford Healthcare and multiple biopharma companies, now as CEO of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA). But what she's seeing today has her more concerned than ever: for the first time in 20 years, the number of women in C-suite roles is declining.

"The challenge isn't just getting women into leadership," Mary explains. "It's helping them stay in leadership and thrive there." The culprit? A perfect storm of broken systems: the "broken rung" that blocks women's first promotion to manager, the "concrete ceiling" at director level, and a generation gap that's creating chaos in the workplace.

Mary reveals a startling insight about today's young professionals: "They're digitally native but corporately naive. We give them managerial responsibility for a head count, but we haven't trained them how to manage. They take a punitive approach—'You don't do it the way I do it, so you're doing it wrong.' Then everyone gets frustrated and leaves."

The stakes couldn't be higher. With a $1 trillion economic gap between women's and men's health, and young women increasingly choosing social media influencer careers over healthcare professions, the industry faces a crisis that threatens everyone's wellbeing.

In this essential episode of Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw, Mary also shares:

Mary also reveals the innovative work of her nonprofit, The Center for Excellence in Life (T-CEL), which created virtual internships during COVID for students who never thought they'd attend college—many of whom are graduating now.

"Keep focusing on describing the very needed work we are doing," Mary urges. "We still need leadership acceleration. We still need talent development. We still need workforces that are representative of the patients and communities we serve. At the end of the day, people most trust people who look like them. That's not bias—that's human nature."

From writing "The Missing Mentor: Women Advising Women on Power, Progress and Priorities" to leading HBA's mission to achieve gender equity in healthcare leadership, Mary Stutts is the powerhouse executive rewriting the rules for women's advancement. Her message is clear: Don't lose focus. The work is more critical than ever.

"Your development plan is yours alone," Mary insists. "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you've arrived?"

Chapters

02:13 - From Engineering to Healthcare Leadership

05:31 - Digital Innovation to Genomic Revolution

09:05 - Transforming Lung Cancer Detection

13:39 - Women Leading in Biotech

16:54 - The Reality of Being CEO

20:05 - Advice for Aspiring Women Leaders

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