Modern People Person

We now live in an increasingly virtual environment, where a lot of work even business deals are done remotely. How has that influenced your communication style? And does it require more intentional trust building?

It absolutely does. I have to say I am a people person. When I was in the office every day and everybody else was in the office every day, I commonly would be walking through the hallways, welcoming employees, heading onto the different floors of our facility, just saying hi to everyone, and making sure everyone's got a smile on her face. That cultural element of my leadership style was basically taken away. I can't say it has been easy, because even today I still try to get back into the office even though many of our employees are still working remote. I think the video conferencing definitely helps. It's better than just audio, that's for sure.

But what you said earlier was interesting, because you're a people person. You love roaming the halls of your company, saying hi to people, putting a smile on their faces, and now you're you are working from home most at the time. What have you done to adjust to that environment, especially when it comes to intentional trust building across the screen?

I am super convicted that what we are doing is going to really change the world for patients all over the world. When you believe in that, then you face these hurdles as just that - they're bumps in the road, but you always have your eyes on that long term goal. COVID and working virtually was that bump in the road. It was a little bit of a long bump in the road, but we're coming through it. We're staying strong. The company actually delivered incredibly in a very, very tough year. In some ways, I think it helps to sharpen the skills of being effective with people that you aren't faced to every day. I now have a leader that I hired that I have never met face-to-face. He is running one of my businesses from Denmark. Until he gets transferred, he wants to come back to the Bay Area, and we fully intend to do that. But for three, four full months now he has been running a business mostly in the US, interacting with mostly people at a nine hour behind time change. He shifted his schedule to three in the afternoon to midnight most days to accommodate that. But he again is so excited about his role and where we're headed, he's willing to make those sacrifices. So it does emerge different characteristics of all of us as well. That could be good or bad.