Courageous authenticity is the key to good leadership, says Roche Diagnostics MD

Leadership & Management: Welcome to Health Industry Hub’s Women in Leadership series connecting, engaging and empowering women in the Pharma, MedTech and Biotech sectors by celebrating and sharing the journey of inspirational and passionate leaders in the industry.

In celebrating a special milestone of 20 years at Roche at the same time as the company is celebrating its 125^th anniversary, Allison Rossiter, Managing Director, Roche Diagnostics Australia, joined Health Industry Hub to reflect on her leadership journey and how the organisation has evolved during this time.

Allison shared her perspective on how the healthcare environment, shaped by technological and medical innovations and disruptions, is demanding significant shifts in leadership.

She said “Leadership, in years gone by, was more of a command and control. Leadership of today is not about command and control. Yes, you still need to be a leader. You still need to know what’s going on. You still need to make difficult decisions, but it’s about showing up and being vulnerable. It’s about being authentic, and it’s about being your true self…But it’s not as easy as that. Because for many years people have been under command and control, to go from command and control straight through to ‘what do you think?’ takes time and it takes people to have the courage…”

‘Courageous authenticity’ is the key to good leadership, according to Allison. She revealed her own journey in embracing this key trait and shared her advice on what challenges are facing leaders today that need to be addressed in order to retain staff in the current employment market.

“We’ve got to create a place where people want to come. We’ve got to create an environment that people want to be a part of…and that begins with purpose.

“To me, a great place to work is not having ping pong tables and bean bags. Yeah, we have that stuff. But that’s not it. It’s coming to work and in your heart knowing that you are making a difference…” Allison said.