Humanizing Leadership in Healthcare (with Faith Zaslavsky)

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Speaker B: welcome to the ninth season of the Combustion Chronicles podcast, where bold leaders combine with big ideas to make life better for all of us. I'm your host, Shaun Nason, CEO and founder of mophie. This season is all about amplifying the voices of badass women leaders in the healthcare industry who are influencing change by thinking big, putting people first, and not being okay with the status quo. Experience matters, culture matters, and revenue matters. That's why it's time to unite to ignite a people first business revolution. Especially industries that affect all of us, like healthcare. My guest today, Faith Zlauski, put the life in life sciences because she's as passionate about people as she is about science that can improve their lives. Now the president and chief executive officer of, uh, Thorlink, she has a long track record of leading and transforming teams, designing solutions for physicians to support care and advocating for patients facing a cancer journey. Before joining Thuralink, faith spent nearly 23 years at Myriad Genetics, ending her tenure there as president of oncology. She also serves on the board of directors of the American Society of ah, Breast Surgeons Foundation. Welcome to the Combustion Chronicles, Faith.

Speaker A: Thanks, Sean. It's great to be here.

Speaker B: Well, it is so awesome to have you here, and I don't know how you could have spent 23 years at Myriad when you're only 21.

Speaker A: Well, uh, you know, they're in genomics, and so they do.

Speaker B: Oh, that's. There you go. Well, you know, Faith, I met you a few years ago, um, when you were at Myriad, and we did some work together. But when most people think about life sciences, they might just picture a bunch of scientists wearing lab coats. But you oversee all sorts of, uh, functions, including medical services, medical affairs. You've done sales, you're done marketing. But now as the CEO of Thorlink, where does your time and energy typically go?

Speaker A: So that's a great, great question. So really, my time and energy is spent on people first. The priority has always been, you know, in my previous role, but more so here as well. The priority is to create a healthy environment for all of our internal and external internal Customers to really thrive. And so, you know, when you think about that, you really have to spend a lot of time demonstrating your ability to tailor your interactions and meeting people where they're at so you can bring them along. Especially when you're a leader, it's really, really important that the folks that you're leading feel like they're a part of the process of the innovation, the change, the team, the mission, all of that. So that's where the bulk majority of my uh, time and energy is really spent.

Speaker B: Well, and I know you're, when you joined ThirdLink, you went in as chief Operating officer and not very many months afterwards you became CEO. So give us your biggest insight as CEO that you've learned in the last six to eight months since you've been in that role.

Speaker A: So what I will tell you is that transparency is key. Transparency about what we're doing, where the organization is going and ensuring that everybody has a seat at the table. One of the things that is very, very important for us is to cross pollinate across the different functional groups so everybody has an understanding of what all the different teams are working on. So that's, that's been really, really important. We find that a lot of our uh, team members in different functional groups have very transferable skills and so they can really relate to each other. But prior to having that transparency, they didn't know that they had those things in common, they didn't know that they had similar sorts of challenges, et cetera. So we've really spent a lot of time in the last six to eight months teaching and exposing the groups to their cross functional partners, learning and really understanding each of their priorities and what their bandwidth is, especially because we're a smaller company. And then bringing the leaders of those cross functional teams to the table on a weekly basis to communicate. What are the hits and misses? What do you need? How can we help each other coach our team? So it's really been centered in that transparency of communication.

Speaker B: I love it and I hope our listeners are listening to that because what I've always loved about you, Faith, and our friendship is that we think so much alike and um, I think that's key and I hope any leader that's out there listening hears that. Transparency is so vital. And as you know, Faith, you know, I'm a firm believer that organizations who improve their experience ecosystems end up having better results, which includes everything from the employee experience to the vendor experience. So there can often be a, uh, disconnect between clinical and non clinical teams. So here you are Talking about this transparency, how do you experience this disconnect and what do you as a leader do to help navigate it?

Speaker A: Yeah, so that's a great question. And it kind of makes me chuckle because you're so spot on. The clinical, the non clinical teams, even if you're, you're looking at kind of a commercial team versus, you know, your R and D and your bioinformatics and all of those and the transparency around what is pertinent. So every team kind of has their own things that they need to deliver on and say, you know, our RD team, they've got to get, you know, certain validation done. And then you have our commercial team that's out here saying that we can do some things and turn it around quite quickly without checking with that team, it starts to clog up the system. So I'm going to go back to my last answer, which is that transparency and making sure that everybody at the table, all of our leaders understand and the entire group, the entire organization understands what the strategic priorities are. And so, you know, kind of what goes first. And then if we need a favor or if we need something to be kind of fast tracked or if we need additional time running another validation study, all of that gets communicated. So there's no surprises. Because, you know, initially when I came into the organization, it was kind of commercial versus lab. Right. Because they weren't in sync with what was going on and putting a stop to that and saying, hey, look, we're all one team and the only way that we're going to get to where we need to be is if we're all in sync, we're all rowing in the same direction. So that's really where we've centered and uh, we've had a few bouts where people didn't understand, but that's okay. Uh, they got in the ring for a second, let the steam go and back at focusing on our mission as an organization.

Speaker B: Well, and we talk a lot about, and I talk a lot about when I work with executives and leaders and mostly when we work with companies, you know, that getting everyone pointed to that North Star. M. Right. And that we all are going there. People have asked me several times, you know, what Disney's magic is. It's around getting to that, you know, what we call an experience. Promise. Disney calls it their common purpose. If everyone knows that that's the North Star and we can all row towards that, then it makes it a little bit easier for you. So I love it. I want to go a little bit more personal about your Career journey. Because, you know, I'm in my fifth or sixth career now, and who knows, could probably do five or more. My wife probably wouldn't let me. But some people really take a long time to figure out their calling. But you've been in life sciences either your whole career or close to your whole career, so you could have used your degree in any number of industries. Why life sciences? And then more importantly, this becomes personal to me after my journey last year of fighting cancer. Why oncology?

Speaker A: Yeah, so, you know, I've always wanted to do something that was purpose and mission driven. So it's always been something that, you know, I've wanted to help others. I grew up, my mom, she was a single mom. She, you know, has always had a lot of health problems. So I grew up quite quickly, you know, really caring for her. And so I felt that, you know, if you have an opportunity to really elevate your voice and use your voice and your, your influence and your energy to really impact others in a positive manner, then that's something that I wanted to do. I wanted to be a part of, uh, helping to improve lives and outcomes for other people. So why oncology? Why did I pick oncology? Because you know this firsthand. I can't tell you. Cancer sucks, right? ALS sucks, diabetes, chronic immune disease. And I can go on and on, and there's so many terrible diseases out there that we can all pour our efforts into to improving the lives of other people. But for me, the oncology, um, journey actually started when I was in college. A very, very close friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer at age 22. And so I happened to be there. I sat front row for their journey. And not just once, not through just a year and a half. But then a year and a half went by, and then the cancer resurfaced in another primary location. And so I got exposed to seeing what chemo does at a very, very young age. And so that really stuck with me. And I always kind of centered on, gosh, I really want to help people that are facing this journey, like, what can I do? How can I use my skills, my talents, etcetera, to do better for others that are facing that journey? So that's really what got me started on the oncology track.

Speaker B: Well, I want to say thank you, because you have. You're making a difference in this industry. And I even know for our listeners personally, you're going through this journey now with your mother.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And, um, yeah, cancer sucks.

Speaker A: Cancer sucks.

Speaker B: You know, and you never, I tell people, you Never get away from it.

Speaker A: Like, you know, obviously we're gonna know more and more people.

Speaker B: Yeah. But that's what I do love about what you're doing at Starlink and what you guys are trying to do is to help that pre journey and that even through the journey of, of cancer. So how do you take all these experiences then previously and I think I know your answer, but I really. How do you take all these experiences and then put them into your role today and what you're doing at Thorlink?

Speaker A: So my previous experiences with uh, Myriad M and with personal experiences, I think it really kind of fuels that uh, passion. It's that it's just become an intrinsic motivation for me to do the best work we can possibly do. Make sure that every time we're meeting with, whether it's an investor bank, an analyst, uh, external customer, a key opinion leader, that we keep the patient out in front. It's always nice. We can talk about units and stock price and all of that. But it really is about keeping that patient central in this organization and in our mission because what we do is so different and we have something very different to offer than what's being offered currently. And so it's really helping people get around that. So I think that's what's most exciting about the role right now and bringing everything together. Because I like, I intrinsically feel it.

Speaker B: You don't hear that very often from leaders of companies.

Speaker A: That's sad to me.

Speaker B: It's sad to me too. But to hear that and to hear your passion around it just, it makes such a difference. And um, you know, faith, you know that I uh, I lean into being a little bit of a disruptor and as we call it, maverick minded, uh, and people first, human obsessed. And I really think that the rest of the world should be honestly. And I kind of pisses me off that they're not. So I, I just wrote a post about this this week around uh, you know, what's one question you could ask your CEO and it really talked about this, but it closed out with this whole concept of you gotta love people and you gotta put people first and if you don't like get the hell out of it. But your work, again we're talking about oncology in a very high stakes industry where actually making the wrong decision could have dire consequences on people's lives. Uh, and I even talk about this with my oncologist. Like how do you take that pressure of knowing. Um, I just went through a scare again in the past few weeks where I was Tired and just have some issues. And I thought, oh my God, is this cancer again showing up? And thankfully it wasn't. So is there really room in this industry for Mavericks and Disruptors to really change the industry?

Speaker A: Absolutely. And frankly, what my experience has been in the role and in working at saralink right now, I think oncologists specifically are looking for Mavericks and they're looking for Mavericks and R and D and innovation. I think we're coming away from a period of time where everyone's been so focused on kind of like, you know, big data and electronic medical records and all this sorts of stuff. But I really do think that they're hungry for some disruption. And you know, when I think about Mavericks, which I love the term by the way, not only do I love the term because it's very descriptive of uh, the types of folks that we want on our teams, but my daughter also just got a seven month, seven month old puppy and his name is Maverick. So you know, I've got that like disrupting everything. But um, I think they can be very powerful and I am incredibly blessed to work on a team of uh, Mavericks in R D. In bioinformatics, we have an amazing partnership with George Mason University and Dr. Emanuel Petracoin. He is a maverick in the space as far as proteomics is concerned. Proteomics hasn't really been on the map. We've been stuck in genomics and talking, talking about inferencing, what types of therapies will be helpful, whereas he said, no, no, no, no, no. If we get to the protein, we can tell you exactly how active that protein is and how it's going to respond to different treatments. So I do think Mavericks are necessary. Now listen, we don't want Mavericks running our lab, right, because we have processes, you have regulation clients, so you can't really plug them in there. But there's also, and I think Covid's really taught us that from a commercial perspective is you need to have Mavericks on your trailblazing for your commercial teams and the way that you communicate and how you're connecting. You know, this isn't pharma, uh, 1980, AH5, where everybody's out golfing and doing that sort of thing because information is coming at everyone so fast. So I really do think that it's important to have a diverse community group of, uh, Mavericks. But then you also need to have Goose sitting in the back and Iceman to keep you on track and it's really getting that team to know each other's strengths. And respect each other's strengths and to keep each other in check.

Speaker B: M so good. Love all of the analogies there as well that even I hadn't put all those together until you said that. And I'm like shit, that's right.

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Speaker B: R. And you know, again it goes back to people and our love for people. What causes some organizations then to lose the people connection?

Speaker A: So this is a great, great question. And it's when they stop listening and stop really hearing what it is that their front lines are telling. I think organizations so often bring in leaders that feel that they have a pulse or that they can read a survey or get external consultants to say, no, this is your North Star's changed and you should make a correct uh, or a correction. Right. And uh, there's many organizations and they go through the exercise of surveys and they seek feedback and you know, it really is a loss and trust and confidence when they don't actually use the information and make the changes that people are saying need to be changed. Right. It really is actually. It's. I think it's worse when you ask for the feedback and then you don't do anything about it.

Speaker B: You don't.

Speaker A: Yeah, uh, that's actually detrimental to the group. And so I think when organizations, and especially in the life sciences industry, I think when they do a good job is when they're able to connect the human resource to the science. Right? That's when they do well in addition to responding to the human resource that they're saying, hey look, everything we're doing, the strategy is working and the organization responds with, okay, let's talk about it. Let's figure out a new path forward together. So I think it's really that the failure comes from not really hearing what's being said.

Speaker B: The failure comes from not really hearing what's being said. Love m that. I actually just read an article recently around is surveying dead. But yet we have some major organizations that I can name off that many people would know or did you receive a survey from. And their whole, the whole premise of the article is quit surveying if you're not going to do anything with it.

Speaker A: Right, right.

Speaker B: Like a consumer would rather not get surveyed or asked a question than get asked a question and give you something and then nothing happens with it.

Speaker A: So.

Speaker B: And that ties back to everything you just said. So I think this is a pretty simple answer but I'm going to ask the question so we can get it on tape. So what can these organizations do to connect the humans with the science then?

Speaker A: So connecting them I think is really rooted in focusing on the mission that's at hand for the people. Right. So what is it? Why do we do what we do and ensuring that everyone stays connected in our industry it's the patient, the patient that's facing a cancer journey. I'll say this has been really a, ah, learning experience for me because we see younger generations that they're truly motivated more so by mission or calling to improve lives or outcomes and they want to be a part of something significant. It's not what was driving people in the 80s where it was big dollars and you know, the brick of a cell phone that you could have, you know, in your car. Those aren't the key drivers for our younger generations. And so the days of companies that we're leveraging just their stock price or the number of units that they could produce to motivate, I think it's really behind us. I think that really putting that connection of what you do to improve lives out in front keeps all of your human resources connected and what part they play in that and you know, praising them and having that, that broad corporate recognition is something that's very powerful.

Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, yeah. And I think Generation X is really struggling right now with it.

Speaker A: Yeah, I agree.

Speaker B: You know, because yeah, baby boomers already think Generation X is weird and they don't even try to understand and broad statements when I say this but they don't try to understand Gen Z, Gen Y, next gens, none. Because they just, you know. But I, I see the people caught in the middle are those of us that are Gen Xers are going, but we're supposed to have this job to make this money. But everyone wants to be about purpose and yeah. And it's hard for us to understand how uh, a 23 year old or 24 year old would rather live in a one bedroom apartment.

Speaker A: It's true.

Speaker B: And make $35,000 a year and be happy.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's true. And I think the other thing is for us is learning how do you, how do you connect with that group and how do you motivate them? Because our, our knee jerk motivation tool has been money, promotion, Title, all of these things. When that isn't that isn't it. And so that brings me back to getting to what drives each individual, tailoring to each individual. That's what's important. And I've learned that a lot over, I would say the last 10 years is really learning from some of those younger team members what actually does it for them. Why do they want to get up and come to work and what is it that they have to contribute and what do they see for themselves as being important? It doesn't always connect with money. Title, Workplace satisfaction. Feeling a part of a team, you know, being able to express themselves creatively. We have a gal that, um, I think she's just adorable. And, you know, she wanted to make the plant that sits next to her desk appear better. So she went out and got all these sticky eyeballs. And so now the plant has all these sticky eyeballs. And she's like, this is the best thing ever. I'm like, that's fantastic. Do that, that's great. You know, and she's just like, really? Like, I just love the fact that I feel free that I can do that. I'm like, yeah, you should do that to all plants. Like, that's great.

Speaker B: But us gen zers are sitting there going, what? Right?

Speaker A: Yeah. How much time did that take?

Speaker B: Yeah, what did that just cost us? But I do think that's it. Right? And that's what's so. And especially, I mean, we joke about that, putting eyeballs on a plant, but in the industry that you work in, it's such a life or death industry. It is that you can almost live in doom and gloom the whole time. So how do you make it to where you can get tied to that and say, yes, I'm going to get up every morning. And I know that this is a hard industry and this is a hard nut to crack. So if I can put eyeballs on my plant, great, go put eyeballs on your plant.

Speaker A: Right, exactly. And you know, she comes in and it feels like it's an extension of like her creativity. But when she's in the lab, she's hyper focused on ensuring that, uh, those patients that we're working on have nothing but the best. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah. I love it. I'm even going to Diverge. And this is the last episode of season nine. So I get to do that because we have been closing this whole season out with this little two minute drill around, how might we statements. And I almost feel like we've been doing that just in our conversation and we've come up with some great things about connecting human connection to life sciences. So I'm going to ask this question to you as we close out the season. This has been an amazing season of amazing women in healthcare, and particularly in leadership and healthcare. As we close this season out with this question. I want Faith to give the best piece of advice to women coming into the industry or into any industry that you wish you would have had when you stepped into, into this industry and into these roles.

Speaker A: That is. Wow. Okay. What is the best piece of advice that I would have? I would say that women typically don't want to appear to be vulnerable or weak just because, you know, when you're in a new role, it's really tough. Do you have all the answers? And the answer is no, you don't. And so the best piece of advice that I would give to other women is find people around you and ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to gather context for whatever it is that you're doing. I think oftentimes, well, at least in my generation, we saw Wonder Woman, right? She was so cool and she was so powerful and, you know, all this, one of the bracelets that she had because, you know, those just rock. But I think that so many women feel like they have to prove themselves in a way that they are shy to ask their counterparts a lot of questions that, that are going to help them move faster in their career and get a better handle on what the job is that they're doing. So that would be my piece of advice.

Speaker B: I love it. Well, before we close the episode out, we do do this on, um, the end of every episode and these things called the combustion questions, which are three randomly selected questions by my amazing algorithm known as Michael. And so I have not seen those questions. They were just sent to me. And so I'm going to be reading them for the first time to you. And, um, you just need to give us whatever response comes to the top of your head as we do this. So, Faith, are you ready for these combustion questions?

Speaker A: I hope so. I hope so.

Speaker B: All right. Combustion question number one. What's the first thing you're going to do when you retire?

Speaker A: I haven't even thought of it. That's my answer. I have not even thought about retiring. I would have to give my time to something meaningful, so I'm not sure where that would be. But one area that we do give our time when we can is Ronald McDonald House.

Speaker B: Love it. So give more time.

Speaker A: Give more time.

Speaker B: Love it. All right. Would you rather go on a vacation alone or in a large group?

Speaker A: That is hilarious. I would say alone.

Speaker B: And I'll make sure your family does not listen to this episode.

Speaker A: They would confirm that. They would say absolutely. Yeah. I think it's important when you're constantly kind of being pulled at that you have time to recharge.

Speaker B: M. All right, Combustion question number three.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: What do you think about toothbrushes?

Speaker A: They need to be changed often. They're amazing, and I wish my son would be more proactive with his.

Speaker B: All right, now definitely make sure your children don't listen to this at all. So, Faith, thank you so much for doing this and for closing out season nine for us. And, um, you know, I look forward to seeing you in person. If you want to connect with Faith, connect with her on LinkedIn or you can connect to me. We'll have all this available on the website. But again, thank you. And I look forward to, um, seeing you very soon. And until then, stay safe and be well.

Speaker A: Right? You too. Thank you so much.

Speaker B: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Combustion Chronicles. If you've enjoyed this episode, please take a few minutes to subscribe, rate and review. Remember that I'm always looking to meet more big thinking mavericks, so let's keep the conversation going by connecting on LinkedIn. If you want to discover more about human obsessed maverick minded leadership, go to Mophie Co or go to experienceevangelist.com to learn more about my mission to challenge leaders to blow up outdated siloed systems and rebuild them with an aligned human first approach. As always, stay safe, be well, and keep blowing shit up.

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