Reflecting on what leadership means to me

This year I approach four years as part of Kyowa Kirin International (KKI). This anniversary has given me an opportunity to look at how our company has grown over the past few years and how KKI has been evolving as part of the global Kyowa Kirin family. A strong part of this is how we’ve nurtured our culture of being kind and caring and balancing that against the high-paced expectation that comes as part of our bold journey as a Japan-based global speciality pharmaceutical company. It has also provided me an opportunity to reflect on my role as President, and the role I play in helping to ensure we have a thriving and exciting culture across the organisation. Typically, I tend to find it a bit uncomfortable to share my thoughts on how to be a strong leader, as I always feel there is still so much to learn. But I also recognise that my role and leadership style can be a key compass point for the direction of our company culture, so I am sharing some of my reflections in the hope that it may stimulate discussion amongst us.????

We certainly have a unique culture at KKI – during our regular employee listening groups many have referred to it as a family, and this is truly what it is. An environment where we are committed to ensuring people are able to be themselves, to be comfortable with who they are and to feel that they truly belong in our organisation. For me this is fundamental: I know that to achieve my best, I need to be within a working environment where I can be myself and where I can bring my whole self to the role. Authenticity in all we do is central to my core values and something I hope we all can bring to the job each and every day.

Along with feeling that we can be our authentic selves is the confidence to speak up, to bring new ideas, to try new things, and even to make mistakes and learn from them for the future. Indeed, recognising our vulnerabilities – which can often also be strengths – is an important theme, and at KKI, we work to celebrate our differences and recognise that each of us brings a different tool to our collective toolbox. I want to celebrate the talent that we have in our organisation – we each have a vital contribution to make, and we each can learn from one another. I learned early in my career that we do not always have to be the smartest person in the room. We do not need to have all the answers. Rather, when we all can accept this and can even be wrong about something, it is then that we are in the strongest position to learn, to move forward and to succeed. And this is what will build a truly collaborative culture across our teams.

Finally, a third aspect of how I aim to lead is by always remembering that you have an opportunity to make people feel good at every interaction. At KKI we make people smile and making sure I am doing this in my role and with my connections is crucial. Sometimes this is harder to do when I have to deliver bad news or take some very difficult decisions, but if I can do it in a spirit of kindness and caring, in an approach that is all about helping others to be the very best they can be, I am being true to who I am and who I want to be.

I also recognise that our spirit of kindness and caring has never been needed more than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the many challenges, leading our organisation through this time has shaped what true leadership is to me, and I’m sure it has for others too. The pandemic showed us the importance of what we already knew – that as leaders our priority must be to take care of our people and to help them take care of each other – and when this happens, care and love radiates from our organisation and reaches all of our stakeholders with true authenticity.

Each day, I come to my role at KKI with a desire to bring my authentic self, to learn from others, and to be kind and make others feel valued for what they bring. As the four-year anniversary of my time with the company approaches, I commit to continue this approach as I believe it is critical to the cohesive and collaborative culture we have at KKI, which in turn helps us to thrive as part of the wider Kyowa Kirin Group. ?

In the spirit of learning, I’m keen to know what you think. In which environments do you feel set up to achieve your best? Are you seeing a lot of authenticity in your interactions with people? What style of leadership do you like to see in an organisation??