Michelle O’Connor Coughlan

1.  How do you define or manage your career progression?

I believe you have to actively manage your own career through multiple pathways. Networking - within and outside your organization - is, of course, essential.  Equally important is understanding your “brand”: how you communicate your strengths, experience, and readiness for opportunities, and most importantly - how effectively you create opportunities for yourself.

I’ve always believed that taking a high level of initiative is critical. Identify a challenge or an issue, develop a plan, and execute.  Turning challenges into opportunities demonstrates strategic thinking, problem-solving, and execution tied to tangible results — and that gets noticed.  One piece of advice from my father, who held senior pharma leadership roles, was formative at the start of my career, and has stayed with me: “Focus on being outstanding in your current role, and the promotion and additional responsibility will come.” In my experience, he was right.

2.  What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Intellectual curiosity - paired with agility in your thinking.  As you progress, breadth becomes important; you need to learn new skills, integrate perspectives across functions, and manage greater complexity.

Given how rapidly the business landscape is evolving, the ability to absorb information, adapt, and lead with flexibility is more important than ever.  Being intellectually curious also enables you to address challenges with a greater creativity, which will be required to a greater extent than ever before.

3.  What is the greatest piece of business advice you have received from a mentor/sponsor?

Two pieces of advice stand out:

• Embrace a “lattice work” rather than a “ladder” approach to career moves.   Lateral moves can be incredibly valuable — they build new skills, broaden business understanding, and expand relationships across leaders and teams.  I’ve taken lateral moves in various cross functional areas throughout my career, which strengthened my overall capabilities and leadership, and directly enabled my next step up.

• Take considered risks and embrace big challenges. I accepted a role on Merck’s first international marketing team in Europe, which meant relocating to Munich, Germany (and later Lucerne, Switzerland) and being apart from loved ones for extended periods. It was an extremely difficult decision — i.e. I wasn’t being “fearless” (over-used cliché).   In the end, I was guided by a message I kept at my desk: “Go where there is no path, and blaze a trail.” I knew I would regret it if I did not “take the leap” and accept that global role.  With my spouse’s support, we made it work, and it became one of the most challenging and rewarding chapters of my career.  

Joining Cencora (Innomar) was another excellent decision - it has deepened my expertise within the specialty drug landscape, and I continue to learn every day.   I’m grateful for the incredibly positive impact which drugs for rare disorders have on Canadian patients and their families - and for the leaders/colleagues in the reimbursement ecosystem who continue to inspire me.