Lorri Walters, BS, MBA

I attribute my success to positive leadership and getting people to want to work with you and work for you. I love teaching others, and I think that makes a good leader. If you teach other people and you're a good leader, you have good followers and you have people that look up to you. I've only been in the staff for 2 months, and I've made an impact already. The Senior Director already has reached out to me on certain things. I just think positive leadership and getting people to want to work with you, work for you, and be a part of your team is really important. I like making things fun. Making things fun, I think it's really important as a leader. You want people to like what they're doing, and the more you get people to like working with you and like what they're doing, the harder they're gonna work. The more my leader makes me feel good about my job and how good I'm doing, the better I do and the more I want to work for them and do my job. You always want to bring people up because you're not going to get anywhere with negativity and bringing people down. You want to bring people up in conversations, and even when they're having problems and issues in their workplace, you say, you did a really good job on this project, let's see what you did really great on that and how we can bring it in other areas. The way you talk to people, the way you treat people is really important.

The best career advice I've received relates to working with coaches and mentors who bring you up rather than tear you down. I had two different coaches when I was job searching. One coach pulled my resume apart, and after she was done, I said, then can you explain to me why I have 7 interviews lined up? She didn't know what to say. Then I went to a second coach, and that coach didn't wind up charging me because when I sent him my resume, he said, this resume is awesome, but let's make it better. That's the coach I want to work with. I want to work with the coach that says, hey, you've got a solid foundation. It goes into leadership and the way people speak to each other and talk to each other. You always want to bring people up because you're not going to get anywhere with negativity and bringing people down.

My best advice is reach for the stars and always try to mentor with other people in that field to learn and grow as much as you can. I really want to put myself out there because I'm a woman, I'm a leader, hear me roar. Women can do it. I love reading about women on top, women vice presidents. When I was in my 20s, I wanted to be a CEO of a pharmaceutical company. I just saw a CEO woman that just, before I got hired, she moved up so quickly. Every two years, she moved up to a position that she just got CEO, and she has less experience than me. I just love reading about women moving up and beyond on top. It's a big influence. When people read my article, I hope it will inspire them to think, I can do that too. It's innovation, a booster, a motivator.

The biggest challenges right now are the widespread layoffs in pharmaceutical and clinical operations. A lot of people are still out of work, and it's really hard to get a job. The job market today is much harder than it was 8, 9, or 10 years ago. When I applied to Novo years ago, you just clicked your resume onto their website and you got an interview and you got the job. That's not the case today. It's all AI-based now. They're getting rid of HR more and more and using AI to scan your interview and scan your resume to make sure that your resume is legit against the job description. Two jobs I had AI interviews, which was really crazy. My biggest advice is learn AI, learn Copilot, learn Gemini, learn ChatGPT, and use it to your advantage as a human. I use it every day. I write emails in ChatGPT or Copilot, and then after I write it, I have it rewrite it for me. Learn it to use it to your advantage, not to do it for you. When I did my resume, by the time I got the job, I was probably on resume like 30. You literally have to take your resume, put it in AI, put the job description in AI, and ask what your numerical evaluation is against this job. AI is rating you, and then you have to change your resume to make you over 95% rateable. You gotta change with the times and really be on your A-game with systems and AI because that's the biggest thing.

The values most important to me are positive leadership, teaching others, and making work fun. I believe positive leadership and getting people to want to work with you and work for you is really important. I love teaching others, and I think that makes a good leader. Making things fun is really important as a leader. You want people to like what they're doing, and the more you get people to like working with you and like what they're doing, the harder they're gonna work. You always want to bring people up in conversations because you're not going to get anywhere with negativity and bringing people down. Even when people are having problems and issues in their workplace, you say, you did a really good job on this project, let's see what you did really great on that and how we can bring it in other areas. The way you talk to people and the way you treat people is really important. I'm also driven by wanting to see more women stepping confidently into leadership roles. I'm a woman, I'm a leader, hear me roar. Women can do it. I love reading about women on top and women moving up and beyond. When people read my article, I hope it will inspire them to think, I can do that too.