Embracing Uncertainty: How volatility can push us to our full potential

Early in my career, I made a massive, and scary, decision. I left a permanent role in medical devices for a temporary, hourly job in quality assurance at a vaccine plant. It wasn’t what I had planned for myself; in fact, I turned that job down three times before I ultimately accepted it. However, it was a job in vaccines – an area I was eager to explore professionally. At the time, I had no idea if this risky move would pay off.

Now, 23 years later, I oversee 20 of Pfizer’s global manufacturing sites, where, every year, 20,000 colleagues produce about two billion doses across 200 products, from vaccines and rare disease medicines to critical sterile injectables.

It is, of course, a very different job than that early temp role at the vaccine site. I now know that if I had let fear or pride stop me from making that leap, I would have missed out on countless opportunities to learn and grow alongside so many diverse teams – and many of those experiences brought me to where I am today. It didn’t just bring me to Wyeth and – through an acquisition – to Pfizer. It was the first step of many that I took to embrace the unknown, to pivot away from what I imagined to be “the right path,” and to grow into the leader I am today.

Defining our “Why”

Today, my job as a leader is to make sure that every single one of our 20,000 colleagues has what they need to be successful. That includes ensuring that each of our 20 sites has a strong leadership team and a robust culture that helps colleagues define their “why,” so they understand how their role directly impacts patients. Knowing our “why” is crucial in our industry, where delays in manufacturing and delivery can truly be a matter of life and death. Whether they’re a forklift driver, a technician on the manufacturing floor, or an engineer in the lab, my goal is to ensure everyone within my organization understands their impact and how they fit into our bigger picture of delivering breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.

We do this in a multitude of ways, including daily huddles at different levels leveraging our production management system, through GEMBA walks, in mission statements clearly visible throughout the plant floors, and by ensuring leadership is readily available to discuss our purpose with any member of the team. But most importantly, our purpose – breakthroughs that change patients’ lives – is something we talk about often. It’s part of our daily conversations at Pfizer – and part of our culture. It’s what makes coming to work every day – no matter our role – truly meaningful.

Embracing the Unknown

In pharmaceutical manufacturing, we are no strangers to uncertainty and urgency. Our “why” can be a North Star for us as we navigate volatility, not just because it is at the core of what we do, but because it is our constant reminder that we must overcome every obstacle to deliver these crucial medicines and vaccines around the world.

We plan as much as we can, and as intelligently and comprehensively as we can – but no matter how much we prepare, there is still so much that’s out of our control. So, rather than try to ease my colleagues’ discomfort in the face of uncertainty, I encourage them to embrace it in a healthy way. To lean into it and use it as a catalyst to engineer new and innovative ways to do our work.

Recent crises have only underscored how taking risks and believing in our abilities in the face of uncertainty can lead to innovative breakthroughs when we desperately need them. For example, to help bridge the global health gap, we collaborated with experts in temperature-controlled packaging and drone delivery. With our partners, our teams pioneered a new vaccine distribution model and developed a shipper that can both transport ultra-cold vaccines around the world and serve as a temporary freezer. These innovations helped us deliver vaccines to remote and rural areas, cutting down vaccination wait times from days to minutes, and increasing access to breakthrough treatments in historically inaccessible areas of the world.

Volatility may be disruptive, but it can also be exciting. Chaos and complexity force us to grow in directions that wouldn’t have occurred to us otherwise and reveal new opportunities to serve our community better and help us grow – personally and professionally.

Taking Unexpected Steps

Leaning into volatility doesn’t always have to happen on a global scale. Sometimes, it’s just taking that next unexpected step. When I first took that temporary job, I didn’t look too far into the future. I knew I wanted to move into the realm of vaccines, and I had an original goal to be the site lead, but I never dreamed that I would be in the position I’m in today.

When Pfizer acquired the company I was working at, everything changed. The site was being downsized and I had to either pivot to an above-site role or leave the company – and the latter really wasn’t an option as I loved the culture around me and wanted to continue to grow within Pfizer. I had some reservations about going above-site as I thought those in “corporate” roles didn’t understand what it was really like to be on the manufacturing floor. But great opportunities come in the form of challenges, and I knew I’d find a way to carry my core values into the next phase of my career. Back then and still today, I approach my work with the same goal: to be as accessible to my team as possible and ensure they understand the support they have available to them at every level.

After I left the site, I moved horizontally six times, taking on different roles but staying at the same level without a clear destination. I went where the need was, trusting my mentors to advise me on what would be a good move for me, following my gut on where I felt I could contribute, and always learning along the way.

I’ll be honest: change is hard. And uncertainty can be intimidating – terrifying, in fact. But uncertainty will always be a part of our life and our work, so we should learn to thrive in uncertainty and use it to our advantage.

I truly believe that good can always come through change and, coupled with our ability to lean into uncertainty, we can really make the impossible possible.

Can you think of a time that you took an unexpected leap? Or a time when chaos and complexity pushed you to achieve something you never thought you could?

It is these extraordinary challenges that inspire our growth and lead us to make incredible strides in our careers and our lives.