Many people can judge which risks have paid\noff in hindsight. Whether it was starting college away from home, or moving to\na new city for my career, there have been several times in my life when I’ve\nchosen to move in an exciting new direction. But when a new opportunity\npresents itself, I often find myself\ndipping my toe in the water rather than jumping off the diving board.
Now the VP of Future Business Strategy for\nNovo Nordisk, Mirella Daja made an unexpected career pivot from hospital-based\nresearch into pharma. And while she didn’t know exactly what the transition\nwould entail when she began, she weighed her options and decided that it would\nbe worth the risk. Now, not only is she enjoying her new position, Mirella has\nalso developed a system to assist whenever an opportunity presents itself or an\nunexpected change comes her way.
With the pandemic having changed the course to\nso many careers, I had a discussion with Mirella, who has worked in diverse\nroles in 3 different countries, about how she develops the right mindset for\ntaking calculated risks in her career and beyond. Her advice is applicable now\nmore than ever. Here’s what she had to say to those of us who think we aren’t\nready for major pivots:
Mirella\nDaja: Would you take a job if you weren’t sure what\nthe job was? I did.
Taking risks creates discomfort and\nuncertainty, but few breakthroughs can be achieved without taking some smart\nand deliberate risks.
But how do you know if the risk is worth\ntaking? And how do you prepare for a risk gone wrong?
An\nUnexpected Opportunity
I was a senior scientist engaged in oncology\nresearch at a teaching hospital when I learned a pharmaceutical company was\nlooking for a medical advisor. I had no idea what that really was, or what it\nwould entail, and I’d never considered working in pharma. But I was intrigued\nby their need for someone with a science background, they wanted applicants with\na Ph.D. or M.D.
I’ve always had a strong desire to cure\npeople. As a child I dreamed of becoming a doctor; probably inspired from my\nfather dying at a young age of a heart attack. However as I got older, I saw a\nmore powerful way to engage in healthcare and became interested in tackling the\nroot of the problem rather than treating the symptoms of illness for a living.\nSubsequently, I pursued a Ph.D. in biochemistry and went into medical science\nand research instead, eventually taking on a senior scientist role.
After almost a decade working at the bench in\nbasic research, I heard about the pharma job. After years of making incremental\ncontributions to science, I was drawn to a job where I would have a direct,\nimmediate impact on patients’ lives.
It was a big decision to make such a\nsignificant career change. Fortunately, I have a system for making those big\ndecisions.
4\nSteps to deciding whether a risk is worth taking
1. Look at the Pros and Cons
Anytime I’m considering making a big life\nchange I list the pros and cons in writing, analyzing each one to see which\npath makes the most sense.
The pharma role had some strong pros. My\nemployment would no longer be contingent on constant grant applications. And I\nwould move from a narrow focus on prostate cancer to a broad focus encompassing\ndiabetes, women's health, growth hormone, and hemophilia; expanding my skill\nset. The job would also allow me to use my science and lecturing skills and\noffered me a lot of development and growth.
At the same time, it meant leaving all my\nexisting research and giving up work I found interesting and rewarding.
For me, the pros were stronger.
2. Have a Plan B
Not every big career move or life change works\nout, so I always have a backup plan. When I moved to a pharma role, my plan was\nto go back to research if after a year I decided my new role wasn’t what I was\nexpecting.
Having a plan B gives you the security to take\nthe first step. And once you've taken that first step, you're on the road and\nmay realize that it's not as scary as it seemed. Most roads are two-way, you can\neither come back or step off into a new direction.
Sometimes your plan B can be very specific,\nbut it doesn’t have to be. When I moved to my current role, I didn’t have a job\nto go back to if the role didn’t work out, but my plan B was to use the skills\nand experiences I would gain in the new job to increase my future\nopportunities.
3. Be clear on what you want
It’s easier to decide on a big change if you\nhave clearly articulated what you’re looking for. You’re more inclined to say\nyes to an opportunity that you’ve specifically hoped for.
So make a list of what you want in your next\nrole or life decision. Don’t leave it as a vague idea, write it down. Writing\ncreates focus and makes it real.
Once you've made that list, you’ll be able to\nrecognize opportunities when they come up. You’ll see an ad in a paper or hear\na conversation and say hang on a minute,\nthat was on my list.
4. Don't talk yourself out of a good thing
It’s easy to start talking yourself out of a\nbig change. When the pharma role came up, I had all these experiments I’d\nalmost finished and thought, this would be a perfect opportunity in two months'\ntime. But then I thought, if it would be perfect in two months, it’s perfect\nnow.
I was creating obstacles in my head that\nweren’t really there. So I took the job.
How\nto Help Others Understand and Embrace Change
When managing a team, you’ll sometimes need to\nguide them through big, unnerving changes. Fortunately, my decision-making\nsystem can be used to help make a team comfortable with change.
Tell them the pros and cons of the change.\nShow them your backup plan. Clearly outline the objectives, and let them know\nwhen the obstacles are smaller than they’ve imagined.
Whether you’re making a big life decision or\nleading a team in a new direction, have the confidence to know that you are\nnever stuck on the path you choose. You can change your mind. You can step back.\nYou can take a different path.
Knowing that makes it much easier to say yes\nto a change that feels frightening but is actually exciting. And big\nbreakthroughs can come from saying yes.
