In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Jesse Sibarium, a seasoned life sciences executive with experience spanning supply chain and commercial leadership across multiple continents.

Jesse's unconventional path from Manhattan to Moldova, Romania, the Netherlands, and Switzerland demonstrates how cultural immersion and calculated risk-taking can create what he calls "leadership luck." His journey through organisations, including Amgen and PTC Therapeutics, offers insights into building credibility through lived experience rather than traditional career progression.

The conversation explores global adaptability, decision-making under pressure, and the evolving landscape of pharmaceutical leadership in an increasingly interconnected world.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how curiosity and inner drive serve as foundational leadership qualities, particularly when entering unfamiliar territories or industries where traditional experience may not apply.
• Discover the critical importance of selecting diverse teams with complementary skills, personalities, and nationalities who will challenge you while supporting your vision through difficult periods.
• Understand that resilience and grit become essential when carefully crafted plans inevitably face unexpected challenges, requiring leaders to adapt quickly without losing momentum.
• Explore how cultural immersion creates competitive advantages, with Jesse's language learning experiences in Moldova and the Netherlands opening doors that traditional qualifications could not.
• Take away strategies for creating "leadership luck" by positioning yourself in uncomfortable situations where unique opportunities may emerge for those willing to take calculated risks.
• Gain insights into transitioning between large pharma and smaller biotech environments, understanding when each setting serves different career development purposes.
• Apply frameworks for building international teams that can operate seamlessly across multiple jurisdictions and cultural contexts in today's globalised pharmaceutical landscape.
• Uncover how soft skills increasingly function as hard skills in leadership roles, particularly in relationship-building and cross-cultural communication within life sciences organisations.

Snippets

• "Some people see things as they are and ask why. Some people dream things that never were and ask, why not?"
• "I thought, there is no way I can quit, because if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere."
• "Don't underestimate those soft skills, because the soft skills are really the hard skills."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:16:27 -- Introduction: Jesse's journey from Manhattan to international pharmaceutical leadership

• 00:17:56 -- Three Active Ingredients: Curiosity, team selection, and resilience as leadership foundations
• 00:23:05 -- Early Formation: High school performing arts lessons that shaped professional mindset
• 00:28:12 -- Global Awakening: Meeting international people and developing an appetite for a European career
• 00:30:01 -- The Moldova Gamble: Taking risks through Peace Corps to create an unconventional pathway to Europe
• 00:42:59 -- Leadership Luck: Creating opportunities through cultural immersion and language learning
• 01:02:25 -- Future of Leadership: Diverse backgrounds, international experience, and evolving pharmaceutical landscape

Resources

• Follow Jesse Sibarium on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sibarium/

• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Erin Federman, a Global Life Sciences Commercial Leader.

As a seasoned "global American" who truly integrated into European culture over a decade, Erin shares her transformation from a fired retail manager who was "a baby dictator" to a seasoned life sciences leader. Erin discusses the reality of "de-Americanising" your worldview, from navigating salary perceptions to rewiring your brain for slower, more integrated ways of working.

The conversation explores how leadership isn't a template but lived experience, why career curiosity trumps straight-line progression, and how internal mobility challenges strangle talent development across the life sciences.

Key Takeaways

• Learn why leadership isn't a template but lived experience, moving beyond "be yourself" advice to understand that authentic leadership comes from trial, error, and evolution through real challenges.
• Discover the reality of "de-Americanising" your worldview when relocating to Europe, including salary evaluation beyond dollar amounts and embracing slower, integrated working styles.
• Explore how career curiosity beats straight-line progression, with Federman demonstrating how following intellectual spark across functions creates more valuable leaders than rigid career ladders.
• Understand moving from judgement to curiosity as a leadership tool when managing diverse, international teams.
• Take away Federman's framework for breaking down complex challenges by working backwards from end goals and creating manageable 30, 60, and 90-day implementation chunks.
• Apply practical strategies for internal mobility by demonstrating capabilities and advocating for team members to cross functional boundaries, especially for diverse candidates facing higher barriers.
• Gain insights into building teams as "living recipes" where different communication styles and personalities create stronger outcomes than homogeneous skill sets.
• Uncover how to maintain your spark through career transitions, recognising when you've outgrown systems and need to seek new challenges to avoid professional burnout.

Snippets

• "Leading is not being a dictator. Because you grow up thinking leading is telling people what to do."
• It's not just doing the thing, it's actually being able to communicate what you're doing in a way that gives other people trust and confidence that you can do the thing.”
• “Curiosity versus judgment, which sounds so obvious when you say it, but it's so easy to come from a place of judgment without even thinking."
• “It is a responsibility to not just climb the ladder and holler down some advice. Reach not only reach down and pull people up, but look to the side who is also trying to get somewhere and they just need a bridge across."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:40 -- Introduction: Erin's background across pharma, biotech and diagnostics
• 05:42 -- Leadership Foundations: Beyond templates to lived experience and three key ingredients
• 15:33 -- Early Leadership Lessons: Retail management failure and learning that leadership isn't control
• 25:15 -- Global American Transformation: The reality of relocating from Seattle to Europe
• 35:20 -- De-Americanising Your Worldview: Salary perception, lifestyle changes, and cultural integration
• 45:18 -- Career as Curiosity: Following intellectual spark across functions and building capabilities
• 55:12 -- Internal Mobility Challenges: Breaking down barriers and advocating for career transitions

Resources

• Follow Erin Federman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinfederman/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

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Remember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

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In this episode of the Active Ingredients podcast, host Thomas Dove interviews Rochelle Trow, Founder of The Change Canvas and Interim HR Executive.

Rochelle shares her transformational journey from growing up under apartheid in South Africa to leading in European boardrooms, ultimately experiencing burnout and discovering the power of conscious leadership. The conversation explores fear-based versus values-driven leadership, the hidden costs of corporate performance culture, and practical frameworks for emotional regulation.

Rochelle reveals how leaders can stay authentic in corporate environments without losing themselves, offering actionable insights on self-awareness, conscious decision-making, and leading with courage and compassion in today's challenging life sciences landscape.

Key Takeaways

• Discover the three pillars of conscious leadership: self-awareness that extends beyond behaviour to triggers and empathy, conscious choices that serve the greater good rather than self-interest, and courage paired with compassion.
• Learn to distinguish between fear-based and values-driven leadership using Rochelle's framework of 20 questions that help identify when decisions stem from fear versus authentic alignment.
• Understand how burnout manifests differently - not from workload volume but from the quiet erosion of self and constant misalignment between personal values and corporate demands.
• Explore the concept of radical self-responsibility as the foundation for surviving toxic environments, focusing on your response and choices rather than blaming external factors or waiting for organisational change.
• Apply the "smoke alarm" decision-making approach by pausing before choices to ask where the decision stems from, whether it represents real warning signals, and how it aligns with your core values.
• Gain practical methods for giving difficult feedback to managers and colleagues by focusing on situations and impact rather than personality traits, maintaining integrity while preserving professional relationships.
• Take away tools for emotional regulation that enable leaders to maintain authenticity and effectiveness even in challenging corporate environments, proving that internal strength can overcome external toxicity.
• Identify the warning signs of becoming a "problems sponge" and learn strategies to avoid absorbing organisational dysfunction while still caring deeply about team and company success.

Snippets

• "Now what I do is, or at least what I think is important, is to actually pause before you make that decision and ask yourself, where am I making this decision from?"
• "My entire philosophy is you don't need to burn out. You need to focus on leading yourself first."
• "So one of the biggest shifts in myself is before I judge somebody, I go, what might be driving that person's actions."

Timestamps & Topics

• 00:00 -- Intro: Rochelle's journey from apartheid South Africa to European boardrooms

• 05:42 -- Three Key Ingredients: Self-awareness, conscious choices, and courage with compassion
• 18:33 -- Career Wake-up Call: The toxic positivity meeting that changed everything
• 36:12 -- From Security Guard to Regional Manager: Early leadership lessons at Woolworths
• 45:16 -- Fear-Based Leadership: How corporate environments erode authentic leadership
• 55:30 -- Burnout Reality: The emotional weight of misalignment, not workload
• 67:45 -- Radical Self-Responsibility: Taking ownership in toxic environments

Resources

• Follow Rochelle Trow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelletrow/
• Follow Thomas Dove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lifesciencesexecutivesearch/

Don't Miss an EpisodeRemember to tune into our next episode for more inspiring insights. You can also subscribe to the Active Ingredients podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other leading podcast platforms.

Loved this episode?

Share it with your friends, family or your peers!