Spotlighting Health's Female Leaders: Steph Bolton
Please introduce yourself, including your role within your organisation, and a short overview of your career path.
I’m Steph Bolton, President for the International markets for a patient focused MedTech company called LivaNova.
I started my career in the Pharmaceutical industry 20 years ago and moved to MedTech 11 years ago.
I have been fortunate enough over the years to see the life changing effect the right drug or technology can have over someone’s life, and that purpose has never lost its shine.
"Find your crew, trust and empower them. A leader’s success is never in isolation."
What has been the biggest leadership lesson in your career?
Get comfortable with taking risks. As a leader you will never know everything, so first, find your crew, trust and empower them. A leader’s success is never in isolation.
My other lesson is to view failure though a positive lens, no one ever achieved anything great without a few failures along the way.
How do you make sure your work is inclusive of others?
Create the right environment where everyone has a voice and is heard. Diversity is key to being a successful team, but that takes thoughtful leadership, recognising our differences and adapting how we work to leverage them, for example, not everyone will speak up, but give them time to reflect and they will have great input, whilst some will reflect during debate. The real challenge is diversity with its infinite dimensions (gender being only one of them). Having a homogeneous organisation reduces its reactivity and responsiveness, but also its ability to adapt to the unexpected or structural changes. We all have our biases, our blinkers, but with diversity we can see around the corner.
What advice would you share with the female HealthTech leaders of tomorrow?
Whenever I would have an attack of imposer syndrome (it’s real, but everyone has, it’s not gender specific!) My mentor used to say to me "Leadership is developed by moving into roles you can’t do", but discipline breeds consistency and consistency breeds credibility - play your own game.
My other big watch out is our use of language. It is so easy to find 100 things we are not good at, and all that negative talk can only be detrimental, instead write your successes down, create a log of evidence and proof, turn your inner critic into your inner coach.
On a personal level, find a partner that supports you, someone who will equally share the responsibilities at home. I believe the narrative of ‘woman can have it all’ is unhelpful - in life there are choices and trade offs, but with the right support you can find the right balance.
"Be a conscious supporter, be an advocate. Don’t do it for tokenism, due it because it makes good business sense."
What advice would you share with those who want to support the female HealthTech leaders of tomorrow?
Even though woman make up more than 50% of college and higher education levers, we remain underrepresented in top level positions, yet every economic study indicates a positive association between corporate return on assets and the share of women in senior positions. Be a conscious supporter, be an advocate. Don’t do it for tokenism, due it because it makes good business sense.
Steph Bolton, President, International, LivaNova