The Assignment That Changed My Life

By Mary Lou Panzano, VP, Internal Communications, Bayer U.S.

Picture this. You’re going about your day job, trying to accomplish the things you carefully planned to do and painstakingly prioritized the night before, when your boss calls. The conversation goes like this.

Boss: Hey, Mary Lou. How are you today?

Me: Great, how are you?

Boss: Terrific. Listen, I have a great opportunity for you.

Me: (To myself: “Uh oh. NOW what?”) OK. I’m listening.

Boss: We’re introducing a new program to help build a stronger bench of women leaders here. And, I’d like you to represent our business and drive the communications for it.”

Me: OK. Sounds interesting. (To myself, “Are you kidding me? How on Earth am I going to manage this thing on top of everything else I’m doing?”)

Boss: Great, I’ll send you some background and we’ll talk at our next 1:1.

Me: Super. Look forward to it. (To myself: “Actually, it DOES sound intriguing, and we really could use more women leaders around here, but I have a pretty full plate. Ugh!”)

I’m willing to bet this scenario is not foreign to many of you, and you’ve had similar “opportunities.” I’m also willing to bet you’ve had similar “self-talk” dialogue in your mind.

Truthfully, this exact situation happened to me 10 years ago. I was thinking about it not long ago when I was invited to participate in a panel discussion with nine other women leaders who were being recognized for driving forward increased representation of women in leadership roles at Bayer.

I was asked to address this question on the panel, what does “leadership beyond boundaries” mean to you? This is the mantra our women’s leadership employee resource group is driving forward. Here’s what I said and how the experience with that initiative changed my life.

Leadership beyond boundaries has meaning for me in three elements of my life:

1. As an employee communications professional

2. As an informal influencer

3. As a female executive role model

Let me explain. When I was first asked to get involved with this women’s leadership initiative, I was leading internal communications for the U.S. Pharmaceuticals division at Bayer. So initially, my engagement with it was to ensure the employees within that division understood why it exists and its objectives, and importantly, engage in the developmental activities and programs it offered.

As I continued to get involved, I kept saying “yes” to other broader opportunities; things like piloting a program, leading a committee, preparing leaders from other parts of the organization for company events, etc.

Two years in, I said “yes” to leading communications for the initiative nationally. This turned out to be an incredible opportunity for which I am forever grateful because it gave me exposure and visibility to other leaders, employees and parts of the company I would not have had otherwise. I have to thank my boss for that!

The experience helped me grow and develop professionally and lead communications beyond the boundaries of my day job.

Second, I believe you get out of an opportunity as much as you put into it. With this initiative I engaged with leaders in the healthcare divisions and with leaders in external partner organizations like the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and Catalyst. Learning how to influence and lead people over whom I had no reporting relationship or with whom I didn’t work directly was an area I needed to develop. The experience became a skill-building opportunity for me, and I learned to influence beyond boundaries.

Third, I try to live my life by example. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” His words really resonate with me.

If you want to change culture, you have to behave in a way that demonstrates your view of culture.

If you want to see more people smile, you need to smile at them first.

If you want to see more women in senior leadership roles in your company, you have to show up more as a leader and help the organization get there.

If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

Don’t wait for others to show the way; be the role model and lead beyond boundaries.

So, how did that initial assignment change my life? It took me out of my comfort zone and helped me become a stronger communicator, leader and person.

Yes, initially, I was worried about handling more work. But, in hindsight, that’s how you grow. You challenge yourself. You jump in. You figure it out. You just do it. Then you learn, grow, reflect and repeat.

Many of us do this day in and day out without even realizing it.

What’s different in my life now as compared to 10 years ago? I’ve been promoted to Vice President while at Bayer, have built a fantastic team and continue to be asked to take on more. (Me, to myself: I don’t think they’d keep asking me to take on bigger and more important projects if my team and I couldn’t deliver.)

I find myself influencing up, down and across the company more, and have experienced success in making recommendations that stick. That applies to my personal life, too.

And, I hear more often than before, that people consider me to be a role model of how leaders lead, develop teams and drive success.

By engaging in that initiative well beyond what was asked, I have become a better version of myself. My hope is this gives you something to ponder as you begin the New Year and helps you do the same.