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LIFESCIENCELEADER.COM APRIL 2014 27 organization and teams realize how com- mitted you are to giving opportunities for developing people internally, you become much more effective in retaining talent, as well as recruiting people who aspire to really develop and change organizations," she affirms. Merck Serono's CEO leads by example when it comes to developing people. But she can't do it alone. To make real, lasting, organizational change requires more than championing a philosophy and practicing what you preach. To Garijo, it requires every member of the executive committee being willing to implement a risk-sharing approach of developing people consistent- ly across the organization. "It's about how much of your own risk you are willing to put in the game," she says. How do you get people to be willing to take risks? Garijo says stop playing it safe. ENABLING RISK REQUIRES NOT PLAYING IT SAFE As Garijo explains her leadership philoso- phy, she places herself within examples of what not to do and why. For example, "If I position myself in such a way that, no matter what, I have to be safe, pro- tecting and managing my image in such a way that people believe I never make a mistake, then they [members of her leadership team] will never take a risk. This is not how I operate organizations, and this is not the way I want my execu- tive committee to operate this company." She continues, "It is only through giving opportunities and being prepared to give support, rather than focusing exclusively on yourself, that you succeed in being convincing, succeed in enabling risk, but most importantly, you succeed in making people successful." Garijo's approach to being an enabler of risk starts with active mentoring. This involves more than providing guidance, support, and coaching, but a willingness to recognize your own areas of improvement in front of your employees. For example, Garijo admits one of her developmental opportunities involved communication. "I used to be very aggressive, maybe a bit My aspiration is to have an organization that is functioning by itself without the leaders having to intervene in each and every decision- making step. 0 4 1 4 _ F e a t u r e _ M e r c k . i n d d 4 0414_Feature_Merck.indd 4 3 / 2 1 / 2 0 1 4 1 2 : 1 6 : 0 2 P M 3/21/2014 12:16:02 PM