Two key lessons come to mind in the past year for Dr. Mara Lord, chief growth officer and chief strategy officer of the Medical College of Wisconsin. “The first is that I do not need to have all the answers; instead, I need a willingness to reach out and a list of who to call to be a thinking partner,” said Lord, a two-time Titan 100. “The second is that, in some cases, moving slowly and intentionally is the fastest route. I learned that ‘slow can be fast,’ especially when it comes to relationships.”
These leadership lessons have helped Lord to continue to embrace the mission of the Medical College of Wisconsin, which is to advance health for all through exceptional patient care, cutting-edge research, educating the next generation of providers and engaging with communities.
In this past year, under Lord’s leadership, the college has elevated Wisconsin as a bio-health and technology leader nationally through the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration Tech Hubs program. The college was awarded $49 million to advance the invention, development and deployment of personalized medicine.
“I will lead a significant portion of this award through a novel idea to mobilize healthcare into communities and bring clinical trial resources and new product testing directly into neighborhoods,” said Lord. “This novel idea will be piloted in Wisconsin but then has the opportunity to scale as a new company with a projection of 400 mobile care units nationally.”
This concept also brings missing data into aggregated healthcare data sets to provide a more comprehensive and equitable approach to healthcare and product development. This growing economy will advance startups in the state and is projected to grow about 30,000 direct jobs and 110,000 indirect jobs over the next 10 years.
As a leader, Lord has a keen focus on mentorship and lighting other people’s torches to shine brightly and thrive. “The leaders who are part of our team of teams all bring unique value, deep experiences and their own opportunities for growth,” she said. “A key focus is asking these leaders to consider their own vision for the organization, the impact they wish to have in their career and how they can also light other torches.”
According to Lord, she believes each of the leaders she mentors are future titans, and she wants them to have that mindset early on. “I am taking on the torch-lighting approach with colleagues who are internal and external to my organization,” said Lord. “I do not need to solve problems directly, but instead, mentor others to solve them, to think creatively and to show up with curiosity. To me, this is the work of a titan – to facilitate, demonstrate, exemplify and inspire.”
