One of the elements that sets Fogarty Innovation apart from other medtech incubators is its veteran coaching staff. With decades of practical experience and a deep bench of external experts, the organization can help its startups optimize their progress in any area. This includes leadership, and when a CEO needs support to maximize their impact, Fogarty Innovation calls in one of its own—strategic consultant Corinne Landphere.
One of the industry’s recognized best, Landphere’s resume showcases her breadth as a teambuilding consultant, industry advisor, and executive recruiter. However, she spends most of her time as a leadership coach. It’s a key asset (read: secret weapon) for Fogarty, which focuses on developing leaders as well as ideas. “Being a startup CEO in the current environment is a heavy load,” Landphere said. “It is a balancing act to lead the operation, manage expectations, and nurture strong relationships across the team, board of directors, and investment community.”
Help for first-time leaders
For a first-time CEO, these challenges can be even greater. “Early pre-commercial leaders are often founders with a technical background and a passion to bring that technology to market,” Landphere said. “While that technical prowess is incredibly important, startup CEOs also need high-EQ behaviors and soft skills in order to raise capital, build and motivate a team, work with their board, and develop key opinion leaders.”
“We bring in Corinne for all kinds of reasons,” said Marga Ortigas-Wedekind, Fogarty chief commercial strategy officer and the lead coach for several FI companies in development. “Sometimes a CEO asks for help; other times we perceive things like a need to elevate their leadership presence so that they can present their vision in a more compelling way.”
In today’s challenging investment climate, the initial impetus for coaching is often to help CEOs with fundraising. “While this tends to take priority, for obvious reasons, it is also an opportune time to see if there are additional performance improvements that can be made,” Landphere said. “Fundraising is just the reason to get the party started.”
The process
While Landphere’s work is nuanced and rarely follows a predetermined path, the first step is generally one or two meetings to discuss the executive’s background, strengths, development areas, and the goals for their work together. These exchanges also give both parties a chance to assess fit—whether they feel comfortable enough to be open and honest. Trust is paramount: the client has to be receptive to feedback, while Landphere has to believe that the person she is coaching is being fully transparent and revealing their true self. Implicit in the agreement to work together is the recognition that the process will create change—both within the CEO and in ways that will ripple through the company.
In some cases, the next step is a “360 Assessment”—an in-depth process in which Landphere solicits feedback from the executive, their team, investors, and others about their performance across multiple business areas, from organizational development and strategic leadership to communication and work-life balance. For a full 360, Landphere interviews anywhere from 12 to 20 people. In her work for Fogarty, she generally conducts a more focused version. “It’s not as juicy and robust, but I interview enough people to uncover trends that provide important information,” she said
Next, Landphere shares her findings with the executive and recommends priorities to address. Together they create a plan to achieve those goals. Landphere includes the Fogarty lead coaches for the company in the process, ensuring that there is continued communication without compromising confidentiality. “I want to be sure that we are speaking the same language so that we can work together to support that person,” she said.
Doing the work
While most CEOs maintain a level of professionalism in public, Landphere encourages rawness and vulnerability in her coaching sessions. Her goal is to build self-awareness by exploring each person’s authentic self, including their goals, motivations, and personal superpower. This last is a particular skill that stems from a deep passion or interest and, without exception, creates value for others. “None of us does everything well, but we all do something exceptionally well,” she said.
Starting with this foundation of strength helps the executive be open to less-positive feedback and the possibility of making adjustments. “Often it’s about shining a light on habits or behaviors that have developed because of past experiences, which can prevent them from building the relationships they need to be successful fundraisers and company leaders,” Landphere said.
Empowering leaders
One of the Fogarty company-in-development leaders Landphere has coached is Mridu Sinha, founder and CEO of Melio Tech, which integrates a proprietary assay, state-of-the-art microfluidics, and cutting-edge machine-learning techniques to rapidly diagnose bloodborne infections.
“Working with Corinne has been a refreshing experience,” said Sinha. “She brings out the best in me by helping me become self-aware, authentic, and true to my unique leadership style. Her coaching isn’t about fitting me into a mold but empowering me to evolve on my own terms—’with some tweaks.’ In doing so, she has helped both ground and empower me as a leader.”
In addition to working regularly with CEOs to achieve set goals, Landphere also meets with executives on an as-needed basis. These meetings provide an opportunity to evaluate the current landscape while searching for blocks that might be hindering progress. “The goal is to enable the leader to make a plan and move forward in a timely fashion,” she said.
Maximizing growth
For everyone, from students to CEOs, Landphere recommends the following practices to achieve ongoing personal and professional growth:
- Find a trusted mentor who is interested and committed to your growth.
- Build a personal advisory board made up of peers and other mentors who can offer different thoughts and ideas when you are challenged.
- Know your strengths at a cellular level and let them guide you.
These practices are rooted in Landphere’s core beliefs: people want to help you, and self-awareness is essential. “If you don’t take the time to become intimately aware of your inner compass—the unique values, goals, and interests that shape your gut response to opportunities and challenges—you won’t ever be on the steady path to optimize your performance and fulfill your dreams,” she said.
Achieving self-awareness includes regularly seeking feedback and being prepared to act on those observations. “If you’re courageous enough to ask others how they perceive you and how you can potentially improve, you can evolve into the best, truest version of yourself, which can lead to fulfilling opportunities you might not have imagined,” she said.
Landphere’s own journey reflects these principles. She worked as a waitress throughout high school and college, paying her own way. Her interest in helping people led her to earn a BSN and become an ER nurse. Her remarkable ability to connect and communicate was noticed, and she was recruited into medtech sales and marketing. From there, she transitioned into leadership coaching.
“It took me a while, but I realized that my superpower is a love of people,” she said. “Each of these roles allowed me to build deep and lasting relationships, creating value for others while learning and growing myself. I absolutely love what I do.”