Women are bright, sensitive, bold, perceptive, and collaborative. According to research, businesses with more women in leadership roles are more lucrative, socially responsible, and give better customer experiences, among other things. When women hold high roles in businesses, they become more receptive to change and place a greater emphasis on R & D. Unfortunately, there are only 21 women at the top of Fortune 500 firms, and this has to change.
Kaile A. Zagger, COO of Aspira Women’s Health and Co-Founder and CEO of MAT Designation, thinks that when equity, diversity, and inclusion meet high performance and a platform that allows a varied workforce to push towards high levels of insight, the world is a better, stronger, and smarter place. She goes on to say that this is where the magic happens. This is where ground-breaking ideas or growth stimuli emerge. “Construct powerfully diverse teams, bring them together under an umbrella of trust, and watch them fly.” Kaile says.
When Kaile was just 13 years old, her mother was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer. She says, “My mother was our world and the glue of our family, as many mothers are. When she was only 46 years old—and I was only 19—she lost her battle with ovarian cancer.” Unfortunately, her father soon left, and Kaile was alone with very little resources or support. She describes, “In those moments, you dig in and build your playbook for how to make it. Those principles are transferrable and have equipped me to help businesses survive and then thrive in my past 20+ years.”
Upon learning that her mother’s live would soon end, she left university to care for her mother and gave up playing tennis to do so. She was chosen to study in Florence, Italy, which strengthened her dedication to a global perspective and gave her the capacity to participate in global activities. She learned valuable lessons during the difficult years following her mother’s death: (1) you can get through anything if you put your mind to it; (2) hard work does in fact pay off; and (3) attitude is everything–if you are positive and committed to overcoming obstacles, you will succeed.
An Inspiring Journey of Focus and Commitment
Kaile considers herself extremely fortunate to have landed her first post-university job. She was admitted to GE’s Global Leadership Development Program, which is focused on developing and nurturing the next generation of business leaders. She clarifies, “It was one of the best experiences of my professional life.” She also adds, “It was a true blessing to work and study under the Jack Welch era of GE. At a young age, I gained phenomenal exposure to multiple countries, businesses, and cultures. I graduated from the program as a Black Belt in Six Sigma. My time at GE and the death of my mom, reinforced my lifelong desire to make a significant impact on the healthcare system.”
Although Kaile began her career in electrophysiology, she has since obtained important knowledge in a variety of therapeutic fields, including robotics, diagnostic imaging, neuromodulation, informatics, and cancer diagnostics for early detection. For Kaile, the past two decades have been years of unparalleled experience as she worked for a variety of Fortune 500 organizations attempting to make significant advancements in the healthcare field. She was able to effectively establish business divisions for these international organizations. Subsequent to her work, she felt strongly about educating the non – oncologic healthcare providers about HBOC, and together with the esteemed Dr. Elena Ratner, she aCo-Founded and serves as the CEO of MAT Designation, a non-profit organization dedicated to ovarian cancer early diagnosis.
A People Person
Kaile has always thought that people are the most important thing in the world, whether they be family, friends, or colleagues. Their ranking at the top of her list is based on a dedication to key principles such as personal and professional honesty, as well as a dedication to hard work that will result in practical gains for others. She asserts, “People are the center of my focus and the most cherished of life’s resources in and out of the workplace.”
Kaile’s work philosophy is centered on people and culture. She aims to create a high-performance atmosphere for herself and her coworkers by establishing evidence-based goals for faster growth. She is constantly working to stretch the boundaries of what she and her team believes to be possible, working to create a dynamic workplace in which the artificial glass ceilings the world creates are broken.
Kaile considers her children to be her world and her most important job, and she is adamant about being a fully present mother to them. She is passionate about trying to develop “excellent future citizens,” a process that begins and concludes at home. “We value fun, family, friends, deep mental and emotional connection, quality time, adventures/exploration together, education, and giving back to the community,” says Kaile.
Principles of Transformation
“It’s vitally important to have the right people in the right seats, as you cannot transform with the wrong people,“ says Kaile. She further adds, “You must completely understand your industry and the shifts that are underway.” She suggests that we master the ecosystem and build the horizontal blueprint through the creation of transformational architecture. Develop innovation strategies in cross-functional slices while building new strategic capabilities. She also said that while doing this, “don’t forget to invest.”
As per Kaile, in order to successfully become a high-performance organization, one must develop the capability to continually adapt, adjust, accelerate, and innovate. She opines, “There’s no cookie-cutter method to achieve success.” It’s a blend of intuition, hard work, teamwork, tenacity, and perseverance, as she sees it. The most effective transformational firms focus on addressing customer demands by defining goals, reducing feedback loops, and judging performance on outcomes rather than outputs. She believes that in order to secure the mandate, sponsorship, and support, it is critical to think big, learn quickly, and act quickly. By doing so, you may find yourself acting your way into a new society. Toxins and sceptics must be eliminated; Create the proper item, then build it quickly and flawlessly; produce tiny bursts of momentum on a regular basis; Adapt your strategy depending on what you’ve learned—tweak the sails as needed—and show proof for future investment.
According to Kaile, it’s critical to keep looking for underserved areas or organizations that aren’t part of the primary emphasis. Unmet and unarticulated requirements are discovered in white space, which leads to inventive potential and commercial penetration. She asserts, “Look at the landscape and closely examine up and down the value chain with a new lens. It’s possible to uncover opportunities that are not obvious but that can have a great impact.”
Balancing the Responsibilities of a Mother and a Leader
“It’s vital to put your children at the center of all you do, as prioritizing them for work or a dream will never be fulfilled. They should be your number one, always. However, if you want to achieve in your career, you must be good at building infrastructure in your life and be very committed to only 2 things – family and work…the rest…needs to be outsourced,” says Kaile. She finds that while striving to be great at what one does, one constantly learns, strives, and grows. She suggests, “Be tenacious with your visions and dreams and see them through; carve out the time; prioritize; and be disciplined about execution.” She also adds, “Cultivate having an elastic mind and learn every day, improve every day. Do not allow your mind or soul to stagnate. Surround yourself with people who encourage you to be great, to reach high, and do something that has yet to be done, ‘Be organized’.”
Kaile encourages working women to have a solid personal connection or marriage. Because having a great partner who loves and supports you is incredibly important if you want to “have it all.” “Mothers will probably always remain the primary caretakers and house administrators,” she argues. We know the multiple responsibilities that we will face when we decide to seek a satisfying profession that contributes to society.” This is why Kaile believes it is critical that your spouse be not just progressive and aware of this, but also supports, assists, and aspires to be an equal partner. She adds, “Close friends are life blood as they’re fuel for the soul and the family that you weren’t born into. You chose each other. It’s critically important to invest in, care for, and protect these relationships. “
A View on Work Culture
Successful businesses must function as a community, one that is fair and egalitarian, with dependable leadership that prioritizes people and high performance. They must be centered on individuals. They must be steadfast in their commitment to investing in people and assisting each individual employee in order to raise the bar of the team to the highest levels of insight the team can achieve together. They must have a proven track record of growth and advancement. Kaile opines, “There must be immediate elimination of under-performers, toxicity, and “bad blood” as you cannot have a good culture with people that are not onboard with the mission at hand. Build a meritocracy, a culture that inspires to great heights, and an organization based on goals, metrics and achievement.” Kaile encourages hiring great people that can be trusted, so that there can be flexibility, and balance. Businesses must also create and encourage an inventive and creative work culture that everyone believes in, as well as a high-performance culture where winning and moving the ball down the field is “fun and exciting.”
Voicing for Women’s Empowerment
Accelerating sustainable development requires empowering women and girls and fostering gender equality. People are unaware that nearly one out of every four females aged 15 to 19 in the world is still unable to access school, equitable employment, or training, compared to one out of every ten boys. These girls, like all girls, have the right to be safe, educated, and healthy, not only during these formative years, but throughout their lives. According to the United Nations, the worldwide internet user gender gap is widening, rising from 11% in 2013 to 17% in 2019, with more than 40% in the least developed nations.
In nearly 70% of countries, the percentage of women who graduate from university with a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree is less than 15%, and in middle- and high-income countries, only 14% of girls who excelled in these subjects in school are expected to work in science and engineering, compared to 26% of boys. Kaile is ecstatic to have been asked to speak at the United Nations General Assembly’s International Day of the Girl Child, which was established in 2011. Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, the Fourth World Conference on Women, organized by the UN, in which participating nations committed themselves to advancing the goals of equality, development, and peace for all women everywhere in the interest of humanity.
Despite significant progress, the United Nations realizes that much more needs to be done. It underlines the critical requirement for various change triggers. Supporting women’s movements and leadership; harnessing technology for gender equality, closing the gender digital divide, and removing biases in technology; ensuring that no one is left behind because, despite advances in gender equality, many women still face discrimination based on ethnicity, class, religion, and other factors; and financially backing commitments. Kaile aims to play a key role in all of these initiatives.
