Jennifer Cross of Dompé on 'sacrificing yourself' and putting your team first

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Hello, my name is Jen Cross, and I am the Senior Director of Field Marketing at Dompé. And my team has a unique responsibility at Dompé. We work with key opinion leaders to establish advocacy for the disease of neurotrophic keratitis. And we do this in many ways, through our Congress strategy, through KOL development, as well as leading our speaker bureau at Dompé.

Thank you, Jen, for being here. And welcome to our Women in Ophthalmology Healio blog series on leadership. So I would like to start off by asking you a leadership pearl that you can share with all of our audience.

I was wondering, have you guys ever read the book Leaders Eat Last?

Great book.

Yes. So, I was reminded by this book recently, I have been interviewing candidates, and it surprises me when I talk to candidates and some their motivation to be in leadership roles really has to do with them wanting to either put themselves in the limelight or really focusing on advancing their own career. And it reminded me a lot of that book, because Simon Sinek, the author, who I love, talks about the importance of leaders taking a step back and focusing more on their teams than themselves, and they're really willing to make that sacrifice. And I can relate to some of the things that he said in the book because he talks about how it parallels to parenting. So, as mothers, we make many sacrifices for our kids to have as much resources within our means so that they can ultimately accomplish more in life than we could. And there's no difference in leadership. So, when leaders can put their teams first, ultimately it provides trust, a safe environment and leads to innovative solutions.

You know, Jen, those are such wise words. Because it also leads by example, right? Because you're putting others first, you're putting your team first. They see it not just by words, but also with your actions. So that's fantastic.

Right, and I have seen — Cynthia — I've had the great opportunity to see you do this with many of your new attendings in your practice and how you've sacrificed yourself to make sure that they're given the opportunities vs. you. So, I respect that from you as a leader.

Well, thank you for those kind words. So, I have the next question for you, Jen. I'm sure along the way you have encountered some challenges. As a leader, how have you maneuvered around those and come up with a solution?

Yeah, that's a great question. So, in my 12 years of leadership experience, there are many challenges that come your way with different personnel. And what's interesting is that no one challenge is the same. But what I'm excited to talk about today in this interview is the greatest challenge of building a culture with your team that ultimately eliminates some of those challenges down the road. So, I think a lot about leadership 'cause I want to be the best leader for my team that I can, and using my marketing background, typically when I take over a new team I run a creative session. And we talk about what our values are as individuals and how we identify with those as a team. We go through our strengths and our detractors. And we talk about our communication style and the communication cadence that we want to live by. And ultimately, it's a roadmap for us that everybody has bought into, and I do believe that it does eliminate some of the challenges that you could have with personnel down the road because we are building trust and everybody's building our culture together.

That is great.

That is great. And it also shows teamwork through the exercise itself.

Yes.

So, you know, that's where trust and relationships start to form. That's wonderful.

Right.

So, Femida has the last question for you.

Yes, Femida.

Yes, I love that creating culture and positive community that you're doing with your team. Can you please share any pearls or advise that you have for your 20 year, maybe 10 year younger self?

Well, it's interesting, 'cause I have a 15 year old daughter and I'm constantly trying to give her advice that she does not want to listen to. But I was raised to keep my head down and work hard and things would come your way. And what I realized is it's actually important to lift your head up and build a network around you in every aspect of your life. So, as a mother and a woman, it's important that I have my network at work, but it's also just as important that I have the network at my children's schools, so when I am working and at a meeting like this, I can hear from them what is going on because they have their pulse on that. It's great to have a network socially so you have a social outlet to be able to connect with friends outside of work. And so, what I would tell my 20 year self, or my 15 year old daughter, is make sure you focus on building genuine relationships with people in all aspects of your life, because it certainly takes a village.

Absolutely, those circles are so important in all aspects of work, personal life and just having fun.

Yes, yes, yes.

And maintaining the circle takes energy and time, so it's not a given. You can't create and assume it's going to be there. So you have to keep working at it. So, here's to networking and friendship.

Cheers! Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me here.

Of course, it's a pleasure.