Ellen McMahon was a rising star as leader of the cardiovascular research group at Pharmacia before its merger with Pfizer. But she started to get grumbling from her team, and talks about management style from her bosses. McMahon says her staff "was struggling with my leadership, they didn?t feel involved in making decisions. I was more in the mode of driving towards goals rather than considering team dynamics." McMahon, an acknowledged "alpha female," decided she could be a better manager. "Every one of your strengths turns into a weakness when you over play it," she says.
McMahon, now a senior director in the field-based medical group at Pfizer, is one of the success stories for Eddie Erlandson, a former vascular surgeon who is now an executive coach. Erlandson?s new book, written with his business partner and wife Kate Ludeman, is named for what he says is a typical description for ...
