The Power of Unity is the motto that Ana Catarina Fonseca and her team “defend daily”. Aware that “the world is changing and that we have to keep up with this change, in an agile way”, the Country Manager at Roche Diabetes Care Portugal, believes “that the solution lies in our attitude and in the strength and resilience of a team.”
In 2014, her goal of running an organization, led her to AESE in order to attend the Executive MBA. In the future, he aspires to “have the opportunity to lead an affiliate larger than Portugal”, based on the values of transparency, passion, resilience and collaboration, which he cherishes in his daily life.
What are the main milestones in your professional career that contributed to reaching the position you are in?
There are two aspects that, in my view, have always gone hand in hand to help me reach the position I have today: the academic aspect, essential at strategic moments in my professional career, and the professional aspect, where professional pride was non-negotiable and the ability to demonstrate where I wanted to direct my career was decisive. As academic milestones, I can highlight the completion of my academic training in chemical engineering at FCT-UNL, which allowed me to enter the job market quickly, the completion of a postgraduate degree in Marketing Management at ISEG, the moment when I decided to direct my career to the Marketing area and, later, the completion of the Executive MBA at AESE, the moment I decided that my short-term goal would be to run an organization. From a professional point of view, the most important milestones were: having had the opportunity to gain experience in different management positions, both in the commercial area and in the Marketing area, in several areas of the pharmaceutical industry (Medical Devices, Consumer Health Care and Pharmaceutical), which brought me a lot of versatility; to have had an international experience for more than 5 years, managing the marketing department of the diabetes division of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in the Iberian Peninsula and, finally, having made the difficult decision to change companies, after 14 years of career, to Roche Sistemas de Diagnósticos, the company where I am currently and very satisfied.
What were your main achievements?
I identify 4 great achievements in my professional career: (1) the first time I had the responsibility of managing and developing people, a highly enriching experience and constant learning; (2) the first time I was “passed over” in an internal application for the position of head of sales in the company where I worked, at which time I had to deal with the frustration of not being the person selected for the role. It was not an achievement, but a non-achievement, which, however, contributed to making me what I am today – you don’t learn only from what you achieve, you also learn a lot from what you have not achieved and from subsequent reflection; (3) my move from J&J to Roche, after 14 years of career, something that I considered as an act of courage, but clearly necessary for my professional development and, finally, (4) my most recent achievement, which was to have been able to prove my worth and be selected for the position of Country Manager at Roche Diabetes Care Portugal.
What are the main lessons that make you the leader you are today?
I’m naturally a people-oriented person. However, a few years ago, I felt that I, as a leader, had to know everything about everything. Over time, I learned that this is not the case. In fact, the main asset of a company is its people and surrounding ourselves with the right people, with a diversity of profiles that complement each other, and with skills superior to ours in certain areas, is clearly an asset and a great competitive advantage. It allows us, as leaders, to motivate the sharing of different points of view, stimulate discussions, develop our people and challenge teams to find better solutions to the challenges in our organizations. The results are just a consequence.
Another great lesson that I keep very much in mind is the power of communication, verbal and non-verbal, to gain the trust of a team. Communication is a powerful weapon that can make or break an organization. Showing only the direction of an organization is surely reductive. People who want to accompany us have the right to understand the “Why” and it is our duty to communicate it properly.
What values do you govern yourself by and that you transmit to your teams?
Transparency, Passion, Resilience and Collaboration. In my team we have a motto – The Power of Unity – that we defend and protect daily. We know that the world is changing and we have to keep up with this change, in an agile way. We trust that the solution lies in our attitude and in the strength and resilience of a team, in the way we believe and face challenges, in the ability to privilege a growth mindset over a fixed mindset. We don’t need to be perfect. Error is what allows us to evolve and, for that, we have to be encouraged to experiment, to get out of the comfort zone and to learn (Fail, Fail fast, Learn Faster).
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
I would probably do a lot of things very differently, but I’m not sure the result would be better than the one I’ve achieved so far. It would also be different.
Professionally, how do you see yourself in 5 years?
My goal in 5 years is to have the opportunity to lead an affiliate larger than Portugal. We will see the steps I will have to conquer to get there.
