How Lilly Is Getting More Women into Leadership Positions

Much has been written about the troubling lack of women in leadership roles generally and in health care in particular. Pharmaceutical giant Lilly’s leadership has tackled this problem head-on. It used four strategies: getting buy-in from the top at the outset; doing internal research to understand why there weren’t as many women in leadership roles and the firm wanted; transparently and widely sharing the results inside; and revamping talent management practices and training. The process has had a major impact: From 2016 to the end of 2017, the number of women leaders at Lilly globally rose from 38 percent to 41 percent, and the number of women who report directly to our CEO climbed from 31 percent to 43 percent. Last year, women at Lilly accounted for 61 percent of promotions to senior director and above in the U.S., compared to 54 percent in 2016. Half of the unit presidents in our pharma business are now women.