Leadership Interview: Meet AmCham’s New Chair Tisha Boatman
AmCham Denmark is delighted to welcome Tisha Boatman, Managing Director, Siemens Healthineers Denmark & Nordic and Baltics Zone, as its new Chair. Tisha assumes the position from Richard Wright General Manager at Roche Denmark.
Get to know Tisha Boatman in this interview on being an expat business leader in Denmark and which leadership principles she lives by…
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What makes you invest your time in AmCham Denmark?
For me, AmCham is first and foremost a fabulous network of business leaders where I can gain new ideas, challenge my own thinking, and stretch my personal experience and competencies on topics I might not encounter everyday at my job. The events are of very high quality, the networking opportunities are vast, and of course we also have a lot of fun.
What makes a good leader, and how do you personally continue to grow and develop as a leader?
In my opinion, a great leader sets and continually reinforces a compelling vision and selects and empowers other leaders to achieve their best on behalf of that vision. Great leaders encourage and motivate, and sometimes challenge or work to remove roadblocks. But mostly they support others to be their best.
I am someone who always wants to learn and grow. Much of my development as a leader has come from taking on new challenges over time. At the moment, I have plenty of new challenges in my job as head of Siemens Healthineers in the Nordic and Baltic countries, but I also invested in Executive Coaching some time ago where I have an external coach challenging my thinking about topics I bring to him.
What are some of your recent projects and developments that you are most proud of?
I am a breast cancer survivor, and I am really happy to have the opportunity to raise awareness for breast cancer screening including self-checks. In April 2020 (right at the height of COVID wave one in Denmark) I found a stage two lump in my breast. I was healthy, very physically active, no genetics from breast cancer and no family history. If I had not been doing a self-check monthly, I would not have found that lump until it was stage 3 or 4 and the treatment protocol would have been much different. I speak about this every chance I get as it literally saved my life. I know that my story has inspired others to start checking themselves regularly or to go in for much overdue screening exams. Being an advocate for patients and for screening is something I will never stop doing in my life.
What keeps your company invested in Denmark? And what can Denmark learn from other countries?
Siemens Healthineers is focused on enabling Danish healthcare providers to deliver better outcomes and higher value to patients in Denmark. One of the best things for us is the willingness of Danish healthcare providers to explore new opportunities to better deliver care.
From my perspective, Denmark can improve in the area of diversity and inclusion on a national level. While this is a socially progressive country, the laws and cultural norms do not welcome foreigners as much as they should in order to sustain and grow a robust, diverse economy for the better of all residents including of course the majority Danish population. Here I am talking about everything from reduced places for English language university education to tax laws which make long term talent development a challenge to outdated views on women in the workplace which mean Denmark lags far behind some neighboring countries in women in senior leadership and corporate Board appointments.
What do you see in the next generation of leaders aspiring to run an international organization? Any advice for them?
I believe the next generation of leaders has a powerful strength to leverage and that is a willingness to challenge, question and engage across boundaries in topics ranging from gender equality to equal access to healthcare to how to solve climate change. They are not burdened with the fear of traditional corporate structures or international boundaries. They were movers and shakers before the pandemic, and COVID has only emboldened them to think bigger, not wait for tomorrow, and not be restricted by norms and protocols.
My advice for this group is support each other and really stretch yourself in terms of building bridges between people, between departments, between community groups, between public and private players. Collaboration is a powerful multiplier and there is no place in international business for the individual “influencer”. It takes a talented and engaged team to achieve great things and here I do not mean traditional org chart type teams. I think this next generation really gets that, and will do great things like finally stop global warming and achieve sustainable use of natural resources. So, my advice is stay focused and always work on building a coalition and far-reaching community of advocates around your vision.