I recently spoke to Meghan Fitzgerald. Meghan is a Managing Partner at LetterOne Group, an international investment business with $25 billion of capital under management, where she runs the healthcare vertical for this fund. She has worked in almost every sector of healthcare and recently wrote a new book called Ascending Davos: A Career Journey from the Emergency Room to the Boardroom.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? ​What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your success and growth?

Meghan: I am a global healthcare operator, strategist, investor and academic. I have worked in every domain of healthcare from front-line patient care through the Fortune 500 while serving as an Associate Professor at Columbia University. Today I work in private equity for a global $25B fund where I spearheaded their healthcare vertical, deploying close to $4B into healthcare service deals. Prior to this I spent nearly twenty years in Corporate America working for many prominent healthcare companies — including Cardinal Health, Pfizer and Merck. 

Like many executives, I have had numerous personal and professional setbacks. Those involving a family illness have been the most difficult to navigate, especially while climbing the corporate ladder. I think many executives — especially women leaders — are masters at managing life and work. They just get it done and can compartmentalize, focusing on what really matters. But it can come at a cost to their own health. 

Adam: What inspired your interest in improving wellness in the workplace?

Meghan: As a researcher and executive I was curious to find out if women who ascend the ladder do so at the expense of their health. My findings showed that most executive women have good overall health — which isn’t surprising given that many are educated and have health insurance. However, I found an interesting paradox. The more educated, wealthier women reported more days each month that they felt less healthy:

• 50% of respondents said they log over 50 hours a week in the office, and take work home .

• The top 5% of earners put in the longest hours. 50% of those earning over $250,000 working 70+ hours a week. 

• It’s hard to find time to see a doctor. Most disturbing to me: 48% said they could not see a doctor due to workload. 

• Working so much also makes it hard to find time to exercise. 50% exercise two days or fewer per week, and 25% said they had not participated in any physical exercise within the past month. 

The trends and data in my study are concerning not only for the companies losing this cohort of special talent, but all the young women looking up to these CEO candidates as role models. 

And in a tight labor market, top employees have choices. They can leave. So not only is it the right thing to do, but there is a big financial reason to follow through. 

Adam: What are your key messages and takeaways for leaders on the topic of health in the workplace?

Meghan: The takeaway is this: HEALTH IS A FORM OF WEALTH. It should be part of your compensation package. When you consider your job, you must think about your commute, onsite work health and exercise clinics, caregiving policies and who you work for. 

To explain this in more detail: you should assess the health of your career, job and employer at the start. Most employees focus on compensation and title with little attention to the health culture of their chosen job or employer. You should conduct a health assessment of the company and potential boss. Do some diligence during the interview. Ask: Are employees happy? What types of benefits do they have? What is this company’s reputation in the market for “doing well by doing good”? How far is your commute? 

And if it’s too late and you are in a toxic position, look for an exit ramp immediately. Do not wait until you are so overwhelmed that you can’t orchestrate an effective pivot or exit. There is a saying that “swimmers jump first.” Don’t be sick back on the boat lost at sea.  That’s why I coach people to relocate from sick and toxic companies and bosses early, and no wait until you are too tired and sick to create an effective exit ramp. 

Adam: What are your three best tips for leaders on how they can cultivate organizations more conducive to promoting health and wellness?

Meghan: As a leader, be a beacon of health. It starts with you at the top. Do you value a healthy work environment? Ask your employees how they are doing. Ask about their families. I used to ask my team to create a pie chart of how they were spending their time, assessing whether they were burning out or in “flow.” In addition, they would rate their role on a scale of 1–10, measuring how happy and healthy they were that quarter. 

Leaders need to step in and help, too. If someone is going through a healthcare or personal crisis, are you helping them triage their workload, offering solutions and running interference? A trusted leader will be transparent, supportive and prescriptive on what is needed to keep you in role while you manage or step away in a crisis. 

As an employer, walk the healthcare walk and talk the benefits talk. Employees value flexibility, onsite health clinics and caregiving support. But these aren’t perks. They’re life necessities. Especially as baby boomers age, many leaders will have to manage care for aging parents. As an employer you should support benefits and policies that make work and life transitions compatible with the demographics and values of your workforce. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Meghan: I value intellectual generosity. I have learned that star bosses and sponsors will bring you along their ascent. Find leaders who are going places, and pride themselves and their legacy on having a deep leadership pipeline. I was thinking about this earlier this week: Jack Welch was really good at this. He used to brag about all the ex-GE alumni working as CEOs throughout the Fortune 500.  

Adam: How can leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Meghan: Two areas. The first is getting raw and off-cycle feedback from superiors, peers and those you lead. And second, make a lifelong career commitment to training and learning. If you are weak at finance, start taking a CFO to lunch. If you are getting poor leadership scores, partner proactively with a trusted confidante in HR and work a plan. Every leader has strengths and weaknesses. Don’t wait to hear about your weakness in an annual review, or worse — while being passed over for the top job. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Meghan: That “Everyone is replaceable, even you, Meg.”

This was said to me at my going away party from Pfizer. It felt harsh and flattened me at the time but was humbling. That one sentence had made me work twice as hard over the last twenty years to prove this person wrong.