Karen Zaderej, CEO of Axogen, Inc, has been a key leader in the organization for nearly its entire 20 year existence. She was having the difficult conversations about making payroll in the early days and is now leading a mature management team for the publicly traded company. All the while, putting quality of life for patients through nerve repair at the center of everything Axogen does.
In this conversation Jeff Harmon and Karen dive into her personal journey as a CEO and the key elements that have made Axogen a successful company.
Some highlights of our conversation include:
1:40 – What is Axogen up to?
4:41 – Karen’s Hero and Role model
7:34 – The Challenge of a Start-up
11:57 – Practicing Transparent Leadership
14:15 – Values are the guardrails
16:57 – Axogen’s Values as a differentiator
19:48 – Helping women return to normalcy after cancer
22:24 – The value of female leadership in serving female patients
25:48 – Life Science Talent Must be diverse
27:34 – Impact of a single patient
31:30 – Getting comfortable with letting go
34:36 – The mindset to be able to let go
38:38 – Conversation with my pre-CEO self
In our conversation, Karen mentioned two great resources for patients: https://rethink-pain.com/ and https://www.resensation.com/
To learn more about Karen, follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-zaderej-56342318/
To learn more about Axogen: https://www.axogeninc.com/