The Roche Report

When I was little, my parents used to complain about my approach and style - to the point that they often told me that I was being bossy. This was such a frequent occurrence in my house that one year in high school, my mom gave me a little wall sign as a joke (I think?) that said "I'm not bossy, I just have better ideas."  It was frustrating to me at the time, because I DID have better ideas (I'm joking, I think).  In all honesty, I had some personal challenges at home that probably led to me being more assertive (or as my parents called me, bossy), including a really loving mom who struggled with alcoholism and probably ADD, which led to me needing to take charge of personal details like scheduling doctor's appointments, hair appointments, getting school supplies, etc. at a fairly young age (like in elementary school). As I have since learned in therapy and through attending family therapy at my mom's alcohol rehab, a fairly common reaction for children of al...

“We are standing together, shoulder to shoulder, all working for one common good. And the good of each of us as individuals affects the greater good of the company.” – Thomas Watson, Sr., Chairman & CEO, IBM, 1915-1956 I am really proud that I work for a company that embraces the power of diversity; and I am really proud that I have an incredibly diverse team working for me - from all angles: gender, race, age, and, of course, LGBTQ+ as well.  I’ve reflected a lot about what I want to say about Pride this year and how I can continue to support (and/or continue to improve how I support) my LGBTQ+ colleagues. This year stands out for me given our particularly charged political environment and understanding how challenging and completely worrisome it is to my LGBTQ+ friends and colleagues. So, for me it is a moment that I wanted to emphasize how I think about being an ally at work. I think one particular challenge of LGBTQ+ experience at work is the feeling of constantly having to...

This blog is a guest blog written by two members of my team who have recently returned from paternity leave. I asked them to write this upon reflecting on the most common question I get when I travel for work: " Who's taking care of your kids ?" I wrote a whole blog on this subject is, but the net / net is that I think an answer to helping women have a more significant role in the workplace is enabling Dad's to be equal caregivers to their kids - a big element of which is paternity leave.  IBM has an awesome parental leave package - for all parents. But, I've heard many examples of men more or less being gaslit about taking their leave. "What are you going to do?" "You're not really busy, right - let's talk for a couple of minutes", "how are you going to hit your targets if you take leave?" (obviously this is a problem for women in sales TOO!)! Thankfully, in the current era, I think this "shaming" around leave doesn...

I've recently returned to somewhat frequent work travel. In that return to travel, I have been reminded of the question that most got under my skin pre-pandemic. Without fail, when I am traveling for work, someone will say to me some version of: "it's so great you are here! but.... who is with the kids?????" "Is your mom watching the kids while you are gone?" "Is your nanny spending the night at the house while you are gone?" I often think this tremendously well meaning question - that is almost always said in a tone of empathy (wow! you are doing so much! how are you taking care of your kids too?) - is really actually a pretty offensive question to my husband. The assumption is that my husband could not POSSIBLY be with the kids while I am gone - and if he is, he most certainly could not be alone. I am a HUGE Dr. Becky Kennedy fan and recently listened to two of her podcasts - one with Reshma Saujani - the founder of Girls Who Code, and one with E...

Throughout my career, I've spent a lot of time coaching young professionals and one of the things that I've observed is that the colloquial language that is often used amongst peers is one of the biggest detractors in what is coined as "executive presence" but is really just speaking articulately in a business setting. Executive presence is a nebulous term - kind of along the lines of "professional maturity."  I started making a list of common phrases that I hear and/or have coached people on - but then took it to the "streets" aka my team slack channel, asking what words they have worked to stop using in professional settings. What was interesting in the conversation was people chiming in with requests for help (UGH I DO THAT - what are better ways to stop?), and then awesome suggestions for help. Below are some of my thoughts - and some of the team's thoughts. I've color coded the big female / male ones as well: Ending a statement in a qu...

One of the luckiest things in my life is that I am in several group chats with different sets of mom friends with kids ranging from 0 - 5, where we have the opportunity to ask each other questions or vent about the random situations our kids get themselves into. A perfect example of this was on Veteran's Day when my daughter and nanny interrupted one of my meetings to inform me that my daughter had cut her hair completely off on one side of her head ("but I wanted long hair!" she exclaimed, making her decision to saw off her hair completely more confusing). In reflecting on those group chats, and in conversations with many first time parents on my team, I often have this thought: first time parents are so  hard on themselves (third time parents can be too!, just less).  I've been thinking about some reflections that I wish I could share with myself pre- or early-parenthood self.... more below:  Prioritizing your kids over work is usually easy - this was my big worry ...

It's January and time for New Year's Resolutions and goal setting - and I am certainly not alone in committing to Wellness in 2022; for me, some of the changes I've been making recently have been a long time coming and a long time considered. A big element influencing my commitment to this is that following the death of my father and some health problems for my mom - and I've had a great deal of personal reflection on what this means for me and my family for the future. In addition to the reflection, I've also done a good deal of research about what can be preventatively done to avoid the same health problems - and it turns out, a lot. However, my journey with this actually started a little over a year ago when I started more closely following a friend from high school, Casey Means, who has had an amazing career and has truly inspired me personally and professionally. The "short" version of her story is that she is a Stanford-educated MD and was training a...