Many women in Life Sciences build impressive careers through expertise, dedication, and hard work. But at a certain point, technical excellence alone is no longer enough to move forward. Navigating the unwritten rules of leadership, visibility, influence, and strategic positioning becomes essential.
This leadership bootcamp, taking place on 𝟮𝟵-𝟯𝟬 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 in Woerden, offers a unique 2-day programme that combines:
- Strategic frameworks (field of influence, archetypes, power dynamics)
- Real industry cases from life sciences
- Experiential learning in a safe but realistic environment
- Facilitated by Dr Mira Vasic and Dr Linda van de Burgwal incl live simulations with actors
A different kind of skills gap
This is not a story about women lacking confidence, or men holding doors closed. It is a story about a skills gap that scientific training, by design, does not address. Biotech, pharma, and life sciences academia develop extraordinary analytical minds. They reward precision, depth, and domain expertise - genuine and valuable skills.
But leadership operates on a different set of competencies, ones that are rarely taught and almost never assessed in a PhD program or a lab environment. The shift is subtle but significant: from content to context, from execution to influence, and from being right to being strategic. It requires understanding not just what the right answer is, but when and how to bring it forward, and how to move others in the process.
Unequal access to unwritten rules
This transition is challenging for many professionals, regardless of gender. Yet data consistently shows that women are less likely to have been exposed to the informal networks, sponsorship relationships, and unwritten career guidance that make this shift easier to navigate. Not because they are less capable, but because access to those invisible pathways has historically been uneven.
Bridging the gap in Life Sciences
To address this, Intouch and TOPX Network developed the Stratego for Women® – Life Sciences Bootcamp. This is not a confidence training or a generic leadership theoretical course, but a focused two-day immersive program designed specifically for the realities of biotech, pharma, and life sciences academia - where the distance between scientific excellence and strategic visibility tends to be particularly wide.
Participants first learn to map the informal structures in their own environment, including power dynamics, influence networks, and behavioural patterns that shape how decisions actually get made. Then they brings these insights into practice through realistic simulations, including negotiations, stakeholder conversations and positioning strategies, supported by professional actors.
From insight to action
The goal is not to change who someone is, but to make visible what has always been invisible, and to provide the tools to navigate it with intention. Participants leave with a clearer understanding of how influence works and a personalised strategy for their next career step.
Source: TopX