Barbara Maglione: Turning Medical Possibilities into Promises for Better Lives
Creating solutions that enhance well-being, longevity, and quality of life!
Every medicine begins with hope – the hope to ease pain, extend life, and restore balance. This belief in healing is what defines Barbara Maglione’s path. Guided by her conviction that healthcare holds the power to change lives, she has built her career around creating solutions that truly make a difference.
At Farmaceutici Damor Italy, Barbara leads with both precision and empathy. Her work reflects a deep understanding that the pharmaceutical field is not only about science, but about the people whose lives depend on it. Each step she takes is grounded in responsibility and driven by purpose to enhance well-being, quality of life, and longevity.
For Barbara, innovation in healthcare carries both weight and wonder. The weight comes from the responsibility of touching lives through science. The wonder lies in watching those efforts bring real relief to people who once suffered in silence. That balance keeps her deeply committed to the mission she serves.
Her journey is an example that leadership in healthcare is a matter of heart as much as intellect. Under her guidance, Farmaceutici Damor persists in growing as a space where compassion fuels progress and every discovery carries the intent to improve human life. Barbara’s story shows what happens when purpose leads the way, healing finds its truest form.
Let us learn more about her journey:
Early Experiences Forming My Leadership
Barbara’s belief in her ability to lead and influence was forged through early experiences where she learned the value of listening and taking ownership. A key turning point came during an early-career project where the team was stuck in a deadlock.
She stepped up, not by commanding, but by organizing a space for honest, structured dialogue. She synthesized the conflicting viewpoints and proposed a hybrid path forward, which the team embraced. It taught her that true influence comes from clarity, synthesis, and earning respect, not just having a title.
Balancing Strength and Empathy
Balancing strength and empathy is crucial, especially during uncertainty. For Barbara, strength is about clarity of vision and decisiveness, setting a clear course and holding the line on non-negotiables like integrity and quality. Empathy, to her, is about recognizing the human reality of change, acknowledging the fear, anxiety, and effort of her team. She leads by communicating transparently about the purpose of transformation, offering support structures, and being a visible, active listener. This combination ensures her team feels seen and supported while marching toward a clear, defined goal.
Guiding Personal Values
The personal values that guide Barbara’s decision-making, particularly when faced with difficult or unpopular choices, are Integrity, Accountability, and Long-term Value.
- Integrity means she must always choose the ethical path, regardless of the short-term cost.
- Accountability dictates that she takes full responsibility for the decision, its execution, and its outcomes.
- Long-term Value forces her to look beyond immediate gains to what is best for the patients, the company’s sustainability, and the team’s future. If a choice is unpopular but aligns with these three values, she believes it is the correct choice.
Handling Self-Doubt
Like many women, Barbara has had moments of self-doubt or imposter syndrome when stepping into higher roles. She handles this by separating the feeling from the fact. She relies heavily on data and preparation.
If she has been entrusted with the responsibility, it is because her track record and capabilities are real. She also has a small, trusted circle of advisors, mentors, and peers, she can speak to honestly. Articulating the self-doubt often reveals how baseless it is, allowing her to refocus on the task at hand and the value she knows she brings.
Authentic Leadership for Women
Authentic leadership for women in today’s climate looks like embracing their full spectrum of competence and personality. It is no longer about trying to emulate traditional, often masculine, leadership styles.
It means leading with emotional intelligence and courageous vulnerability, sharing perspectives honestly, and including the challenges.
It means championing collaboration and nurturing talent, which are often innate strengths.
Crucially, it means setting a powerful, boundary-respecting example, demonstrating that success does not require sacrificing personal well-being or integrity. It is about leading themselves, never as an imitation.
A Defining Moment of Impact
A defining moment for Barbara came during a product launch that aimed to address a rare disease. The team was under immense pressure and deeply exhausted. After the successful launch, a patient’s family reached out to her personally. They simply said that the team’s work had given their child a chance at a normal life.
Hearing that story, that direct and undeniable link between her strategic work and a human life, was the moment she realized her leadership was about more than quarterly reports. It was truly making an impact in people’s lives. It became a profound reminder of her industry’s purpose.
Creating Opportunities for Other Women
She uses her voice and position to actively sponsor and mentor other women. For her, it is never enough to be only a mentor; she commits to being a sponsor, someone who uses her positional power to advocate for a woman’s advancement when she is absent from the room. This includes:
- Insisting on diverse candidate slates for senior positions.
- Giving credit publicly to her female colleagues for their innovations.
- Actively promoting young women into visible, high-stakes roles where they can prove their readiness for the next level.
She views opening the door for one as opening it a little wider for all.
Greatest Sacrifices and Challenges
One of the greatest challenges Barbara has faced has been the perpetual balancing act between demanding professional responsibilities and a fulfilling personal life. The sacrifice is often time, missed personal moments and the mental energy required to compartmentalize.
She overcame this by accepting that balance is a dynamic concept, a state that keeps shifting. Some weeks are heavy on work, while others are reserved for family. She has had to become ruthlessly efficient with her time and delegate without guilt. Establishing firm personal boundaries and modeling them for her team has been key to long-term sustainability.
Most Valuable Piece of Advice for Young Women Leaders
Barbara often repeats the most valuable piece of advice she has learned: be radically clear about your ‘Why’ and your ‘No’.
She believes in knowing one’s ‘Why,’ the deepest motivation and non-negotiable professional purpose. It becomes the anchor that guides a person through every turbulent decision.
She also emphasizes the importance of knowing one’s ‘No’. Barbara encourages others to be courageous enough to set boundaries and to say ‘No’ to opportunities, requests, or demands that do not align with their ‘Why’ or that threaten their sustainability. She believes one must guard time and energy fiercely.
Sustaining Drive and Resilience
To sustain her drive, creativity, and emotional resilience, Barbara prioritizes three things:
- Intellectual Curiosity: She actively seeks out learning outside her direct field, reading, and attending diverse conferences. This fuels her creativity and prevents stagnation.
- Physical and Mental Health: She treats sleep and exercise as non-negotiable strategic assets, rather than optional luxuries.
- Perspective: She maintains a regular practice of stepping back to see the bigger picture. When societal pressure or burnout looms, she reminds herself of the fundamental purpose of her work and the positive impact she is making, which re-centers her focus and restores her drive.
A Legacy of Hope to Leave
Barbara hopes her leadership will leave a legacy that reflects more than financial success. She wishes it to stand as one of Possibility and Principle.
She wants the next generation of women to look back and see a leader who:
- Demonstrated Possibility: Proved that a woman can lead at the highest level while leading with her authentic voice.
- Championed Principle: Left the company culture more ethical, more inclusive, and more focused on patient well-being than she found it.
She hopes to leave a legacy where the women who follow feel they can lead confidently and compassionately, without having to dim any part of themselves.
Envisioning the Future of Women’s Leadership
She envisions the future of women’s leadership evolving over the next decade from a focus on fixing women to a focus on fixing the system. The shift will move from discussing how women should lean in to urging organizations to stand up, dismantle systemic bias, and create truly equitable pipelines.
She hopes to play a role in shaping this change by continuing to be a voice for structural transformation within her industry, advocating for policies such as flexible work models, equitable parental leave for all genders, and measurable diversity goals. Her aim is to use her executive platform to ensure that the systems and culture being built are designed to allow all talented leaders, regardless of gender, to thrive.