CEO School

Building Impact by Leading With Heart Today: A Conversation With Erika Sinner

February 9, 2026

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  • Creating your own opportunities early in your career, such as fabricating a project for visibility, can lead to significant career advancement, as demonstrated by Erika Sinner's start in MedTech. 
  • Financial safety, rooted in past scarcity, is a powerful motivator for building scalable businesses like Directorie, which was founded after experiencing multiple layoffs. 
  • Leading with empathy extends to workplace policies like pet bereavement leave, acknowledging the deep emotional impact of pet loss, which is a crucial element of building a supportive culture. 

Segments

Erika’s Career Origin Story
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(00:00:15)
  • Key Takeaway: Proactive creation of a fake project secured Erika Sinner a marketing role after starting as a receptionist.
  • Summary: Erika Sinner began her career at 21 as a receptionist at a pharmaceutical company while attending night school. To gain visibility, she fabricated a project, an ad and brochure, claiming her grade depended on its completion to impress the VP of Marketing. This bold move resulted in her securing an open marketing position a month later, following 11 years in the life sciences sector.
Founding Directorie on Safety
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(00:04:21)
  • Key Takeaway: Experiencing multiple layoffs in pharma drove Erika to prioritize financial safety, leading to the creation of Directorie.
  • Summary: Directorie was founded after Erika survived 11 rounds of layoffs at pharmaceutical companies, reinforcing her core value of safety, which she equates with money due to her upbringing. She identified a market need for small to mid-sized pharma companies lacking access to top talent during mergers or divestitures. Directorie serves as a commercial team resource, ensuring readiness for product submission and market entry.
Leading with Empathy and Accountability
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(00:06:45)
  • Key Takeaway: Sustainable growth requires balancing high results and accountability with a CEO’s commitment to employee job security.
  • Summary: Erika leads with her heart, focusing on forecasting business development to ensure work is available for her team. She commits to employees that if they perform well, they will retain their jobs, contrasting with cultures demanding excessive personal sacrifice. This balance of high demands and security is credited for Directorie’s Inc. 5000 growth.
Pet Bereavement and Grief
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(00:08:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Pet bereavement leave normalizes grief over animal loss, which is often minimized by societal norms, turning personal pain into advocacy.
  • Summary: Erika wrote ‘Pets Are Family’ after the unexpected loss of her dog, Kingston, realizing the profound, unconditional love animals provide. She felt shame taking the company’s existing pet bereavement leave until she honored her grief, recognizing it as love. The book advocates for this leave as a starting point for broader compassionate corporate culture, offering resources for supporting those grieving pets.
Tiny Superheroes Mission
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(00:14:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Tiny Superheroes reframes childhood medical challenges by giving children superhero identities to foster bravery and pride.
  • Summary: Tiny Superheroes supports children born with disabilities or abnormalities by replacing negative medical language with empowering narratives. Children receive a ‘superhero cape’ and celebrate clinical milestones as ‘missions,’ fostering courage, strength, and hope. This mindset work is vital, as children internalize these affirmations, such as stating they will be ‘strong and brave’ before chemo.
Activating Impact Through Business
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(00:25:37)
  • Key Takeaway: Business success provides the essential freedom of time and capital necessary for founders to pursue passion-driven impact projects.
  • Summary: Success in building an eight-figure business like Directorie creates the freedom required to take on significant impact initiatives like Tiny Superheroes. Founders must dream big and build successful businesses because financial and time freedom directly fuels the ability to pursue and sustain passion projects. This principle underscores why financial success for women is critical for broader societal impact.