In today’s episode, Lorie Jones sits down with Janine McMurdie, chief commercial officer for Pictor, to explore the power of authenticity, navigating career pivots, and the impact of women-led teams in traditionally male-dominated industries.
Janine’s career path proves that coloring outside the lines can lead to the most rewarding destinations. She shares her unconventional journey from genetics labs to executive leadership, and discusses overcoming external expectations and the lessons learned by trusting her voice. She also reveals how women’s empathy and resilience give companies a competitive edge.
Perfect for women ready to break molds and lead with heart as they forge their fearless paths, this conversation is a candid look at building a thriving, purpose-driven career on your own terms.
Show Highlights:
- Pick up this remarkable page-turner on the life of cancer. [04:23]
- How focusing on controllables can transform life after tragedy. [07:47]
- Learn about pivoting from science to commercial roles. [09:21]
- Why fitness and mental health are the antidote to mom guilt. [16:59]
- Discover capacities that set women apart in male-dominated fields. [19:52]
- What if your mentor guides you toward a passionless career? [20:41]
- Why embracing authenticity matters despite industry norms. [24:47]
- Benefits of buying property and relocating early to industry hubs. [28:55]
- How to manage fear with career leaps to smaller startups. [31:54]
- Tips for thriving amid bias and the power of female leadership. [37:35]
- What does career success mean without cutthroat practices? [41:03]
- Advice and values that matter for young women in STEM. [45:33]
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.30
Lorie Jones
Good morning, Fairlist females.
00:01.75
Janine McMurdie
head
00:03.74
Lorie Jones
So we’re here today with Janine McMurdy. She is the chief commercial officer for Pictor. And thank you so much for joining us today, Janine, and just sharing your story. We really appreciate it.
00:16.36
Janine McMurdie
It’s really good to be here, Laurie. Thanks for having me.
00:19.83
Lorie Jones
So my first question is always actually the favorite one that I ask, and it’s, I’m a reader. I love books. What is your favorite book?
00:28.82
Janine McMurdie
I actually felt that that this one was was a little daunting. i am a voracious reader and and trying to pick a couple of favorites is always a hard thing. I have to start by saying though that I am so grateful to my mother who instilled the love of reading in me.
00:46.68
Janine McMurdie
My mother left high school when she was 16. She was ill and whatnot, but one of the smartest people that was ever in my life. And it’s because of her love of reading, she read everything, right?
00:59.03
Janine McMurdie
So I had to put that plug in for my mother. um But i I couldn’t pick one, so I picked two.
01:02.37
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
01:07.29
Janine McMurdie
And there’s i think there’s a reason. um so one’s um much more sciency and the other one is more literature based. at So the emperor of all maladies, it is a very human biography of cancer.
01:24.66
Janine McMurdie
And it’s about the, and and as a lay person, you’ll love it As a scientist, I loved it and i’m pretty embraced it. um The author does such a good job of of um making it into a story rather than, you know, just about science, but it’s very human and it looks at the progress and the lack of progress that we’ve made in cancer treatment and therapy and just how long that this journey has been going on.
01:38.56
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
01:51.88
Janine McMurdie
So to me, it’s um really about a story of endurance and and, you know, that we still have a lot of work to do, but scientifically it just, it it makes you understand that this is a marathon and not a sprint, right?
02:06.23
Janine McMurdie
So beautiful book. It’s it’s daunting. It’s about, i don’t know, a thousand pages, but it’s worth every word. um And then the other is the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
02:19.16
Janine McMurdie
And she’s also a biologist, which is interesting, but it’s it’s a work of fiction.
02:19.59
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
02:23.83
Janine McMurdie
um And it is a truly inspiring tale of women who are thrown into an impossible scenario.
02:34.51
Janine McMurdie
It has to do with being in a ah man’s world in both geography, in the era that it was written, in the country. it takes it It takes place in the Congo.
02:46.16
Janine McMurdie
And it is these women who basically try and make all the silly things that men do right. And the men don’t under it. Anyway, it’s, it’s, it’s such a brilliant story and she’s one of my favorite authors.
02:59.80
Janine McMurdie
So, you know, I really feel like these two books tell a story about the way I think, right. One is about the complexity of science and the other is about the complexity of people.
03:11.66
Janine McMurdie
And, you know, I am also passionate about just how well written they are, but they are amazing books. You must read them if you have not yet.
03:20.31
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I actually haven’t read either one of those. I’ve heard of the Poisonwood Bible, but I haven’t actually delved into it. And that makes me want to.
03:30.66
Lorie Jones
So you so I’ll put it on my stack.
03:32.12
Janine McMurdie
Great books. Yeah, i fun fact, um it was written in the 90s, and I think I read it sometime right after it came out. And I very recently went back and read it again because, you know, you have a different perspective, right?
03:47.90
Janine McMurdie
Your whole world changes in a decade or two.
03:48.11
Lorie Jones
You it.
03:50.82
Janine McMurdie
And um it was just as good and probably even better reading it the second time. Yeah.
03:56.81
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I think it’s so interesting because i I can go back and read books. I can watch television shows, we’ll read books over again because I just get something different depending on where I’m at in my life and what stage I’m at and what I’m going through. i I get so much out of these, you know, the literature, depending on where I’m at in my life, that it feels like a totally different experience. So I love that you do that.
04:20.44
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, well, we evolve, right? And if we don’t, we’re just static. And and I think it’s sad if we’re not changing all the time. and My nose is running, so pretty we’re going to edit that out, so that’ll be great.
04:33.53
Janine McMurdie
ah
04:34.81
Lorie Jones
Perfect. Perfect. So tell me a little bit about yourself, Janine. Tell me about um how you got started, kind of how you got where you’re at, what you do today. Did you always know what you wanted to be? Like, tell me just a little bit about your journey.
04:51.58
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, i I feel like my journey was not linear. And i i know so many people who had the 10-year plan, had the 20-year plan, you know, they knew exactly.
05:03.74
Janine McMurdie
And um I think mine started off with the the best of intentions. um i came to California from Canada as a young woman, as a student.
05:14.23
Janine McMurdie
um And not long after i got here, um i was actually in um and an accident that was one part tragic and then left me with some real physical challenges and it upended my whole world.
05:30.23
Janine McMurdie
But I think that that’s actually where my story began because I learned what the things were that, that I could control and really leaned into that discipline.
05:32.98
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
05:41.62
Janine McMurdie
so I have a lot of rules that I live by. And that is the discipline that I learned because there were certain things that I could control. i to this day, i get up at four 30 in the morning, I put my shoes on and, you know, I go work out and, and I really lean into the the mental part of my life that I maybe can control.
06:05.46
Janine McMurdie
um But because of that, I felt there might have been ah something bigger for me and and I needed to find it.
06:16.41
Janine McMurdie
um So I was always really enthralled with the sciences. um But I think that that helped me think about people and all the other things, not just the mental and the the the business and and all of that. So um i started in genetics. I started at Amgen.
06:38.36
Janine McMurdie
i was, I loved being in the lab. I loved experiments and and all of that. But I also really loved the human side. And, and you know, so it it turns out the commercial world was just waiting for me.
06:53.26
Janine McMurdie
And I didn’t necessarily know it early on.
06:53.49
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
06:56.92
Janine McMurdie
um But understanding that I could combine the very human interaction and science and have the capability to build incredible things early on was just really exciting. um And, you know, at, at PICTR today, i you know, I went into a variety commercial roles, ended up at PICTR and we are taking various sophisticated technology and um we’re building it in ways that make it practical, deployable, and really scalable. And,
07:39.16
Janine McMurdie
You know, i didn’t have a straight journey, but it is incredibly fulfilling. i love to be able to sit down with a group of smart people and have a really complex problem and, you know, get everybody in the room to bring their best selves and solve a problem. And, you know, that that’s what excites me at the end of the day.
08:03.14
Lorie Jones
Yeah. So i i grew up in a family of engineers. And um in fact, I am literally the only person in my family who does not have an engineering degree. And so i i got to see that that math, science, that very analytical brain. i probably actually have the brain with you know finance too. But um But there’s a ah special skill set where you can take that analytical um like research kind of information and and translate it and talk to have that that people and that human and that empathetic interaction. to that that So you can be in both worlds. And that’s a really it’s a very specific skill set for these highly technical fields. But it sounds like that’s where you gravitate it to.
08:56.62
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, and again, without knowing that that was sort of the the end goal, um i I did sort of um make sure I was open to opportunities along the way and and watch things unfold and, you know, reach out for the things that I really felt were where I fit.
09:02.00
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
09:17.56
Janine McMurdie
um Yeah, so it was it wasn’t linear, um but I’m grateful for every step of the process. You know, all the people I’ve met along the way, all the amazing technologies that have been brought to light because i you know the teams I’ve been on or the teams I was leading were able to bring them into clinical practice and truly help the human condition evolve. um and and Which is you know brings me right back to where I am at Pictor, is the idea that we can democratize new technologies and get them into the hands of clinicians to make better clinical decisions on a daily basis.
09:59.74
Janine McMurdie
it To me, it’s it’s the reason I put my feet on the floor in the morning. I ah get very, very excited about the things that I do. um But it’s really because there’s a person, a patient at the end of the story. The science is phenomenal.
10:16.44
Janine McMurdie
And then the teams that we put together to do this are, that that’s the other part that just really gets me really excited. The fact that we can be empathetic and authentic and give people the space to bring their brilliant minds, right? That bring the science, bring, you know, all the things that, that they have inside them to the table and, and put that together so that the sum is so much greater than the parts.
10:47.48
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I love being in rooms where there are so many smart people thinking up ideas and solutions for problems. I think that’s that really does energize you. It makes you makes you a better person and gives you a lot of faith in humanity sometimes just to see that process. So did you go to, did you go to was your training, your um college education, was it in biology or
11:12.92
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, so it’s all in science. So an undergrad in molecular and cellular biology and degree in genetics. um I feel like I got an MBA along the way, even though I don’t have that degree. But, you know, I really spent the time and and the the training, you know, maybe not in traditional university, but, you know, a lot of and different courses and and work and then just being in the room with people who could walk the walk and talk the talk and, and, you know, took me under their wing or you know, I, I followed them around like a puppy dog, whatever.
11:54.35
Janine McMurdie
Right. So to get that, that training, but um some of it, like you said, is, is kind of innate and um it’s giving yourself the space to let those things come through, right.
12:09.80
Janine McMurdie
That,
12:10.09
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
12:10.42
Janine McMurdie
that you are your innate capabilities and, and to let them shine. But it’s, it’s, it’s not necessarily intuitive, but that’s where, like, I never grew up saying, Oh, I’m going to be a salesperson.
12:24.70
Janine McMurdie
You know, like it was always always about the science or, you know, I wanted to be a doctor at one point. I wanted to be an engineer at one point, but um to kind of let the ebb and flow of the people that I got to know, There was actually a woman when I was at Amgen who was on the commercial side at one of the companies I interacted with.
12:46.90
Janine McMurdie
And she pulled me aside one day and said, you would be great at this. And I thought, huh, I i never would have thought that. Right. But the more i dug into it, the more I realized that um it’s exactly where I needed to be.
13:00.69
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
13:01.73
Lorie Jones
I like that idea, kind of staying open to the possibilities that and and open to um mentorship, to suggestion, to you know help along the way, to to kind of get you where you were always meant to be. i ah it it doesn’t feel very engineering, very straight liney, very like checklisty.
13:26.87
Lorie Jones
But but i I do see where there’s a ah space for that, like that maybe it takes both. Maybe it takes all that technical knowledge that you learned through your your training and stuff like that, plus the ability to stay open and talk with people and interact with different roles to kind of get you where you need to be.
13:46.49
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. and And, you know, i’m I’m not being glib when I talk about people who have their 10-year plan and their checklist and all of that, but I don’t think it allows the space to be open to opportunities that arise along the way if you are intractable and you must stay on your career path. So, you know, I think a plan is great, but being able to diverge from that when there is something amazing, an opportunity and and to be able to not only be open to it, but to be able to see it, right?
14:20.18
Lorie Jones
her
14:20.60
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
14:20.70
Lorie Jones
Yeah. What is, if you kind of look over your journey, is there an investment that you made in yourself um that you’re like, oh my gosh, I am just so glad I did that because I don’t think I would have ended up the person I am today without, without doing that.
14:36.85
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. So I was mother at 24. I was still going to school. i had a husband and a child and some stepchildren and a career that I was progressing toward. And it really felt like my personal and physical needs were last on the list, but I had developed this whole training journey. So i run marathons and triathlons and really love physical fitness because it helps my brain. more than anything.
15:12.18
Janine McMurdie
And I, for the longest time, felt a lot of guilt around that, right? Because if I was out on a run or, you know, I’d have to get somebody to pick up the kids at carpool because I was going to a training, whatever it was, I felt guilty about that because I was taking away from my responsibilities.
15:34.87
Janine McMurdie
And i realized that young enough, which was good, that that investment that I was making in me made me a better mother.
15:45.56
Janine McMurdie
It made me a better student. It made me a better partner. It made, it just made me better. Right. And so it was an investment in everything that I did and all the people I loved and all of that.
15:51.92
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
15:58.54
Janine McMurdie
But ah to get past that guilt That to me was um sort of my epiphany with with all the training. So i I still to this day, I mean, I’m decades into this and I think it’s really important.
16:16.95
Janine McMurdie
And then when you’re developing teams, I think that this is also an opportunity to understand what makes people tick, right? Like what are the things that might not have anything to do with their role Et cetera, but we’ll make them better people.
16:34.01
Janine McMurdie
So they’re better employees and they’re better at their job and they’re better, just better. So, um ah yeah, I think it’s really important to think about what that is in you so that you can bring that out in others.
16:47.86
Lorie Jones
Oh, that’s a really good way of looking at it. You know, I’ve i’ve I’ve often thought like, yeah, you suffer from, i I kind of thought of it as mom guilt, but i think that anytime you take time out to take care of yourself at the expense of maybe doing something for someone else, you feel sort of guilty about that, but we shouldn’t. We shouldn’t be feeling guilty about it. Like that is self-care. It does take care of us, but I never really took the second step and sort of Thought about, well, if I have these passions that that fill my soul, you know, in addition that finding out what other people’s passions are probably helps them fill their soul. And it’s just kind of fun to know what people are passionate about.
17:32.32
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. Yeah. And, and, I honestly believe that empathy and authenticity are the best things that women can bring to their roles to differentiate us from men, but also to really bring out the best in in others. And I think that that is really good business.
17:54.52
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that I love that.
17:54.84
Janine McMurdie
yeah
17:56.25
Lorie Jones
Yeah, i would I would vote for that.
17:59.70
Janine McMurdie
Awesome.
18:01.55
Lorie Jones
em What is the worst advice someone gave you? Janine, did you ever have like a time when you got some really bad advice? And I’m always curious as to, did you take the advice or did you not?
18:14.26
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. When, you know, i you did send me questions in advance when I read that I had to giggle. So I have someone who is true to this day, truly, deeply an important person in my life.
18:22.12
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
18:32.12
Janine McMurdie
And when I was defining my own career path, They told me, because I said, oh, I’d really like to be a doctor or you know an an engineer. And they said, oh, no, no.
18:43.45
Janine McMurdie
What you need to do is you need to become a dentist. And they mapped it out like the ROI, the years that you spend training and then the years that you spend as a high earning, you know the income potential, just you know mapped it out. And I remember thinking, there is no way I can… I can do the math on that and on paper, sure, but there’s no passion in this for me.
19:12.15
Janine McMurdie
So it’s definitely the best advice that I never took. and And it’s because, again, it’s the passion, right? Like I need something that I can get behind and feel like I am going to you know change the world, fuel my soul, all that sort of thing.
19:30.76
Janine McMurdie
And I’m not dissing dentists in any way, shape or form. We need them.
19:34.64
Lorie Jones
Yeah,
19:35.42
Janine McMurdie
i they’re They’re very important people. they they have you know There are certain ways that I think about like cleft palates and things like that. they They can change people’s lives insurmountably, just not my path.
19:49.97
Janine McMurdie
Okay.
19:50.53
Lorie Jones
just stop my thing. Yeah, I know. You told me about that. And I think like um i i told you, I come from a full family of engineers. And I remember taking a car trip with my younger brother once, and he spent about two hours explaining the the flow engineering. the sewer system through a building. Like I could care less. I was half asleep. it was all I could do to stay interested for even a minute. But he was passionate it about this. And I am like, Batman loves his job. And probably in the same way that people are a little bit, they think I’m a little bit strange for my finance. So so there it there does have to be a a level of like,
20:34.39
Lorie Jones
yeah maybe like pure roi dentistry is probably the right way to go but for janine that there was no way
20:44.22
Janine McMurdie
no no I really thought about like staring into people’s mouths all day long just sounded horrifying.
20:51.61
Lorie Jones
yeah yeah yeah all of the all of the bodily fluid jobs are out for me. am so in it for the spreadsheets. I’m like, well,
21:02.99
Janine McMurdie
See, you don’t watch the pit then.
21:07.06
Lorie Jones
I appreciate that other people do it, but yeah, but I have to fast forward through all the gory parts. I’m like, Oh, yuck.
21:15.54
Lorie Jones
So
21:16.25
Janine McMurdie
But, you know, but it also shows that there’s something for everyone, right? You know, you talked about the spreadsheets. Yeah, I love a good spreadsheet, but not every day, all day, right? Like, and, you know, staring into people’s mouths or whatever it is. But, but it, again, it’s, it’s sort of having that capacity to understand that it’s more than ah ROI. It’s more than, you know, it’s whatever fills your soul.
21:41.37
Lorie Jones
hmm. the and that brings us back to that point that you made earlier about kind of finding out what what gives you energy or what, you know, what fills your soul a little bit.
21:49.80
Janine McMurdie
Thank you.
21:51.73
Lorie Jones
So um even if it doesn’t specifically tie into your job, but sometimes it does, you know, sometimes it does tie into your job and and.
22:02.97
Lorie Jones
understanding where your passions lay so that you’re not stuck staring into a mouth for dental work when you should be, you know, a biologist or or something like that. So what about do-over? don’t necessarily like to think of it as regrets exactly, but there are times when I’m like, oh my gosh, I could do that situation so much better. If I could go back and do it again, i know exactly how I’d fix it.
22:33.37
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. So I have to say, especially coming into the commercial roles, 99% of my peers and those that I wanted to emulate were male.
22:48.78
Janine McMurdie
And there’s kind of a formula and there is kind of cookie cutter way that a lot of those individuals represented themselves.
23:03.03
Janine McMurdie
And I, you know, you think about fake it till you make it. Well, I always thought that that was what you had to conform to in order to fit that mold and be successful in that commercial role.
23:16.76
Janine McMurdie
And it took me a really long time to find my own stride and to find my own voice and to be authentic and,
23:29.14
Janine McMurdie
I wish I could go back and, you know, stop trying to be something I wasn’t because that was 100 percent not tied to my success.
23:41.14
Janine McMurdie
What was tied to my success was when i dropped the barriers and, you know, sat around that table and talked to all those people and helped. you know, pull a deal together because everybody was bringing their best selves and the best ideas. And it was good for people. It was good for science and it was good for the business.
24:00.63
Janine McMurdie
And i wasn’t trying to, you know, be something I wasn’t. So I would, I would go back and and be more authentic if I could and and stop trying to be something I wasn’t.
24:06.20
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
24:13.74
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
24:14.41
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is hard, and especially when the the playbook works so well for maybe a part of the people who do it. and and they And they just assume that it’s going to work well for everybody who who does that role. But um we bring a unique perspective to things and a unique way of doing things. And I think a lot of times those This is the way it’s been done for 50 years or 100 years. And this is the way it needs to continue to be done if you want to be successful.
24:46.01
Lorie Jones
And I think that it’s great that we’re asking some of those questions like, why? Why does it need to be done that way? I feel like a five-year-old or a two-year-old or a three-year-old, you know, why, mom? Why? why
24:58.18
Janine McMurdie
But that’s one of the things that they teach you in science, right? Is ask the why and don’t just ask it once, right? There’s the five whys and that’s in business, that’s in science, that’s in, but, but really trying to tip those norms on, on their head, i think is, is so critical.
25:13.73
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
25:16.95
Janine McMurdie
And, In the business world, you go through all of the trainings, right? The Miller-Heinens and all of them. And it’s all spreadsheets. It’s all the questions and all the boxes you have to fill in. And I’m not saying that that work is not important. i think it’s crucial and critical to be successful, to have all the you know the questions answered so you can make an informed decision and you can move a deal forward and all of these things. But it’s not the only way
25:47.38
Janine McMurdie
to do it. And, and, you know, these very smart people who have tried to distill it down, you know, all the things down in in business to a formula, it never goes as planned. And yes, you need to have all the 17 different options, but if you bring something different to the table, often you get a better result, right? Like,
26:13.82
Janine McMurdie
you just, you don’t have to go down the same path that everybody else has done. And, and I really think that that was the thing that I learned really early. Well, not early enough, but I wish I learned early, but that’s when ah my career pivoted for the better is when I could really tap into that. And I wasn’t trying to be someone else. I was trying to be Yeah.
26:37.34
Lorie Jones
so like that.
26:38.55
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
26:39.54
Lorie Jones
If you could go back and high five yourself for one really great past financial decision, what would it be?
26:47.48
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, well, i um I came to California when I was a student and um just all of the opportunities here, right?
26:59.61
Janine McMurdie
Early on investing in real estate, having the opportunity to really um have the scientific community that is is burgeoning and you know at at that time, but still growing in in California, all the innovation,
27:17.40
Janine McMurdie
you know, that was the best decision that I kind of fell into. But yeah, having having just access to the people, the climate, the, you know, all of all the things that were exploding in the financial community at that point in time too.
27:21.70
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
27:33.71
Janine McMurdie
So, you know, I got into real estate back when it was affordable and, ah you know, it has set me up for wonderful future success and then put me in the nexus of,
27:47.42
Janine McMurdie
all of the opportunity with biotech and, you know, i I moved to Amgen country eight years into Amgen, right? So I really had access to the best technology, the best of innovation. And, you know, I got in on the ground floor of that and, you know, it’s it’s not just financially, but it has shaped my world in every way, yeah you know, you can imagine.
28:15.74
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that’s interesting that um that the situation or the actual environment that you find yourself in actually does make a difference.
28:26.08
Janine McMurdie
It does. It does. And, you know, i think we’re there’s a lot of diversification, you know, in terms of the geography where we’re seeing biotech and it’s not just, you know, l L.A. and Boston and San Francisco and San Diego. It’s it’s it’s really growing.
28:46.07
Janine McMurdie
um But there a lot to be said for that. You know, growing up in rural small town America, it makes it harder. Definitely.
28:55.39
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
28:55.42
Janine McMurdie
So I was very fortunate to be able to make that move from a very small town in Canada to, you know, and a place where, you know, it is the the center of biotech.
29:06.83
Lorie Jones
That’s interesting. And something that I hadn’t really considered, i mean, you know that surrounding yourself with the best and brightest minds in whatever industry you’re in kind of helps you grow and and get better. um but But we’re such a virtual world now that it’s hard to remember sometimes or hard to to dial down in in the fact that location was a big deal. And it it still probably is a big deal.
29:33.70
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, yeah, as you say, technology makes it better, but being immersed in it, I don’t know that there’s any substitution for that. Yeah.
29:45.46
Lorie Jones
What scared you the most when you started your career and does it still scare you?
29:52.63
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, I think maybe…
30:03.03
Janine McMurdie
I think it’s making the right decisions, right? Putting yourself in the right place and you know it when you have it, right? Like, you know, when you’ve made a really good decision and you’ve ended up somewhere just brilliant. I, I took a leap and got out of really big industries. so I went from Amgen to what then became, Thermo Fisher right through mergers and acquisitions.
30:29.02
Janine McMurdie
And that was very, um, easy, right? Like it’s a big safety net, big organization. So leaping into these smaller companies, but you trust your um instincts, right? So once you’ve been around long enough, you can vet a technology. And it’s not just about the technology, right? It’s about the people.
30:55.00
Janine McMurdie
And the more that I’m entrenched in this world, and the more i you know, am
30:55.22
Lorie Jones
yeah.
31:02.74
Janine McMurdie
you can have the greatest technology, but without the right people, it’s not going to go anywhere. So um making the decisions to make a leap from an organization. So I had a great exit at Agena Bioscience led by a phenomenal CEO, still a really good friend of mine, Pete Dansky.
31:25.98
Janine McMurdie
And, you know, that, that was a big leap because I went from a big organization to what was ostensibly a startup at that time. um And then I did that, you know, just not that long ago coming to Pictor, but again, it was the people.
31:36.61
Lorie Jones
right.
31:41.56
Janine McMurdie
And the CEO at Pictor is a woman that I’ve known forever. And to be part of a woman led organization, a woman who leads it with great science and great integrity and great empathy and incredible authenticity To me, that is, i I never even looked back. I just jumped with this one because I just knew it was going to be great. The technology is amazing. you know, we’re we’re taking really complex proteomics and bringing it forward as a diagnostic.
32:19.19
Janine McMurdie
ah And and
32:22.55
Janine McMurdie
we did this in genetics years ago, right? So I was part of the genomic revolution and now this is the proteomic revolution. So I… I have so much faith in this technology, but without the leadership and the ability and the space for me to do my job without having handcuffs and, you know, just but just having all the wonderful support, um that is what makes me just very grounded in in decisions like this.
32:56.85
Janine McMurdie
but But it’s scary, right? Like when you’re in a startup world and, you know, and they don’t all go, right?
32:59.60
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
33:05.58
Janine McMurdie
Like a lot of startups fail, as we know, to to to make those leaps. But then again, um you know, to have successes. But you have the failures and you realize, yeah, it’s not that scary, right?
33:19.42
Janine McMurdie
Like you get up and you dust yourself off and you make better decisions and and you you learn so much and you take that forward with you. um So I think the first time is the scariest and then you you you get to enjoy that a little bit.
33:31.32
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I think that I agree. i think that sometimes you look at these decisions and you think it’s life or death decision. you think it’s like a like either I’m going to succeed wildly or I’m going to be like living on the streets. Right. And that’s the way you frame it in your brain.
33:53.67
Janine McMurdie
There’s nothing in between.
33:53.71
Lorie Jones
like.
33:54.59
Janine McMurdie
yeah
33:54.87
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah. It’s most of the time it turns out okay, or you work there for a while and you’re like, this doesn’t really fit me. I need to look for a place that fits a little bit better. But even even with the failures, even if you do have a spectacular failure, you’re probably not living on the streets and, and you know, eating out of, I don’t know, garbage cans or something like that. Like, it’s probably…
34:20.04
Janine McMurdie
But I think that the of the failures and even the fear, you can harness that, right? And they they can sharpen your abilities. You use them to learn and get better.
34:33.40
Janine McMurdie
and um And sometimes having, like, if it’s not a little bit scary, it might not be worth doing, right?
34:39.64
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
34:42.07
Janine McMurdie
Like, like that I think you use that adrenaline rush, or I do, right? To like catapult you forward, like, okay, we got this. And you take a deep breath and it it’s really sweeter.
34:57.94
Janine McMurdie
the success is if it’s been a little scary.
35:00.91
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Like you didn’t know how to do it and you, and you do now. Yeah. If you’re sitting in a place where you always know what’s coming up and you are, are good at it and you can do absolutely everything involved, you never have to take a chance or, or be a little bit scared of, of what’s coming up. I don’t, I don’t think you’re growing.
35:22.46
Lorie Jones
I think you’re right. I think you’re, so you’re sitting still, you’re not growing.
35:25.48
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. Yeah, no, it’s so true. And it’s my personal life as well as my business life. I, I, I’m a big scuba diver. I love adventure travel. I love, you know, it’s, it’s part of my fabric. I think and my DNA is I like to be a little bit scared.
35:42.30
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I know. Me too.
35:43.10
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
35:43.97
Lorie Jones
A little bit.
35:44.16
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
35:44.89
Lorie Jones
A little bit.
35:44.94
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
35:45.65
Lorie Jones
little bit fearless. Yeah. So um did you face any unique challenges because you were a woman along your path, Janine?
35:56.50
Janine McMurdie
You know, I, I struggled to come up with something unique for this question because I think we all have the same challenges, right? We are dismissed or we’re, you know, not smart enough. We’re not, you know, I talked a little bit about the challenges.
36:16.63
Janine McMurdie
i i came out of school, you know, in the nineties and the eighties shaped people in that, especially women, in that we we could have everything, which we made we we came to think that we had to have everything.
36:34.14
Janine McMurdie
That meant, you know, the the bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan commercial, right? Like, I think that those were the challenges we put on ourselves, right? Like, we were going to do it all.
36:43.28
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
36:44.73
Janine McMurdie
We were going to slay the world. we were going to be the best of everything and put a lot of extra pressure on ourselves. um So I really think that Um, ah for me, it was the training and the discipline to be able to say, i need this time for me. That’s going to make me this better person, right? Like that, that is what helped me come through all of that.
37:06.89
Janine McMurdie
I’ve been in so many rooms where I was the only woman right in the boardroom, in the, you know, the, the room where the deal was happening, which I think is why i have really sought out opportunities where it’s female leadership.
37:24.57
Janine McMurdie
I can relate better to that. I find that those environments are more nurturing, empathetic, authentic, and better at business because of it, right? Like all the things we were told were bad are actually our assets and our value.
37:41.56
Janine McMurdie
So, you know, really it is, i think it’s the best of everything to to be able to say, ha ha, you know, all those things you told us, not true.
37:54.62
Lorie Jones
I love that. I love that perspective too, that just that like the unique uniqueness we bring to the business world and the corporate world and our different professions like that actually makes businesses better. And it does too. You know, there’s studies on it all over the place that so show that if you have diversity on your board or diversity in your C-suite or anything like that, um that, that you actually get a better, you have a better company. It’s more resilient.
38:23.48
Lorie Jones
It, earns more like better.
38:25.76
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
38:27.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I like that.
38:28.89
Janine McMurdie
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
38:32.40
Lorie Jones
Janine, what is the thing that you are most proud of?
38:38.23
Janine McMurdie
Well, I mean, the the products and the devices that I’ve brought to market and helped bring to market the the work that we’re doing, you know, is is incredible, right? So of course I bring it back to where we are today with PICTOR and, um you know, we’re really changing the game when it comes to proteomics. It’s not a discovery or a research tool. is truly an applicable platform to bring this to the clinic.
39:12.01
Janine McMurdie
I’ve done this in a variety of ways. I did this with Next Generation Sequencing back in the day where you know it was a research tool, but we thought you know this is really to support clinical decision-making and we’re doing it now with proteomics. So I am so proud of that. i do think that it is changing lives and really in and helping improve you know how we do medicine, right?
39:38.42
Janine McMurdie
But I’m more proud of the people and the teams that I have had an impact on over the course of these amazing technological experiences.
39:52.30
Janine McMurdie
And that to me is the secret sauce, right? Like that is what makes businesses thrive. That’s what makes me fulfilled at the end of the day.
40:04.15
Janine McMurdie
That’s what gets people excited about coming to work because they have a place where they can thrive and their ideas can bloom and blossom and grow and they feel fulfilled.
40:18.97
Janine McMurdie
Right. So to it’s, it’s about the people, the science and the technology is awesome, but the people, yeah, that, that at the end of the day brings a smile to my face and I i don’t care if I get the credit.
40:22.55
Lorie Jones
Yeah,
40:36.12
Janine McMurdie
if they’re excited and you know, somebody does a great job because I helped them get to where they are. That is so fulfilling to me. Yeah.
40:45.66
Lorie Jones
yeah I love that. I love that theory because I, you know, I do that with with women in finance. We’re a really small piece of the pie in finance.
40:53.06
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
40:56.62
Lorie Jones
And I think it’s so important that our voices are heard and that diversity is available And um as I watch a young woman who who takes her test and becomes a financial advisor and then goes on to build a beautiful, you know, financial services practice and and is very fulfilled and helps people like yeah like you said, you know, like I could help her and she could help 100 Like, it just magnifies what you can do and what you the good you can bring in this world.
41:29.78
Lorie Jones
So I really love that thought.
41:32.31
Janine McMurdie
Well, it’s it’s it’s like teaching people to fish, right? It’s that same sort of philosophy. But yeah, and and again, i i feel like I go back to
41:45.47
Janine McMurdie
cutthroat business practices that that’s how I cut my teeth, right? Is like, oh, they’re eating your lunch and oh, we got to run them over. And wow, I can’t wait to take them down. And just these analogies that are used in business all the time.
42:03.31
Janine McMurdie
So it’s, it, it, to me, it’s, it, it just cuts you off at the knees, right? Like, and, and I don’t feel good when I have beat somebody else up, whether it’s emotionally or, you know, and I’m not saying don’t love to make money and I’m not saying don’t want this company to be successful in any company I’ve ever worked for or with.
42:29.27
Janine McMurdie
it’s just that mentality. We don’t have to use this vernacular and verbiage and, and we don’t have to be mean and ugly people.
42:40.57
Janine McMurdie
We can be beautiful and authentic and empathetic and still end up, you know, wealthy and successful and all of that, but you don’t have to compromise that. Like that to me is the part that, um,
42:57.52
Janine McMurdie
I’ve never really understood about the business world and how it’s, it’s like this sports metaphor and all, you know, all the things, right.
43:04.41
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
43:05.02
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
43:05.37
Lorie Jones
Yeah, winning and beating and all that sort of stuff. I actually, i like the idea, the language around a table. They’re like, and you know, there’s only so many seats at the table. And so you have to like, you know, push people out so you get your seat at the table.
43:18.73
Lorie Jones
And I think that um maybe ah ah a better option would be like, well, let’s just bring more. so Let’s make the table a little bigger. Let’s bring more seats for around.
43:28.92
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, yeah.
43:29.60
Lorie Jones
let’s Let’s grow. Let’s grow a little bit. Let’s be more collaborative. So I like that kind of. visual for the idea of helping others, helping others, helping yourself. I feel like it does make the business world better. I don’t think you have to, you have to have that combative language.
43:48.13
Janine McMurdie
Yeah, agreed. and And then it’s also integrity, right? Like you wanna be able to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day.
43:54.01
Lorie Jones
Oh, yeah. Okay.
43:54.84
Janine McMurdie
And and I’ve worked with a lot of folks on both sides of the table where I just didn’t feel like they could do that. And and I don’t want to be that person, right?
44:06.30
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Any advice for a young lady who’s kind of just starting down this path that you’re already so successful at to help her be successful like you?
44:15.48
Janine McMurdie
Yeah. And, and ah you know, I think we’ve stated all of them. of course, you have to know your craft, right? You have to know everything ins and outs, upside down and backwards of what it is that you’re doing, whether it’s diagnostics or biology or creative writing or, you know, whatever it is. But I think that that’s table stakes, right? um and But investing in yourself, like just understanding that it’s not selfish.
44:45.68
Janine McMurdie
It’s not taking away from anybody else in your life. If you are spending time on you as an individual, that and And that is something I feel like it was that was really hard for me to understand that that was not selfish.
45:00.86
Janine McMurdie
um Finding your mentors. I wish that I had done a lot more active mentor seeking as a young professional is one of my favorite things to do today, like to mentors.
45:15.74
Janine McMurdie
especially young women in STEM who are trying to find their, their, their feet and, and, you know, just starting out on their career. Like there’s nothing that I get more um just personal satisfaction out of. um And then, you know, i i mentioned just being yourself and and not trying to fit into somebody else’s mold ah is so critical because you can do the same job in a thousand different ways and find the one that’s authentic to you and be empathetic along the way.
45:53.34
Lorie Jones
I like that.
45:53.81
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
45:54.78
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
45:54.95
Janine McMurdie
Yeah.
45:56.38
Lorie Jones
So thank you so much for your time today and for just sharing your journey. If I have a young lady who wants to get in touch with you, how does she do that?
46:05.24
Janine McMurdie
LinkedIn is, that is my social network. And I, I welcome, that outreach, i I get, as I say, i get a lot of giddy excitement, enjoyment out of you know, watching young young people, especially young women, reach out, find themselves, look for mentors, ask questions. um And yeah, I would very much welcome anyone that wanted to get in touch and and talk about what their future in science can look like.
46:35.96
Lorie Jones
Perfect. Well, thank you so much. And thanks for being such a good role model, too. i think that’s just really important that we see women doing these important um scientific jobs, you know, these being in these important places so that it gives us something to to strive for. So thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.
46:57.30
Janine McMurdie
Laurie, it was a pleasure. Thanks for having me.