
Reflecting on a personal unfortunate experience, led her to understand the missing piece of the puzzle she was always trying to figure out. Jill Donahue understood early on that articulating the “Why” will only connect you more to the difference you want to make in the world and eventually impact patient outcomes. Jill is an avid reader and will always refer to studies and research to support what she preaches. In this episode, she referred to Daniel Pink, Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose framework, being the key to exceptional performance.
Today, we have a greater set of expectations of our leaders that goes beyond delivering bottom-line performance and increasing shareholders’ value, because the ripple effect of spreading love and being purpose-driven is key to thriving in any organization.
“When you connect with your purpose, things will change for you.”

MEET OUR GUEST Jill Donahue Author, Speaker, Co-founder Aurora Project, Associate Editor at HS&M Magazine, and Cofounder of Excellerate.
Jill Donahue is on a mission to lift pharma! As a global thought leader in pharma, she won multiple awards for her work, author of 2 books (including the award-winning EngageRx: The 3 Keys to Patient-focused Growth), delivering talks at global conferences, publishing in industry journals, and serving pharma teams.
When Jill was 35 her father died of an avoidable prescribing error. As a pharma person reflecting on her family’s loss, she pictured the closed door. She, since then, strives to lift Pharma by inspiring our people to be more purpose-driven and enabling them to be more engaged and engaging. She believes in a world where pharma professionals contribute to better patient outcomes and better business outcomes simultaneously. Where they feel proud and can make a difference for themselves, their companies, and most importantly to patients.
Jill is the co-founder and managing director of Excellerate, She also co-founded The Aurora Project; a global volunteer group of thought leaders trying to illuminate commercial pharma’s path to patient centricity.
Here’s a list of Jill’s recommended readings with a summary of her take about each of them. Enjoy!
- The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
- The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
- Meaningful Work by Shawn Askinosie
- Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman and Raj Sisodia
- Intrinsic Motivation at Work by Kenneth Thomas
- Selling with a Noble Purpose by Lisa Earle McLeod
- Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
- Give and Take by Adam Grant
- Taking People with You by David Novak
- The Purpose Economy by Aaron Hurst
- The Purpose Effect by Dan Pontefract
- Turn this Ship Around by David Marquet
- Grow by Jim Stengel