From the Diary of Stefanie Zechner
Stefanie Zechner, PhD is a neuroscientist, leadership advisor, and entrepreneur working across the life sciences ecosystem. She is the Founder of Science. People. Business. and Managing Director of nextImpact, where she supports leaders and organizations in navigating complexity through human-centric, evidence-based leadership, talent, and decision-making strategies.
In complex systems, clarity is not a luxury. It is a leadership responsibility. Stefanie Zechner, PhD, has built her career in environments where scientific rigor, human behavior, and business pressure intersect. Across neuroscience research, drug development, executive search, and leadership coaching, she has observed the same pattern repeatedly. When complexity overwhelms people, performance suffers not because of a lack of talent, but because the system obscures what truly matters.
Her work is guided by a demanding principle: make complexity workable without oversimplifying reality. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and more than two decades of hands-on experience across the life sciences ecosystem, Zechner helps leaders reduce noise, surface patterns, and design environments where people can think clearly, decide well, and act with confidence.
Learning the System from the Inside
Zechner grew up in the canton of Bern in Switzerland before moving to Basel to study psychology and medicine. She ultimately completed her PhD at the University of Basel, specializing in neuropsychology. Financing most of her studies herself, she balanced academic work with a wide range of real-world jobs that would quietly shape her leadership philosophy.
She spent time on factory floors packaging pharmaceuticals, waited tables, covered reception shifts at Ricola, and even worked as a security detective in a major Basel department store. Earlier still, she delivered newspapers before sunrise throughout her teenage years, six days a week, in all weather.
These experiences offered an education no textbook could provide. Working directly with customers and alongside employees across functions taught her that every role shapes the experience an organization delivers. Quality, she learned early, is a system outcome rather than an individual accident. This understanding still guides how she leads today, with deep respect for each contribution and a belief that leadership is about enabling people to do their best work within a system that makes sense. Over time, those hands-on roles also built the versatility and bias to action she relies on as an entrepreneur, allowing her to stay practical, adaptable, and focused on long-term direction while managing day-to-day complexity.
From Scientist to Strategic Talent Architect
After completing her studies, Zechner began her professional career as a Clinical Research Associate and Clinical Scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. Working close to drug development gave her a firsthand understanding of how scientific excellence depends on effective collaboration, sound decision-making, and leadership under pressure.
As her career progressed, she moved into executive search, talent strategy, and leadership development across pharma, biotech, and medtech. She became known for her ability to bridge corporate realities with deeply personal career transitions, supporting leaders who were stepping into larger roles, rethinking their direction, or navigating periods of uncertainty. This combination of strategic clarity and human insight positioned her as a trusted advisor across the life sciences sector.
In 2020, she founded Science. People. Business., a people solutions organization that integrates neuroscience, positive psychology, and hands-on industry experience. The firm partners with start-ups, mid-sized biotech companies, global biopharmaceutical organizations, and public institutions to design leadership and talent systems that are rigorous, human-centered, and results-oriented. Her work spans executive coaching, leadership development, career strategy, career transitions, interview training, and talent assessment, always grounded in evidence and practical application.
As a certified Harrison Assessment expert and Results Trained Coach, Zechner applies data-driven insights to help leaders align strengths, motivations, and roles. One executive client captured this impact succinctly, noting that “she creates clarity without pressure, helping you express what is genuinely yours rather than following a formula.”
Building Human-Centric Systems at Scale
Zechner’s influence extends well beyond individual coaching engagements. Through nextImpact, which she founded and leads as Managing Director, she works at the ecosystem level. nextImpact exists to create a force for impact in the life sciences by uniting trusted people and business leaders across the value chain and supporting individuals and organizations at every stage of growth.
A defining example of this approach is the Life Sciences Recruitment Night. Prompted by daily conversations with job seekers, Zechner launched a survey to better understand the modern hiring experience. Responses from 108 life sciences leaders revealed recurring patterns and friction points that could not be solved in isolation. In response, she created a co-creation forum built around a World Café format, bringing together HR and Talent Acquisition leaders, hiring managers, and candidates to examine hiring from every angle.
The inaugural event in Basel quickly evolved from a single gathering into a growing community. Participants explored brain-friendly, human-centric hiring practices designed to reduce noise, improve decision quality, and create more transparent and respectful recruitment experiences. Follow-on sessions with partner organizations are now in development, extending the model across the region.
As Zechner often emphasizes, “recruitment is not a checklist. It is a deeply human process.” To capture and extend these insights, she authored a White Paper synthesizing the survey findings and the discussions from the Recruitment Night, reinforcing her belief that sustainable performance emerges when systems are designed around how people actually think, decide, and work.
Alongside her entrepreneurial work, Zechner serves as a Life Sciences Expert with Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency, where she evaluates grant applications against defined criteria including value generation, degree of innovation, project and team setup, and financial viability. She has also contributed extensively to professional communities, including serving as President of the Basel Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. During her tenure, she helped rebuild a high-performing chapter and was recognized with the Everest Award for her leadership.
Leadership Philosophy: Simplicity Without Distortion
Asked about the quote that best reflects her approach, Zechner points to a principle rooted in both science and the arts: “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” As a neuroscientist, she understands that the brain continuously filters vast amounts of information. When ideas are structured and coherent, people can connect the dots and act with confidence. When information is noisy or fragmented, attention is consumed by confusion rather than meaning.
For Zechner, simplification is an act of discipline rather than reduction for its own sake. It means lowering cognitive load without losing rigor and designing clarity that enables ownership and action. This philosophy shapes how she builds leadership programs, career strategies, and hiring processes, always with the aim of making patterns visible and decisions easier without distorting reality.
Looking Ahead: Designing the Future of Work in Life Sciences
Today, Zechner’s focus includes consulting and coaching engagements for life sciences organizations, particularly in leadership development, career advisory and strategy, talent advisory, and interview training for hiring managers. She is also exploring corporate partnerships to support the creation of local leadership communities, advisory and board roles at the intersection of talent strategy and innovation, and expanded ecosystem ventures that empower HR and business leaders as co-owners of great hiring.
Her guidance to younger professionals reflects the same systems thinking that defines her work. Careers, she believes, are best designed as portfolios rather than ladders. Early exposure to real work environments, reflection on what energizes you, and the willingness to iterate over time create resilience and clarity. Research, including the Harrison Assessment, suggests that when people enjoy most of their day-to-day work, they are not only more satisfied but significantly more successful.
For Stefanie Zechner, impact happens when science, people, and business operate as one system. Her work continues to demonstrate that thoughtfully designed clarity can turn complexity into momentum and enable individuals and organizations to move forward with confidence.
Editorial Note
Stefanie Zechner’s journey offers a timely reminder for today’s leaders. Sustainable success does not come from adding more frameworks, tools, or pressure. It comes from designing systems that respect human cognition, honor individual contribution, and make it easier for people to do meaningful work. For executives navigating complexity, her story invites a simple but powerful question: does your system help people see what matters, or does it get in the way?
