Pharma Veterans

HR Monitor 2025 by McKinsey Part 1 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1139 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1139 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Artem Podrez Credit: cottonbro studio Credit: Edmond Dantès Preamble Excerpt from McKinsey report preface. [Quote] To help HR leaders compare their functions with others’ and benchmark their progress accordingly, we’ve repeated and expanded our HR Monitor report. Last year’s report covered Germany’s HR landscape. This year, to create a robust set of meaningful indicators across the HR topics most relevant to European organizations, we gathered data from 1,925 companies and insights from more than 4,000 employees across Europe and, for comparison purposes, the United States. This year’s report highlights developments in both what HR delivers—suc...

More on GLP-1 Medications – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1138 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1138 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Andres Ayrton Credit: Artem Podrez Preamble I had earlier discussed GLP-1 in my blogpost #1111 of May 26, in relation to the changes in medical aesthetics demand created by these medications. In this blogpost, I talk about these therapies with reference to their economic and public health implications. Some details in this post are taken from Mckinsey article. Link at the end. Beginning in the 2000s, doctors primarily prescribed GLP-1s to help treat type 2 diabetes. But in late 2023, GLP-1s began making headlines for their success in helping people lose weight. Ozempic, Wegovy, and other brands started to become household names and sales rapidly acceler...

Medécins Sans Frontières Reports – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1137 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1137 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Preamble Médecins Sans Frontieres is a France-based, international independent medical humanitarian organization mainly comprising of doctors but open to all professionals, who relate with the organization’s goals. MSF works across several countries and regions. Here are excerpts from few current reports. PALESTINE 23 July 23, 2025 – Mass Starvation As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, Palestine, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes...

Ten Tests of Strategy by McKinsey – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1136 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1136 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Mikhail Nilov Credit: RDNE Stock Project Preamble Strategy making is a necessity but in certain corporates, it becomes a favorite pastime among senior managers. There are uncountable strategy meetings, workshops, working groups etc. The strategies that emerge are many a times repeat of the old ones with different words and emphasis on ‘more of the same’. For example, last year we spent one hundred million on customer services, this year we should spend 200 million. Very rarely, new ground is broken. Strategy is a roadmap of the future and must be separated from tactical plan. The frameworks for developing strategy are different. When a strategy ...

Teams That Empower Each Other – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1135 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1135 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: fauxels Credit: Kindel Media Preamble In a high-performing team, something magical happens—members consistently support, encourage, and elevate one another. It's not just about individual brilliance; it's about synergy. Unfortunately, many workplaces still promote individualism, silent rivalries, and siloed operations. But the modern workplace demands more than just task completion—it needs cohesive units that build each other up. So how can leaders and organizations intentionally create teams that operate from a place of mutual support rather than competition? Let’s explore this in some depth. Why Do We Need Teams That Uplift Each Other? Before d...

Recognition Gap Between Developed and Developing Economies – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1134 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1134 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Artem Podrez Credit: Edmond Dantés Preamble In the evolving world of work, talent is the engine of innovation, performance, and progress. While developed countries often champion a culture of meritocracy—where skills, ideas, and contributions are openly rewarded—developing countries frequently fall short in offering the same level of respect, recognition, and dignity to their workforce, especially their mid-tier talent. The consequences are visible: brain drain, employee disengagement, reduced productivity, and an underutilized human capital base. While a commonly cited reason is the lack of employment opportunities—whic...

Widening Chasm Between Senior and Middle Management– Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1133 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1133 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: cottonbro studio Credit: PNW Production Preamble In modern organizations, middle managers are the glue that holds together strategy, execution, people, and process. Yet increasingly, they are feeling disconnected from the very leaders they report to—senior executives. My last blog post was on this subject. This widening gap—often referred to as the “leadership chasm”—has created frustration, disengagement, and even organizational dysfunction. Middle managers feel overlooked, unsupported, and under pressure, while senior management often perceives them as resistant to change, lacking vision, or slow to execute strategy. Why is this...

The Middle Management is Squeezed and Struggling – Why and What Should be Done – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: cottonbro studio Credit: Mikhail Nilov Preamble In the corporate hierarchy, middle managers have traditionally been the bridge between strategy and execution, vision and action, senior leaders and frontline teams. They are the interpreters, implementers, buffers, and stabilizers. But today, middle managers find themselves in an uncomfortable, often unsustainable position. With mounting responsibilities, increasing ambiguity, and little recognition, they are the most squeezed layer in modern organizations—and many are burning out.  What’s changed in the role of middle managers? Why the pressure is...

The Embodiment Gap in Leadership: Why Knowing Isn’t the Same as Doing? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1131 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1131 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: August de Richelieu Credit: ICSA Credit: Yan Krukau Preamble Walk into any corporate training room, and you’ll find leaders scribbling notes on active listening, emotional intelligence, resilience, or adaptability. They nod in agreement, fully understanding the theories being presented. Yet, back at their desks, when the pressure mounts, the same leaders snap at colleagues, micromanage, or fall back into old, usual habits. This disconnect between knowing about leadership and practicing leadership is known as the Embodiment Gap — the difference between intellectually grasping leadership concepts and physically, ...