Pharma Veterans

A New Dimension of COVID Impact – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #556 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #556. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. The old, historical literature/scriptures describe seven deadly sins, or vices – lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, sloth, envy, and pride. All human beings suffer from any number of these sins, unless they sublime and reach a stage where they can consciously shed off or avoid these vices.  Lust was probably not the first to unravel itself. Adam and Eve tasted it after eating the fruit of the proverbial tree, whether it was apple or wheat. Even before that, Satan suffered from pride and envy. Both parties were penalized.  The point to ponder here is that COVID pandemic bro...

Our Relationship with Trees – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #555 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #555. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.       Ten years ago, I was in a training program at Dubai. It was orientation session for Global Management Consultants which I had aspired to join. Founder and Chief Executive Saira Akbar was the lead trainer. We were a diverse group of men and women, and the oldest among us was a gentleman from Malaysia. It was a highly educated group where I was probably the least educated. We learned from Saira and from one another. The Malaysian told us an interesting story from his life. He had been educated in the US and had the great opportunity to get tutored by Michael Port...

Aggressive Promotional Activity of Pharma Industry – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #554 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #554. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Avron J. says that “the proliferation of medical advertising is a symptom of the nation’s all-against-all vision of medicine as just another commodity”. This is the global situation because profit maximization has taken precedence over other considerations for healthcare. The situation in the Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) is much worse. The regulatory agencies are not strong enough to implement policies and feel powerless against large Pharma houses and Healthcare Professionals. Pakistan Pharma market is extremely unevenly divided. Over 90% market ...

Identity Loss due to Status Loss – Part 2 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #553 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #553. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Identity loss is commonly seen in cases where a good status changes for worse after a long time.  How should the loss, the status loss, and the resulting identity loss, be handled? Some suggested remedies are given below. Accept the Loss – as mentioned in the last post, loss/grief passes through various stages before acceptance comes in. Let yourself pass these stages, don’t be hard on yourself, but don’t let yourself get washed away in the grief over loss forever. All status changes, other than death, can be reversed or improved. Acceptance is important to let ...

Identity Loss due to Status Loss - Part 1– Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #552 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #552. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Identity loss is commonly seen in cases where a good status changes for worse after a long time.  I suddenly lost my job in 1997. I had been working in the organization for twelve years and had risen several steps to become Head of Division. My income, perks, benefits, and status in and outside the company had consistently grown. I had become known as part of that organization. The customers recognized me with that reference; the market also knew me with the same reference. Suddenly, all of it turned off. Chances of finding an equivalent job immediately were non-e...

Knowledge Hoarding – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #551 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #551. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. There is no denying the fact that we are a nation of hoarders. We love to hoard. Our traders are known for hoarding goods, particularly eatables, to create artificial shortages and enhance the prices. In the recent times, we saw major hoarding campaigns of sugar and wheat/wheat flour where the government could not do anything, which is also usual. The prices rose and availability became normal. At home, we hoard everything. Our homes are one-way abysses where items come in but cannot go out, not even their packaging. Every household carries trinkets from the last 50-60 years. It is not enti...

The Butterfly Effect – Last Part – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #550 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #550. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. The title of this Blog series is taken from an article published in INSEAD Knowledge. The content is mine. [Link to article appears at the end of post] ‘Butterfly Effect’ is when an apparently stable, well-performing employee suddenly announces his/her departure from the organization. This phenomenon happens regularly in all organizations. It leads first to confusion as to what happened, and then to questions as to why it happened. The sudden departure of employees certainly impacts an organization’s plans and performance. In the last part, we shall see the measures that may b...

The Butterfly Effect – Part 2 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #549 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #549. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. The title of this Blog series is taken from an article published in INSEAD Knowledge. The content is mine. [Link to article appears at the end of post] ‘Butterfly Effect’ is when an apparently stable, well-performing employee suddenly announces his/her departure from the organization. This phenomenon happens regularly in all organizations. It leads first to confusion as to what happened, and then to questions as to why it happened. The sudden departure of employees certainly impacts an organization’s plans and performance. In the previous episode, we looked at the HR status in va...

The Butterfly Effect – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #548 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #548. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. The title and idea of Today’s Blogpost is taken from an article published in INSEAD Knowledge. The content is mine. [Link to article appears at the end of post] ‘Butterfly Effect’ is when an apparently stable, well-performing employee suddenly announces his/her departure from the organization. This phenomenon happens regularly in all organizations. It leads first to confusion as to what happened, and then to questions as to why it happened. The sudden departure of employees certainly impacts an organization’s plans and performance. All managers have experienced these situations. The more ...

Women in Workplace 2021 – Last Part – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #547 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #547. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… McKinsey & Company in collaboration with LeanIn.org has been collecting data and publishing a yearly study on the status of Women in Workplace. The 2021 report is the sixth year’s report which was published in September 2021. [Link appears at the end] We have seen till now that women in workplace have limited gains and host of challenges. We may sum up as follows. Gain – some gain can be seen in that women have claimed slightly more space in the leadership arena. This gain is significant but not universal. The gain is patchy because it varies ...

Women in Workplace 2021 – Part 2 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #546 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #546. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… McKinsey & Company in collaboration with LeanIn.org has been collecting data and publishing a yearly study on the status of Women in Workplace. The 2021 report is the sixth year’s report which was published few days ago. [Link appears at the end] Profession Biases – Another discrimination that women face everywhere is the profession bias. For example, women are discouraged from working in engineering jobs, even when these may not be hard ones. It is just a bias that has been there all along. While women are preferred in packaging jobs, they are n...

Women in Workplace 2021 – Part 1 – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #545 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #545. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. McKinsey & Company in collaboration with LeanIn.org has been collecting data and publishing a yearly study on the status of Women in Workplace. The 2021 report which is in its sixth year of running has been published few days ago. [Link appears at the end] Before we see the highlights of current publication, it is pertinent to say a few words about its importance.  Women form a significant percentage of workforce in every country. Even in Pakistan, where traditional forces keep pushing for women to stay at home, the same forces encourage women to do certain kinds of j...

CEOs at Work – Part 7 – Sum Up – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #544 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #544. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Continued from Previous…… We have gone through various aspects of CEO job. It is time to sum up this discussion. The sum up of CEO role and responsibilities may be considered as follows. CEO is the most important position in an organization. The importance arises out of his/her role and responsibilities. The following attributes are critical for a successful CEO. Vision Vision always comes from the top. It sets the direction of the organization which everyone else is obliged to follow. Clarity, soundness, and breadth of vision are its strengths. Communicating the next critical s...