Pharma Veterans

Why Most Plans Never Materialize and What to Do? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 991 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 991 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Image Created with Microsoft Designer Image Created with Microsoft Designer Image Created with Microsoft Designer Image Created with Microsoft Designer The basic concept of this blogpost is taken from the book review of ‘Sidetracked’’ written by Harvard Professor Francesca Gino. The content is mine. Plans often go awry due to various internal and external factors that can interfere with our intentions and ability to follow through. Understanding these factors and developing strategies to cope with them can increase the likelihood of achieving our goals. This is seen most often in individual, personal plans. Corporate plans also get derailed and det...

Evolution of Management Thinking and Practices – Modern Contributors I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #918 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #918 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans  aims to share knowledge and wisdom from 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. Abraham Maslow Douglas McGregor Credit: Olena Bohovyk The purpose of this series is to show how major changes evolved in the management thinking and practices.  I understand it is presenting a very large subject in a digest form, and is particularly for those who believe in understanding management, practicing it, and experimenting to develop new ideas for better performance. From the beginning of 20th century, interest in management increased further because of rapid technology changes, greater academic research, and higher...

Mentoring, Motivating, Coaching & Grooming II – Blog Post #438 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #438. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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…… Mentoring, as I wrote in the previous part, was largely abolished. There are some people here and there who still keep the tradition alive, but for all practical purposes, everyone is now on his own. If you wish to learn, it is your sweet will, and you may learn what you like to learn. The fallout of getting away from Mentoring is that the learning does not follow any standard anymore. A variety of views are held by people which hardly connect with others. I am not writing this as an obituary of tradition; I am highlighting the changes that have taken...

Inspired at Work – Blog Post #434 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #434. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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. Inspiration is usually associated with creative work, and it is thought that regular work does not need inspiration. I would like to contest this thinking in this blogpost. Inspiration is defined variously as ‘an animating action or influence’; something that influences or impels; something that pushes to do something; and something that arouses interest to go for something. Implicit in the definition are two things; drive, and to do better. We get inspired by stories of other people, of other times, of our times and so on.  There are fundamental differences between Motivation and Inspiration. Motivation...

  Learning Hubs – Blog Post #372 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #372. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 . Many people have set up various learning hubs in various disciplines. In fact, learning today is extremely accessible because huge resources are available at literally no cost.   I mentioned Khan Academy ( www.khanacademy.org ) in the last blog. It is such a resource that it deserves separate presentation. Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Salman Khan. The objective was to create a set of online tools that help educate students. Khan Academy produces short lessons in the form of videos. Their website includes supplementary practice exercis...

Some Observations about CVs – Blog Post #360 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #360. Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 Pakistan had a high rate of unemployment even prior to COVID19. What exactly is the situation now, is not yet documented. It is safe to assume it would be huge right now. For every available job, the number of applicants will be much higher as compared to what it was previously. Employment Opportunity is one part, employability is another. The candidate is finalized if the two things match. A CV is the first tool to throw light on the ‘employability’ and it is critical to the process. I am sharing some observations as a small fraction. It is ...

Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #335 . Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 . Readers’ Digest was a household name for English readers when we were growing up. I am not sure if it is still published. But It is not a sensation anymore that it used to be. Later, when I could, I would buy a copy off and on and read it from back to back. I wondered why they called it ‘Digest’. In common English, Digesting was something else. Then I realized that it related to capsular or compressed form; that you would get many bits of information in one place. Our enthusiasm for compressed forms has grown greatly over time. We compressed Test Cricket to ODI (50 overs each) to T-20 to T-10. We continuously see Apps on L...

Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #328 . Pharma Veterans welcomes 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 can be interpreted two ways. One, that we are down with lockdown; two, as a protest slogan against lockdown. Both interpretations are reflective of our current situation, but first with the first day of ‘smart/soft lockdown’ which was Monday 11 th May. I have heard that as soon as the branded garments stores and markets opened on Monday morning, the customers queued up in large numbers for Eid Shopping apparently. The parking spaces filled up and the nearby roads got choked and small and large shops were full of customers, men, women and children. All newspapers carried the story and pictures next day along with...