Pharma Veterans

Navigation Plan for CEOs and Top Executives 2 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1059 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1059 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: Kampus Production Credit: Mikhail Nilov Preamble This is in continuation with the previous post. The key information and excerpts are taken from McKinsey article. Link at the end. #3 – Leadership Mobilization Checklist • Team Composition – Is my senior team the right size, comprising people with complementary skills and characterized by an ‘enterprise first’ mind? Tough question. A group of high performers becomes truly effective only when its members’ skills complement one another. If it is so, then the overall performance will be bigger than the sum of individual performances. When Asher-Topilsky became the CEO of IDB bank, it was un...

Adaptability Skill in Leadership – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1051 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1051 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 our contributions here. Credit: itay verchik Credit: Derrik Wandera Credit: Halid Elosman Credit: RDNE Stock Project Credit: RDNE Stock Project This post is inspired by Ryan Ettridge’s program titled ‘Becoming Unstuckable’. Link at the end. Preamble Freedom comes in many forms. Freedom is important for everyone as it means getting free from preconceived notions, prejudices, and biases learnt over time. It also means getting liberated from the shackles of the distorted ‘management wisdom’ learnt from seniors and peers. Leadership is usually associated with control, structure, and decisive action. Leaders are supposed to be always ready to take decisions quickly. While these traits are i...

Thoughts on Leadership Teams in Pharmaceutical Companies I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1022 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1022 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 our contributions here. Credit: August de Richelieu Credit: Karl Solano Credit: Khwanchai Phanthong Credit: Mandiri Abadi Preamble Having worked in pharma industry for over 40 years and at the most senior positions, I have plenty of observations on the subject; many of these are concerns which I had been raising on various occasions in various forums. I am also in the habit of reading the latest thinking from accomplished people and analyzing/ relating pointers from here and there with our own situation. This may be read as what is happening and what better can be done. Every organization strives to grow and become big, though their routes greatly vary. I sha...

Leaders Can Be Vulnerable – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1016 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1016 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. Credit: Anna Nekrashevich Credit: fauxels Credit: Henry Mathieu-Saint-Laurent Credit: RDNE Stock Project Leadership often comes with the pressure to always have the answers, appear strong, and project unwavering confidence. Vulnerability in leadership is often seen as a paradox. Leaders are traditionally expected to project strength, confidence, and decisiveness, but embracing vulnerability can be one of the most powerful tools for building trust, engagement, and authentic connections in a team. The truth is that the most impactful leaders aren’t the ones who never show weakness, but the ones who embrace vulnerability as a strength. In a world where we're conditi...

The Culture of Belonging – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #955 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #955 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. Credit: Alena Darmel Credit: Emtius Hasnat Credit: Helmy Zairy Credit: RDNE Stock Project Credit: Thirdman Many years ago, I witnessed an animated discussion between two senior managers, one of whom had spent his entire career in the same organization where we were sitting, the other had come after working in another MNC for several years. I was a junior manager who also came from another MNC. The topic was ‘sense of belonging’. The long serving manager was insisting that sense of belonging is nothing but a catchphrase. Our employment is a contract, we work and get paid, and the contract can be terminated any time. “Where does sense of belonging come in” he asked. The o...

Emotional Profiles of Bosses – The ‘Leading’ Type – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #908 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #908 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. Credit: fauxels Credit: Pavel Danilyuk Credit: RDNE Stock Project Today, we shall talk about the bosses who are the ‘Leading’ type: means they assume the leadership role as it should be done. The debate about managers and leaders notwithstanding, these bosses manage and lead the team. Leading bosses, often characterized by their positive orientation, strong leadership qualities, and principled work ethic, contribute to creating a positive and effective work environment. Here are the key attributes, and behaviors displayed by this group of bosses. Pos...

Emotional Profiles of Bosses – Self-Promoting Type – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #905 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #905 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. Credit: Press Master Credit: Hamid Tajik Credit: RDNE Stock Project Today, let us talk about the bosses who are almost always self-promoting themselves. Self-promoting bosses exhibit certain behaviors that revolve around promoting themselves, enhancing their image, and advancing their career at the expense of others or the organization. Recognizing these behaviors is essential for employees to navigate their professional environment effectively. Here are some common traits and behaviors of self-promoting bosses. • Taking Credit for Others' Achieve...

Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #758 for Pharma Veterans. 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. Photo Credit: Noor Aldin Alwan Photo Credit: Quang Nguyen Vinh Photo Credit: Ahmed akacha As explained in the last post, Divide & Rule comes primarily from the owners for reasons discussed. Ironically, the employees also follow the same tactics to strengthen their hold over the organization.  The desire to hold on to the place and position goes back to ancient times when the appointments and dismissals happened at the whim of the ruler and in seconds. There was no merit in these decisions; just the thought which could go either way. Our entire history has been of slavery and subjugation. Pakistan became free as a country in 1...

Poverty of Soft Skills – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #728 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #728 for Pharma Veterans. 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. Photo Credit: Anna Shvets Photo Credit: Vlada Karpovich This article takes some information from the article by Maria Guadalupe and Bryan Ng. The link appears below. Our CVs, Interview forms, and Appraisal forms always have a space for soft skills. Our inventory of soft skills is usually limited to communication, interpersonal relations, teamwork, and we toss in integrity (which is not a skill)  to make it more worthwhile. We maintain that soft skills are required by the employees to grow in their career. However, we do not link the presence of soft skills to the success of ...