Pharma Veterans

Spiritual Health, Life, and Work – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1001 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1001 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: Prince Kumar Credit: Firshad Muhammad Credit: Milo Deckert This blogpost partakes liberally from an article published in May 2024 by McKinsey based on its own survey. Link at the end. Preamble Workplace are supposed to be secular. Work is the religion that everyone subscribes to. Occasionally, in countries like Pakistan, people tend to discuss too many things in offices either because they have a lot of time to kill, or they just want to keep chattering. Religion, or rather religious elements keep coming under discussion. The topic of this post is spiritual health, not any religion. Spiritual health may be defined as having meaning in one’s life, a sen...

The Future of Work – Choosing a Career that Will Stand the Test of Time – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #805 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #805 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 Nekrashevich Photo Credit: fauxels Photo Credit: Sarah Chai The world of work is changing at an unprecedented pace. COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work and digital transformation, making it clear that the ability to adapt to new technologies and work environments is critical for long-term success. Automation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies are transforming the job market, and many traditional jobs are becoming obsolete. However, these changes are also creating new...

Career Choices Dilemmas – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #743 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #743 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: Amina Filkins Photo Credit: Jeff Denlea Photo Credit: Thirdman Let us start with the question, Do Young People Make Career Choices? The answer is mostly No. These are the scenarios which lead to the above answer. Aptitude Assessment Most youngsters do not know or at least do not know clearly as to what they wish to pursue as a career. The biggest reason for this gap is our curriculum which is taught from beginning to the college. The curriculum is a mix of many subjects none of which evokes curiosity or quest for knowledge. Children are being overloaded with unnece...

Employee Engagement – Part 3 – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #688 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #688 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: Nicola Barts Photo Credit: Jonathan Borba FACTORS THAT REDUCE/ STOP ENGAGEMENT Gallup reports that globally, only 15% of employees are engaged in their work. It means that 85% employees are less engaged, disengaged, and actively disengaged. Less engaged and disengaged employees still do their work, though without committing themselves. Actively disengaged employees do not just perform in a compromised manner, but they become a source of negativity for the other employees. Their negative influence has the likelihood of spreading gradually. They would criticize ...

Fulfilled Life – What and How? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #685 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #685 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. Fulfilled life may have as many interpretations as the humans on earth. Philosophers, spiritual leaders, scholars, academics, artists, literati, scientists, and everyone else thought about this subject and have given insights which help to understand this complex subject. The major complexity arises out of the fact that we include our desires, ambitions, likes, and needs to determine what a fulfilled life means for us. The second issue is that the definition changes with changes in the circumstances. For example, a poor person would say that his/her fulfilled life would s...

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 ...

CEOs at Work – Part 1 - Family Firms– Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #538 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #538. 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. Statistics say that almost all businesses start as family business. Later, some choose to go public while majority stays as family business. In the US, going public is popular, but even there 90% businesses are family businesses. For example, Wal-Mart which is a giant at 485 billion US$ in turnover and 2.3 million employees, is still a family business. Recently, I came across a study survey titled ‘Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work’. The authors include Oriana Bandiera of London School of Economics, Andrea Prat of Columbia University and Raffaella Sadun o...

Performance Review I – Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #509 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans’ Blog Post #509. 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. 30th June marks closing of business year for many companies. It is an important occasion because the previous year is closed and the new one is started. Closure involves business and many other things. Annual increments and promotions are announced, new year targets are declared, and new budgets are approved. Performance Review is an activity which is run through the entire organization, and which is usually linked to the increment/promotion decisions. Even for companies which follow calendar year, June marks half yearly closing and is an important milestone. Our topic is Performance Revi...