Pharma Veterans

Learning More is a Smart Person’s Favorite Way to Procrastinate – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1116 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1116 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: Christina Morillo Credit: Tim Guow Credit: Tranmautritam Preamble I read this line (the topic above) in a technology newsletter ‘Artofrom10web’ that I subscribe to keep updated on the technology side. Immediately, I thought about many people who were doing this and decide to write on it. Sometimes I have also done it. There’s something suspiciously soothing about opening a new tab to look up a book summary, signing up for yet another online course, or watching TED Talks until your coffee goes cold. It feels like productivity. It smells like progress. It’s got the high-gloss veneer of improvement. But make no mist...

Is Your Learning & Development Functioning? – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1030 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1030 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: Christina Morillo Credit: fauxels Preamble Learning and Development – L&D – is among the cardinal functions of HR. The reason is simple; it is about people/ human resource/ human capital.  In many pharma companies, L&D is either available as Training department, or worse still, as Sales Training Department. Which seems to signify that only salespeople need training which is done for products and selling skills, and no one else is a candidate for learning. Sometimes, Training department arranges external trainers for certain topics which might have come out of the standard TNA – Training Needs Analysis, as part of performance a...

Learning to Say No – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1019 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1019 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: Jep Gambardella Credit: leo Credit: Yan Krukau Preamble We, who live in Asian societies are particularly prone not to say No. Even when we say it, we do so with great difficulty. So, we say yes to things we cannot do, or do not want to do, and we land in difficulty. In Pakistan, it is extremely common to hide behind a litany of excuses and unattended phone calls when promises are not kept, and jobs are not delivered. This behavior is causing uncertainty, confusion, mistrust, bad relations, and poor work environment across the country. We not only yes, but add InshaAllah also, a suffix which has sadly become associated with the intent to not honor the promise.  Le...

Pharma Veterans – Concept and Practice – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1015 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1015 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. Designed with Microsoft Designer Designed with Microsoft Designer Preamble Pharma Veterans is a group of senior pharmaceutical professionals which came together to form a core group under the umbrella of ‘Pharma Veterans’ in 2019. Pharma Veterans domain and blogs were launched in 2017 by Asrar Qureshi and had been continuing since. All group members are full time working professionals who take out time occasionally to meet and discuss the industry situation and what may be done. Pharma Veterans Fundamentals Vision Build and Run a Vibrant, Inclusive, Evolving, and Growing Platform for Pharma & Healthcare Industry Veterans Mission 1. To project and c...

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 ...

Learnings from A Year of Pandemic – Blog Post #461 by Asrar Qureshi Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #461. 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. March 2020 was when COVID impact started in Pakistan. Prior to that, it was something we heard was happening in other countries. We did not consider that it would arrive here, but it did. Our response was as tentative as the rest of the world and it cannot be criticized. The whole world was fighting an unknown entity. The world is still clearly divided between developed and developing (read under-developed) countries, though we do not say that anymore. This divide has several implications which are primarily related to resources and facilities, which are again related to economic resources. T...

  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...

  Dear Colleagues!  This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #262. Pharma Veterans shares the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of Veterans for the benefit of Pharma Community. Pharma Veterans Blog  is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress , the top blog site.  If you wish to share your stories, ideas and thoughts, please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here . One day, few years ago, I was somehow redirected to a page https://brainpickings.org Brainpickings is a weekly (now twice weekly) newsletter, published by Maria Popova and she aptly calls it ‘Labor of Love’. Maria scours many sources of literature, wisdom and arts, and compiles her publication. I immediately fell in love with Brainpickings and my admiration and appreciation for her has grown and deepened with time. She has a treasure trove of knowledge and has a keen eye for finding pearls and diamonds. On completing 13 years, Maria published the n...