The Beginning
I was at crossroads after completing computer programming in the early 80’s when a leading engineering college offered me a job as a lab technician, but it didn’t sound interesting and it certainly wasn’t what I was aspiring for.
My room-mate suggested I should visit a few pharma companies and apply for a Medical Rep’s job. To cut a long story short, two companies selected me, and I reluctantly chose Sandoz, not knowing at the time that I would go on to work there for the next 30 years. I hated my job initially. I particularly did not like carrying a bag filled with various drug samples, bottles and strips. Given half an opportunity, I would’ve loved to engage in a meaningful conversation with physicians and other stakeholders, who I was meeting with daily on sales calls, without the overhang of getting them to prescribe these products.
The Transition
I got lucky when Tarun Gupta, popularly known as TG, joined Sandoz. I was a 22-year old sales rep – young and inexperienced with no baggage. This helped me enjoy working under TG and aided in my growth. I was able to adjust better than most of my seniors and soon enough the rewards came in. I was promoted early, and went on to become the youngest First Line Manager in the company’s history. Next few years were a great learning experience for me. I got to work with some wonderful people, many of whom I am in touch with to this day. These individuals helped shape my perspective on the power of teams, learning how to manage and lead people and holding on to your core values, especially in testing times. The biggest takeaway for me during this time was to – Be A Fast Learner and Lead The Change. These lessons have become my guiding principles, something that I follow to this day.
The Experiment
I moved to Kerala in the early 90s, after I was promoted to Second Line Manager. Kerala is a wonderful state for pharma and my transfer there gave me the opportunity to explore different commercial, social and human management models. I experimented with using contractual sales force, automating replenishment based on secondary sales system, successful new product launch and using merchandising approach for popular brands. This was the most satisfying period for my personal and professional development, thanks to great team, colleagues and friends. I learnt how to manage and lead a team, deal with individuals and their differences, negotiate with trade unions, navigate organizational politics, allocate resources and much more. It was equally a great time to expand one’s boundaries – internally and externally. My time in Kerala laid a solid foundation for future leadership roles.
The Power of Knowledge
The late 90s was a time of transition. Sandoz and Ciba merged to create Novartis, and this took me to Mumbai as a Training Manager in the newly formed entity. My colleagues played an influential part in my adjusting to a completely new role. I learnt the art of reading, thinking and more importantly, observing human behavior. I was quick to realize that I needed a solid foundation in Management, Marketing and Human Resources, if I were to make an effective transition to the future of pharma in India.
All professionals need to update their knowledge, skills and mindset continuously. I joined a business school, learnt marketing and later completed my Master’s degree in Human Resources as well. A wonderful change that shaped not only my future career path but also my understanding of larger challenges. I managed to walk the tightrope between my professional commitment and skill upgradation by attending a variety of short-term management programs, conferences and seminars. These different sources of knowledge aided in developing my ability to connect the dots and see the larger picture. I developed the ability to approach a problem via multiple angles and chart out the best way to solve it. This ability is a wonderful gift today, when I coach leaders or help companies in recruitment and building marketing and sales capabilities.
The Silver Bullet
As time progressed, I was lucky to get the opportunity to build a Sales Force Effectiveness and Training Team in Novartis. Few years later, this consolidated and took shape as a complete Commercial Excellence function comprising of Sales Force Effectiveness, Marketing Science, Sales Training, Patient Support and Special Audiences.
Probably the most important answer I found that shaped my career and is still guiding me was the question – What’s the secret of success? It’s called, “Continuous Learning to do what you don’t know how to do”. The biggest change was when I was selected as a global leadership trainer in Novartis for their M1 “Leading At The Frontline” program. This helped me transition completely and focus my energies in developing leadership capabilities, especially for first-time managers. My team and I developed a new framework for FLM leadership, this was presented at Prague in 2012 as a global best practice. Later in 2012, we won the first ever OPPI Sales Force Excellence Award.
As we step into future, I do not know what specific challenge pharma leaders will face in 2020 and beyond, but I have a strong idea of what the leaders who face them will look like and how we can develop future leadership. Here are a few useful learnings:
- Visible integrity – beyond intelligent justifications and organizational culture.
- Know yourself – better than anyone else does, is step one to a successful career. Feedback using multiple sources e.g. 360 assessment, having a mentor or a coach. Taking a pause and reflecting.
- Challenge yourself – More challenging job, projects, assignments, personal learning, a developmental role, demonstrating courage to take risk and fail.
- Develop Learning Agility – learn to think critically, experiment, deal with ambiguity, feel comfortable with uncertainty and personal drive to deliver results even in first-time situations.
- Your Network is your Net worth – Connect with people with diverse interests, offer help and don’t hesitate to ask for help, contribute.
I was fortunate to have such a wonderful professional career, work with great leaders, make lifelong friends, have a few wins, many failures and live a life full of excitement and no regrets.
Editor’s Note: Deep Bhandari is a prolific and powerful communicator and is active on global circuits as a thought provoking speaker. Read his thoughts on Creating A Winning Sales Organisation – https://medicinman.net/2017/11/creating-a-winning-sales-organisation-workshop-announcement/
Deep Bhandari has been a part of MedicinMan CEO Roundtable on Field Force Excellence since its inception in 2012. I first met Deep in 2007, as the author of SuperVision for the SuperWiser Front-line Manager. He was then General Manager at Novartis. Since then, he has been a friend, philosopher and guide in the truest sense of the word, ever willing to pitch in, listen patiently and clarify issues in his inimitable style. Thank you Deep for sharing your deep insights from the vast bhandar of your knowledge with MedicinMan readers over the years. I believe, your best is yet to come!
Deep Bhandari is a pharma veteran and an Editorial Board Member at MedicinMan