Advanced detailing skill for pharmaceutical sales and marketing professionals
Follow the leader 2
1. FOLLOW THE LEADER
Presented By
Masum Chowdhury
Manager, SBMD
Asiatic Laboratories Ltd.
2. Leaders never follow, goes the old adage. But on your way to the
top, it couldn’t hurt to emulate these senior biopharmaceutical
executives, whose career steps carried them to the top of the
industry. Marc Iskowitz reports
3. DIERDRE CONNELLY
President
North America Pharmaceuticals
GlaxoSmithKline
5. Career path: Deirdre began her career in the pharmaceutical
industry in 1984 as a sales representative for Lilly in San Juan, Puerto
Rico. She rose within the marketing and human resources organizations
to become president of Lilly USA in June 2005. She was named president
North America Pharmaceuticals for GlaxoSmithKline in February 2009.
6. Prior Management Roles:
Prior to joining GSK as president North America Pharmaceuticals
in February 2009, Deirdre spent 26 years with Eli Lilly. She was
named president of Lilly USA in June 2005. She held a variety of
executive positions, including SVP of human resources for Eli Lilly,
as well as VP of human resources for pharmaceutical operations,
executive director of global marketing for Evista, and leader of the
woman's health business unit in the US. Before that, she was
national sales manager for the Puerto Rico affiliate of Lilly and
later became director of sales and marketing for the Caribbean
Basin Region. She was also general manager for Eli Lilly Puerto
Rico.
7. How did you get into healthcare/Pharma?
What did you do before?
After I earned a bachelor's degree in economics and
marketing from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania in
1983, I spent a year helping my father run his insurance
company. Then I joined Lilly as a sales representative in
San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I was born.
8. What was your path to the top? What were the
key moments and turning points?
The path to my current role began as a sales representative and progressed to
a variety of marketing and human resources jobs at Lilly and now GSK.
Some of the key moments in my career were entering the pharmaceutical
industry, which set my career path; leading Lilly's business in Puerto Rico and
Central America, which gave me my first general management experience; and
taking positions as head of Lilly USA and now GSK North America
Pharmaceuticals.
9. How did you develop your leadership
skills?
I embraced learning. I've always focused on how I can
learn more so that I can be more effective as a manager
and leader. I find that everyone I work with and am in
contact with is someone I can learn from.
10. Did you have a mentor along the way?
I would not say that I have had any specific mentors, nor did I
seek them out. My attitude is that anyone who has had more
experience than me can teach me things. I did learn a tremendous
amount from my sales supervisor, Bob Altman, when I was a sales
representative in Philadelphia. He helped me learn about
management, leadership, and myself. Fifty percent of what I
learned about management and leadership came from him.
11. What is your No. 1 managerial strategy?
Learn, listen and lead. The primary goal of my team is deliver
the results, develop the leaders of the future, and serve
patients. To do that, I empower my team to make decisions
and challenge my decisions. I focus on simplifying our
operations by asking; “why do we do what we do, why do we
do it this way, and can we do it differently?” I also emphasize
a sense of urgency, discipline and accountability for results.
12. Any tips for others looking to move up
the org chart?
Never miss an opportunity to learn and to contribute.
Have the humility to know that you're not the only person
who can do a job well.
13. Is this industry still “all about the people?”
Absolutely. This industry has to ensure that its medicines
are delivering real value to patients, physicians and
payers. We must demonstrate that our new medicines
produce better outcomes than are possible through
existing therapies and medical interventions.
To do all of this, we have to earn and keep the public
trust. People who take our medicine need to trust that
their medicine is of the highest quality, that it is packaged
with information of the highest integrity, and trust that
they will feel better. Everything we do internally has to
reflect that desire to earn the trust of customers and
patients
14. How do you see the industry 10 years
from now?
Our industry today is facing many challenges and opportunities.
How we respond to those will shape our role in the future, but I'm
confident we will continue to make a significant contribution to the
health and wellbeing of people around the world. That confidence
is based on my experiences with the highly talented and
dedicated people we have in our industry who are working every
day to bring important new medicines to people who need them.
15. Reference:
Marc Iskowitz Reports
mmm-online.com ❘ SEPTEMBER 2011 ❘ MM&M 61
