Palojori to Düsseldorf
a Journey, a Story — Amlesh Ranjan
31st March, 2011, I sit today on the banks of river Rhine in the German city of Düsseldorf, a tad exhausted after three hectic but satisfying days as a keynote speaker and panelist at the eyeforpharma’s Global Commercial Excellence and SFE seminar.
Today was a high point in my career when, after my talk on “Co-creation of Value in Partnership with the Customer”, Leandro Herrero, the authority on change management commented, “Very insightful presentation: Co-creation of value is a noble goal.”
As I sip on German dark wheat beer, sitting on a high chair outside a café in chilly and windy conditions, my thoughts travel back to the small tea stall in Palojori, a village in the interiors of the tribal belts in eastern India. 20 years ago, I would go there for doctor calls.
Invariably, by the time I would finish my call, the only public transport available would have left. Thus, going back to the headquarter town was difficult; proper food, a distant dream because there was no hotel. Palojori was important as all our classic brands were selling well.
No question of missing the call, I will always miss the bus. But will manage to hitch-hike on the bicycle of the chemist till the highway to make my way back to my HQ town. And over time, I grew fond of tea & samosas at the tea stall.
Becoming a Medical Representative was not an easy decision for the son of a doctor, when all expected you also to either follow his footsteps or better still, become a Civil Servant or a Bank Officer. My family members in my home town were actually upset with my decision.
My father was supportive though, because I had got a break in a great company, Hoechst. But he also hoped that I would change my mind in a few months. One more person was happy, our town’s first MBA, who was pleasantly surprised at my selection.
Definitely, there was, and is, something unique about the Medical Representatives’ profession- You are part of an evolved sales & marketing team, doing scientific selling and the key customers are doctors who are well educated and respected in the society.
You are on the move and largely on your own as your manager can be with you for only 2–3 days in a month. You are among the very few whose day-to-day work can actually make a difference to the health and wellbeing of the people.
I started as an MR in 1988. I had the privilege of working with very guiding managers and supportive senior colleagues, most of whom were ‘legends’ in the pharma circle. This helped me learn a lot from the very beginning of my career.
West Bengal, in 1996, was my first posting as an Area Manager. Soon, the realization dawned that area management is a complex and critical function in Pharma and possibly a primer for General Management.
West-Bengal was followed by a year at Orissa and then five very successful years in Andhra Pradesh. In 3 years at Vizag, we managed to create the №1 team in the country. Hyderabad stint gave the valuable experience of concept to pre-marketing to launch to success.
The turning point in my career was when I entered Corporate headquarters, Mumbai, as Team Head, Operational Effectiveness in 2005 and had the opportunity to work under a wonderful leader from whom I learnt the art of thinking simple.
Despite starting and being in the field, I built on concepts by doing Business Management and Pharma Marketing courses from premier institutes. This combined with my rich contextual experience, helped me smoothly transition to a strategic role at corporate HQ.
I then moved into Commercial Excellence and was part of the Business Excellence team headed by an amazing Strategist. In this period, we were consistently redefining concepts and stretching boundaries. This fueled my strategic thinking and courage to challenge the status-quo.
After 7 very successful years, I moved into Public/Private Healthcare Marketing, Operations, and KAM. I worked closely with 3 senior leaders from the Management Committee, gaining tremendously on disease management, along with healthcare systems, policies, and partnerships.
Throughout my journey, ‘Learning’, my no. 1 character strength, has been the key. More so at corporate HQ, where each of my roles, for 11 years, was in a newly launched function & team. I believe my learning agility contributed to, in pioneering and leading successfully.
While I have drawn a lot from our regional/global platforms, I learnt a lot from professional social media and global agencies/institutions' web feeds. Over a period of time, I too started contributing, and that is how I got invited to deliver the keynote at the esteemed global forum.
It has been a satisfying journey for me. The backbone of my being has been my wife and my two kids. I was always lucky to get very supportive managers, helpful peers, and excellent team members. Thanks to each of them, I kept taking new functions and excelling in them.
Pharma is a great domain to be in and field-based roles are a good way to start one’s career. MR position offers opportunities to develop customer management & communication skills, and sales management lays the foundations for general management abilities.
My journey, and the story, from Palojori to Düsseldorf, is about Learning, Courage & Excellence. But above all, it has been my unwavering adherence to values because all along I have been a firm believer that, ‘The Value you add, comes from the Values, you hold’.
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Note: This article was first published in Vol 1 Issue 4 of MedicinMan. I have edited it to add to the narrative.
