“What thePharma CEO Wants from the Brand Manager”.

Greetings to you on Ganesh Chaturthi!

May Lord Ganesh shower His choicest blessings on you!

On this very auspicious day, I am happy to announce the hosting of my website: www.theenablers.org.

With great pleasure, I also introduce you to my second book: “What the Pharma CEO Wants from the Brand Manager”. I have written this book specifically for the brand managers of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry and will soon be released.

Please do visit the page on this website: ‘Book to be released soon: What the Pharma CEO Wants From The Brand Manager’ on the website www.theenablers.org. Please do await the date of launch.

My business e-mail id effective today is: vivekhattangadi@theenablers.org

MCI Whip : Pharma Brand Managers on the Roll - By Prof. Vivek Hattangadi

News article on the lecture delivered by Prof. Vivek Hattangadi during the National Pharma Symposium which appeared in 'The Economic Times' of 5th April 2010

Brand managers in the pharma industry have been feeling low lately. Their roles and responsibilities have undergone mortification as pharma companies no longer consider brand managers as important members in the marketing team. What with the foreign junkets and freebies offered to the medical profession in the name of Continuous Medical Education and brand building, most companies today are almost not concerned about brand management.

A senior brand manager of a well known pharma company in Ahmedabad in a lighter vein said that he is more of a travel agent or an event manager of his company rather than a brand manager. On a serious note, he goes on to say that he has almost forgotten the fundamentals of brand management!

Well, the recent Medical Council of India whip which has traumatized the industry and the medical profession, however, has brought smiles on the faces of the pharma brand managers. This means he can once again establish the positive values of his brand – such as trust, integrity, and its intangible assets. He can now communicate them through the medical representatives for generating prescriptions and get true job satisfaction.

To be successful in brand management, it’s just a matter of thinking differently from ‘freebies’ and ‘gifts’ and ‘junkets’ approach. The he will now have the drive to create those lifetime prescribers in an ethical way.

The pharma brand managers are on the roll once again, thanks to the MCI Whip!

Actions, not authority, drive leadership - February 11, 2010 - Technique - The South's Liveliest College Newspaper

Actions, not authority, drive leadership - February 11, 2010 - Technique - The South's Liveliest College Newspaper

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Discipline and Willpower - Vivek Hattangadi

Discipline and Willpower - By Vivek Hattangadi

• While uneducated birds and beasts
  Know how to lead regulated lives,
  Alas! Man endowed with intelligence
  Does not lead a disciplined life
  (Anon)
  Discipline is fundamental to every living being. For Homo sapiens it is even more important; may be as much as the spinal cord. Without discipline mankind will be ruined.
  Said Zig Ziglar “Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them”.
  
  Today, in India, it is because people do not practise discipline, whether for instance traffic discipline, social discipline, discipline in daily routine, or elsewhere, life is becoming painful. Discipline must start from the early years, but it is needed not only by students but even by elders. The elders must impress on the young ones that discipline is imperative to become a successful student, a professional, a parent, a musician or even a sportsperson.
  
  One of the misconceptions in the world is that the people who end up being successful somehow achieve this success through short cuts, and other miracles of fate. In the process, the world forgets about the disciplined life of these successful personalities. The importance of discipline in life is something which is often ignored. Discipline is behavior in accordance with rules of conduct. For example, discipline is denying oneself of an excessive pleasure in order to accomplish more demanding jobs. Discipline is the most essential quality of life. It is necessary in the personal life of everybody. Discipline means teaching ourselves self-control, obedience, cooperation and punctuality. It is the ability to stay focused on our chosen action path without detour, distraction, or interruption
  
  This brings us towards willpower and self-discipline.
  
  Willpower is an expression of our inner strength, determination, decisiveness, and assertiveness. It is the ability to act and exert ourselves in spite of laziness and discomfort. Willpower confers on us the strength and fortitude to act in spite of inner resistance or external obstacles. The application of willpower can be like a military strategy:
• Choose your target and objective
• Create a plan of attack
• Execute the plan

Willpower is the spearhead of self-discipline. Self-discipline can be said to be the ‘spouse’ of willpower.

Self-discipline is usually understood to be synonymous with 'self control'. It is the giving up of instant pleasure and gratification or satisfaction for a higher goal. It gives us the power to follow our decisions, stick to them and not change our mind too often, and thus reach our goals. Self-discipline refers to the training that one gives to one's self to accomplish tasks or to adopt a particular pattern of behavior, even though one would really rather be doing something else. Self-discipline is the ability of a person to force himself to do something he knows he should do, whether he likes it or not. Every successful person knows that self-discipline is important for success. Self-discipline must be developed and practised in order to succeed. Every time we practise self- discipline, we will strengthen it.

Thus, self-discipline is the assertion of willpower over basic desires. Self-discipline is the power to keep going forward, when everything around us seems to be pulling us back.

Lack of self discipline may lead to failure to reach goals, even minor ones, and to loss of health, wealth, relationships and may lead us to many other troubles.

Unfortunately, many people, especially the young ones are not interested in self-discipline. They prefer to engage in actions that satisfy their short-term needs – even at the expense of long term failure. Lack of self-discipline is a source of low self esteem. Self-discipline is something we all need because it is a vital characteristic of successful people. Self-discipline helps us control our actions and makes sure we stay on the right track.

What then are the benefits of discipline? Discipline generates trust and confidence in ourselves, and attracts trust and confidence from others. The constant act of discipline can magnify our power many, many times. The possession of this power leads to self confidence and self esteem, and consequently to happiness, satisfaction and real strength.

Practise self-discipline and we shall be in control of ourselves all of the time.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of willpower”. - Vince Lombardi

Jack Welsh on Leadership

Jack Welsh on Leadership

Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level. Leaders can be found and nurtured if you look for the following character traits.

A leader with vision has a clear, vivid picture of where to go, as well as a firm grasp on what success looks like and how to achieve it. But it’s not enough to have a vision; leaders must also share it and act upon it. Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co., said, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion."

A leader must be able to communicate his or her vision in terms that cause followers to buy into it. He or she must communicate clearly and passionately, as passion is contagious.

A good leader must have the discipline to work toward his or her vision single-mindedly, as well as to direct his or her actions and those of the team toward the goal. Action is the mark of a leader. A leader does not suffer “analysis paralysis” but is always doing something in pursuit of the vision, inspiring others to do the same.

Integrity is the integration of outward actions and inner values. A person of integrity is the same on the outside and on the inside. Such an individual can be trusted because he or she never veers from inner values, even when it might be expeditious to do so. A leader must have the trust of followers and therefore must display integrity.

Honest dealings, predictable reactions, well-controlled emotions, and an absence of tantrums and harsh outbursts are all signs of integrity. A leader who is centered in integrity will be more approachable by followers.

Dedication means spending whatever time or energy is necessary to accomplish the task at hand. A leader inspires dedication by example, doing whatever it takes to complete the next step toward the vision. By setting an excellent example, leaders can show followers that there are no nine-to-five jobs on the team, only opportunities to achieve something great.

Magnanimity means giving credit where it is due. A magnanimous leader ensures that credit for successes is spread as widely as possible throughout the company. Conversely, a good leader takes personal responsibility for failures. This sort of reverse magnanimity helps other people feel good about themselves and draws the team closer together. To spread the fame and take the blame is a hallmark of effective leadership.

Leaders with humility recognize that they are no better or worse than other members of the team. A humble leader is not self-effacing but rather tries to elevate everyone. Leaders with humility also understand that their status does not make them a god. Mahatma Gandhi is a role model for Indian leaders, and he pursued a “follower-centric” leadership role.

Openness means being able to listen to new ideas, even if they do not conform to the usual way of thinking. Good leaders are able to suspend judgment while listening to others’ ideas, as well as accept new ways of doing things that someone else thought of. Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and followers, and it also keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision.

Creativity is the ability to think differently, to get outside of the box that constrains solutions. Creativity gives leaders the ability to see things that others have not seen and thus lead followers in new directions. The most important question that a leader can ask is, “What if …?” Possibly the worst thing a leader can say is, “I know this is a dumb question ...”

Fairness means dealing with others consistently and justly. A leader must check all the facts and hear everyone out before passing judgment. He or she must avoid leaping to conclusions based on incomplete evidence. When people feel they that are being treated fairly, they reward a leader with loyalty and dedication.

Assertiveness does not mean aggressiveness. Rather, it is the ability to clearly state what one expects so that there will be no misunderstandings. A leader must be assertive to get the desired results. Along with assertiveness comes the responsibility to clearly understand what followers expect from their leader.

Many leaders have difficulty striking the right amount of assertiveness, according to a study in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the APA (American Psychological Association). It seems that being under-assertive or overassertive may be the most common weakness among aspiring leaders.

A sense of humor is vital to relieve tension and boredom, as well as to defuse hostility. Effective leaders know how to use humor to energize followers. Humor is a form of power that provides some control over the work environment. And simply put, humor fosters good camaraderie.

Intrinsic traits such as intelligence, good looks, height and so on are not necessary to become a leader. Anyone can cultivate the proper leadership traits.

Book Review: Who killed change?

Book Review: Who killed change?

Author- Ken Blanchard et al. Publishers: Harper Collins 2009

It is a well known adage: ‘Change is the Only Constant’.

Yet, when change initiatives are launched, people put up a lot of resistance. There are people who would still like to be in comfort zone of tradition, conformity of the old systems and sometimes even superstition. People who try to bring about change initiatives have also been branded as ignorant and stupid fools by the traditionalists and conformists! They would still try to achieve success through obsolete ideas which have no relevance to today’s scenario. On would believe that only the senior and experienced people are the ones who resist change; this is a wrong impression. At times Gen-Next are the ones who are very comfortable with orthodox beliefs and resist change.

Ken Blanchard of ‘One Minute Manager’ fame has recently released his new book: ‘Who Killed Change”, published by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd, 2009. This book is also catalogued in the British Council Library.

The book is written in a delightful way – again a change initiative by Ken Blanchard! One may even call it a parable business book.

The central character is a cigar-smoking, detective Agent Mike McNally who is investigating a serial murder of people having the same second name – Change. These murders take place at the ACME Company. Like a true detective story the business story opens on a dark and stormy night

Agent Mike McNally, interviews 13 prime suspects, with the aid of his associate Anna. The suspects include Carolina Culture, Chase Commitment, Spence Sponsorship, Perry Plan, Bailey Budget, Victoria Vision, Ernest Urgency, and Clair Communication among others.

Through this series of interviews, McNally discovers a core truth: Many different people at all levels of the organization are often responsible for killing change efforts. Agent McNally discovers that Change was poisoned — but you'll have to read the book to uncover the details.

The parable concludes with the following truth: "Change can be successful only when the usual characters in an organization combine their unique talents and consistently involve others in initiating, implementing and sustaining change."

Vivek Hattangadi

13^th September 2009

Ahmedabad

7 Myths of a Sales Managers Job

I came across a very interesting article by Ray Wiiliams from B-Net and thought I must share this with you since I agree with every word in it! When we accept underperformance, we are conveying our low standards, and this will affect every one in the organization, right from the lowest to the top employee, the vendors and all others associated with the organization. Managers, who accept non-performance, should be the ones to be given the pink slip immediately! They are the ones who can damage an organization.

– Vivek Hattangadi, 3rd September 2008

The Truth about Sales Manager’s Job

• Myth #1: Managers should put the customer first. When managers preach and practice this longstanding axiom, they overlook their employees, who are responsible for creating and nurturing the customer relationship. Customers quickly learn they can bypass the rep and get what they want by appealing to the manager, resulting in lousy morale, high turnover, and customer dissatisfaction.
• Truth #1: Manager must put their employees first. Managers should communicate regularly and comprehensively with employees, and work through them when communicating with the customer. Managers should never undercut their employee’s authority to deal with customer issues.

• Myth #2: Morale will improve when sales go up. Managers often believe that increased sale will result in higher morale, ignoring the fact that low morale makes it difficult, and even impossible, to increase sales. What results is a classic “chicken or egg” situation where everyone’s waiting for things to improve, with decreasing hope that they actually will.
• Truth #2: Morale improves when employees believe sales will improve. To create this belief manager must: 1) present a clear vision of the future, 2) have the sales team makes the reality check that the vision will work and will benefit each team member, and 3) refine the vision into a practical set of steps that everyone agrees are achievable.
Note: this initiative must have an upper management champion or it will die on the vine.

• Myth #3: Management’s first responsibility is to make the numbers. While numbers are important, they are always the history of what’s happened in the past. Treating the numbers as the top priority leads to jiggling the revenue stream, pushing revenue into different quarters, and (worst case) cooking the books to make the numbers look good.
• Truth #3: Management’s first responsibility is to manage activities. While a manager cannot (honestly) manage the numbers, a manager can always manage the activities that lead to the numbers. If you focus on what the sales team is doing, and measuring the effectiveness of each activity, each day the numbers become a foregone conclusion that needs little attention.

• Myth #4: Quota (targets) is an employee management tool. Quota defines the minimum performance standard of an organization and the minimum performance of the individual inside that organization. When it is used as a management tool, managers are placing maximum emphasis on minimum performance. The result is entirely predictable: the entire sales team aims at the minimum standard and seldom exceeds it.
• Truth #4: Quota is a corporate measurement tool. Quota is simply what the organization needs to achieve in order to fulfill its goals. Quota has nothing to do with what the employee wants from his or her employment with the organization. It does not motivate, even when managers uses it as a club to beat employees about the head and shoulders at the end of the month.

• Myth #5: The manager’s job is to have the answers. Each time a manager answers an employee’s question, he or she becomes a thief. The manager has robbed that person of the opportunity to think and the opportunity to grow. While experience has value, people don’t learn when that hard-won wisdom is handed over on a platter, much less forced down their throat.
• Truth #5: The manager’s job is to ask the right questions. The trick to managing effectively is being able to spark, in the employee’s own mind, the thought processes and ideas that will make the employee successful. Great managers know the “magic questions” that help employees discover where they need to improve and how, and which get the commitment necessary to make the improvement.

• Myth #6: The top performers define management ability. Managers often point to their top performers as an indicator of how successful they are as sales managers. However, while the manager may have hired that top performer or grown him or her into that role, the success of that individual is more likely to reflect that person’s drive and ability, rather than anything the manager brought to the table.
• Truth #6: The worst performers define management ability. The worst performing sales person on the team illustrates exactly what the manager will accept, because that person remains employed. What’s more, the worst performer acts as a drag upon the rest of the team, who are well aware that they must work harder in order to cover for the manager’s willingness to tolerate poor performance.

• Myth #7: Management is mostly common sense. When we view the solution to anything as being common sense, we tend not to pay much attention to it, thinking that our common sense will get us through. The result is that the same problems keep coming up month after month, year after year, because managers are relying upon “common sense” to fix them.
• Truth #7: Good management requires a complex and multiplex skill set. To get the best from employees, managers must know their employees and their interests, and manage according to those interests. That requires applied psychology. To make sure that sales activities result in profitable revenue, managers must define and track a productive sales process. That requires system analysis. And so forth. If you’re serious about being a great sales manager, you’ll constantly upgrade your skills and knowledge.

From: Ray Williams

Posted by
Vivek Hattangadi
theenablers@gmail.com
6th September 2008

The Moments of Truth

Customer Relations Management is the buzz word today. Every interaction between a customer / consumer and service provider is a moment of truth - The truth whether the sevice provider is truly customer-centered?
Read this from Zig Ziglar, trainer and the worlds greatest salesman
Vivek Hattangadi
vivekhattangadi@yahoo.co.in
Moments of Truth

A “Moment of Truth” is any opportunity (contact) a customer has to get an impression of the level of customer service your company delivers. There are many, many moments of truth that the customer can experience that begin to make up an overall impression of your organization. Was the phone answered in a timely manner; how much trouble was it to get out of the automated loop and talk to a live person; is the lobby clean; was their question answered; is your appearance professional? These are just a few of the opportunities a customer has to form an impression of your company. Moments of truth can be identified and managed – they don’t just “happen.” It is how you manage those moments that ultimately determines how successful the business – and you – will be. Your day is filled with “moments of truth” – full to overflowing, and each is an opportunity to exceed customer expectations. Think about your job – what are some moments of truth that you can identify? Don’t forget the internal customers (your coworkers) as well. You have many moments of truth with your coworkers that add up to how they view you and your ability to do the job. You may feel that you personally can’t make an impact on the impression your customer has of your organization. That would be incorrect! As long as you are speaking to the customer, in their mind you are THE organization. You represent the entire business. What you say and do, how you sound, the knowledge you use to work with the customer – all of these add up. It is your moment of truth – are you ready?

This article is adapted from the Assuring Customer Loyalty program from Zig Ziglar
Very well written by Eric WildeAdapted from: Ten Moments of Truth by Eric Wilder (babyshopmagazine.com)

Failure is not permanent

Failure is not Permanent By Dave Ramsey
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford
As I have walked with thousands of families through hope-robbing financial problems, I have realized there are reasons we lose our hope. Our mind and spirit have believed lies in order to lose the most precious item called HOPE. One big hairy lie that we allow to steal our hope is: Failure is permanent. If we see failure in our past as an indicator of our future, it will rob our hope. Winston Churchill, the great British prime minister, said, “Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” When we believe failure is here to stay, we lose enthusiasm and the ability to head back toward success.
Hope is stolen when we misunderstand failure. Failure is natural, normal, and is going to happen. If we take all the lessons learned from failure and stack them, we can easily get the breathtaking view that hope gives. The trick is to avoid making short-term decisions, based on loss of hope, that have worse long-term effects.
When people are in financial difficulty, they often make stupid short-thinking financial decisions. If you really believe you can never save enough money to pay cash for a car, you lose hope and borrow the money. If you got laid off from a job or your small business went under, you may think the rest of your life is doomed. Debt, which robs your ability to build wealth, is usually the result of lost hope. We have been sold debt so thoroughly that it has stolen our hope. People who have hope, grown from vision based in values, are savers and investors; they think long term. Where there is a lack of hope, we cripple our ability to build wealth and long-term relationships of value.

When past failure sneaks up and steals our hope, we must have been asleep at the wheel because we know better, realizing that failure is part of the process. The great author C.S. Lewis agrees. He said, “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.”

I Know, I've Been There
Failure is definitely a part of my story. Starting from nothing, by the time I was 26 I had a net worth of a little over $1 million and was having fun! However, then debt caused Sharon and me, over the course of two and a half years of fighting it, to lose everything. After losing it all, we didn’t let failure keep us down for long. I went on a quest to find out how money really works, how I could get control of it, and how I could have confidence in handling it. I formed our company in 1988 to counsel folks hurting from the results of financial stress. To this day, our mission statement isn’t just lip service; it’s our mantra

Now is the time to learn from your failures and regain HOPE. Make it happen!
Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert, an extremely popular national radio personality and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover.