Unleashing the potential of Young Talent in South East Asia

Unleashing the potential of Young Talent in South East Asia

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a significant amount of time traveling and getting to know the markets that I now manage as GSK’s Head of Pharmaceuticals for South East Asia. I spent time meeting with customers, leadership teams, reviewing business performance and future plans. These visits have been fruitful; however, one of the things that stood out for me was how our young future leaders have started to take ownership of several key areas of our business. I was also proud to see senior leaders providing critical “air cover” for these younger leaders so that they could take on these responsibilities. In my discussion with them a few things emerged:

They really understand our challenges and the needs of future customers

IMF data indicates that workforce expansion in South East Asia, specifically in the Asean-5 -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam (all countries within my region!) -- will exceed 5 percent through 2022. Driven by the growing population of a young workforce, this demographic shift will significantly increase the demand for quality healthcare products and services in the future. To successfully anticipate and capture growth opportunities, it’s crucial for us to understand this growing region and its needs. With the social media driven culture of today, young leaders are more connected (with each other and with like-minded groups) than the generations before them and can keep us at pace with what is going on in society. Some of the brightest ideas I’ve received on my recent trips to Malaysia and Indonesia have originated from interactions with these groups. While many may seem outrageous at first, they are definitely not outside the realms of possibility!

They drive new thinking and thrive on collaboration

The pharmaceutical business is constantly evolving and GSK is no different. We’re currently undergoing a commercial digital transformation and need to embrace the different ways of thinking that our digitally savvy younger talent can offer. Sometimes, social/environmental change may also result in new challenges to the business. In learning to tackle these challenges, I’ve found that senior employees are fantastic at providing guidance and insights honed by experience while younger employees are great at bringing new perspectives to the table. I’ve found that by helping these groups connect and collaborate, they often see problems in a more holistic light and are able to develop more effective solutions.

Engage them or lose them

It’s very clear to me that the investment and engagement that is required with these young leaders are on a different level. They love share their ideas and to take on challenges. When I was in Malaysia, it was inspiring to see young talent present to senior leaders on the complex supply chain and forecasting problems we face or the issues we face in managing third party sales organisations. Many of these talented individuals have been in the company for less than a year but they make up for lack of experience by fully engaging internally and externally.

I’m really excited and inspired to learn from this group of colleagues and am looking forward to what I’ll learn on future visits. This is also my way of letting employees, young and old, know that the company values their insights and that I aim to expand these discussions to include other diverse groups in the future. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on how I can make the most of these conversations that I will be having in the markets. Thank you in advance for the advice!

I look forward to sharing more about my experiences and insights as I journey around the region in the days to come.




Thannaing Aye

Country Manager at Aculife

6 年

Good read and challenging for success.

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Raman Khepar

Sr. Director, CRDMO, AVP, Life sciences, Drug discovery, International Marketing, Digital, Strategy, P&L, Sales, OTC, SPJIMR, IIM, Ex GSK, Ex Cadila

6 年

Thank you for sharing Sridhar. Truly inspiring.

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Sandeep Kumar

Co-Founder : Director at SANFILO | Exclusive Channel Partner for Evenswiss | Leadership Coach | Strategy and Growth | Marketing and Sales

6 年

Truly inspiring.

Roy Heitzer

Driving Pharma performance by balancing Empathy & Assertiveness

6 年

Great read. The perspective I see our young talent bringing in has been extremely helpful, not just for the business and our customers - but also for myself as a reminder to continue to challenge the status quo. Even after just a few years, I see how easy it is to enter the pitfall of quickly accepting things "the way they are".

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Wow When are you coming to Ghana

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