Gurdish Singh
HCP Brand Director/Brand Insight Director
AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP
L. Liang: What three skills/abilities do you feel are most important for career advancement in today’s rapidly-changing global environment?
G. Singh: Three Principles are important:
- Global: being truly able to see the big picture.
- Good: Understand the impact of your actions on others (people or communities).
- Grit: Be able to persevere through challenging regulatory/compliance and ethical environments to deliver business impact
L. Liang: What advice would you give to an individual interested in advancing his/her career to help determine if he/she has a future in his/her present company, or if he/she should change companies?
G. Singh: Show the organization what you as an individual are capable of before you expect focus on you from the organization. After that, understand your organization’s business and culture, and what is it trying to achieve long-term. Does it fit with your values and how you see things? If the answer is yes, stay. If it’s no, move on.
L. Liang: Do you or did you have a mentor? If so, how did you obtain him/her? What was the most important benefit you gained from your mentor?
G. Singh: In the beginning, I hadan informal mentor relationship, but once I started to move in the organization, AZ provided more formal structured mentorship. That led to more self- awareness and understanding of the organization’s culture and long-term insight into what AZ is really trying to accomplish.
L. Liang: What is the single most important piece of advice you would give to emerging leaders to assist them in advancing their careers?
G. Singh: Leading by example and focusing on impact, not activities, will get you in the spotlight very quickly in this competitive environment.
Linda A. Liang PhD, is president of Organizational Resources, LLC. She’s an executive coach and leadership development consultant and can be contacted at orgresourc@aol.com
