Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to “Spread Love in Organizations”, a podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love.
I am Naji, your host, for a special episode in partnership with Jill Donahue for her new book “A Dose of Inspiration: 100 purpose stories from Pharma Leaders”. I am joined today by Nejma Chami Global Head of Medical Affairs at Grünenthal. Nejma spent years working in a medical practice before joining the pharmaceutical industry. She has since served in several leadership roles in medical affairs at Abbott, Novonordisk and now at Grunenthal. Nejma is a purpose driven leader with a mission to lighten the load of people who are suffering to make lives better.
Nejma, It is such a pleasure to have you with me today!
Nejma Chami: Thank you. Happy to be with you. And thank you for inviting me. Oh,
Naji Gehchan: sure. Can you first share with us your personal story? Why medicine? Why pharma? What’s in between the lines of your inspiring journey?
Nejma Chami: So, oh, you sent me back, uh, far, far away. So, um, yeah, why medicine? Um, before considering medicine, to be honest, I considered, uh, having, um, Pursuing law school because my father is a lawyer and I was always impressed by his way of impacting the people’s lives.
And he was always eager to find solutions and to see the impact he can have. On the daily life of the people he was interacting with, not only the people, but also their family. And, uh, so it, it was a drive for me, but then when I, uh, once I, I was considering what, what kind of career I want to have and what kind of, uh, of studies I want to, to, to follow.
Uh, I’ve seen that medicine. Cautious the, the line. So, so the, the tick, the box that I was looking for. So in, in medicine we are able to, to to, to completely change, uh, the, uh, the life of people and, uh, make them less suffer. And not only the, the, the patient we are treating, but also the, the, their family members.
So this is why I, I, I’ve chosen to, to, to have this. To follow the, uh, the, uh, the medicine school. And when I left Algeria to come in France. Um, I did a specialization in, uh, in oncohematology and I discovered that not only in my medical practice in the hospital, I can impact patient life, but also in working in pharma.
And this is where I became interested in the, in working pharma, I discovered what we can do and how. But by developing new treatments, we can, we can, we can have this great impact. So this is why I joined pharma. And I started from the field as an MSL and then I did all my career in medical affairs. So it was very, um, uh, a very, how can I say, rich.
Experience not only about about because of the the products I was working on, and the developing but also because of the people I was able to meet and to work with either. Within the company or especially outside of the company with interacting with the key opinion leaders, um, listening to their expectation and trying to understand where are the gaps and where we can have this added value and this great impact.
Well, thank you, Sharama,
Naji Gehchan: for, um, thank you for sharing a part of who you are, Najma, with us. Uh, you, you talked about your dad. I know your upbringing had a lot of influence on the way you think about your purpose. And how you are a service, uh, driven leader. Uh, how do you think about this in your daily job today, being in the pharma world?
You really chose to become a doctor to make lives better, as you said. So now looking back at your upbringing and what you do today, how do you make sure that you’re achieving your purpose in the pharma industry? And do you feel you’re fully achieving it?
Nejma Chami: I think that’s the way to make sure that I’m doing it.
Thanks. is by not losing the nose stuff. There’s one promise I did to my father when I moved to pharma because he was very disappointed with that when I moved to pharma and he considered that yeah you you you did medical school in order to not treat the patient and to move to pharma so you are in a way you you are not Respecting respect.
The, the, the view you, you did and the engagement you had when you entered the medical school. And the, the, the, the promise I, I, I, I gave him is that I will never, ever lose this north star. Being that the, the, the end user is a patient. What we are doing and everything we do is driven by the patient. I, I know that it, it can seem and, uh, cheesy.
But, but not at all, because if we don’t lose this drive, we know why we are thriving. We know why we are doing things. We know why we are working every day within the teams, within, with the experts in order to develop the new treatments and offer new solutions for the patients. And we, it gives us this.
ability to, to take always a step back, not being always driven by our projects, not always driven by our objectives, our KPI, because it’s a word we always have in pharma and having, I have worked also in commercial. So I, I, I know, uh, the, the, the, the pressure of the KPIs, but when we remind ourselves and when we mind our teams, what are we talking about?
And what kind of solution we are providing. It give us this, yeah. This north star, it give us this direction. We, we don’t lose. And that’s the, everything we do, we do it for the patient. And every change we can have or impact we can have on each patient life worth the effort we are doing. So, and this is what I try to, to, to, to share with my team members.
This is what we try to do on daily basis. And when the, the, the, the teams are overwhelmed. We always try to take this step back and remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing.
Naji Gehchan: I so relate to that, uh, on different levels. I was really smiling when you were talking about your, your dad. I think several of us have, have experienced this, especially coming from certain cultures, I should say.
Uh, I’ve experienced, uh, this from our parents, our friends, and also. our colleagues, you know, as other physicians, um, and, and then how you talked about remembering every single time why we do what we do. And it’s really for those patients we serve. Do you have any tips on a daily basis? How you remind your teams?
Is there a way for you to pull back from, as you said, key performance indicators, projects being overwhelmed with operations we’re doing? To always keep this North Star you talked about any tips for other leaders listening to us.
Nejma Chami: I don’t know if it’s a tip. What I try to do is to be always a listener. Uh, so I’m, I’m, my door is open.
My laptop is open to, to, to my team members. And I, I always make a priority to provide, to give them the time to express. Any concern, any stress, any questions, and when they are overwhelmed about the, the, the, the timelines for the, the, the project becoming time consuming, we, I always tell them, yeah, we don’t speak about the project.
Let’s put the project aside. And let’s tell me, why are you here. Why are you doing what you are doing. Let’s remind ourselves that we are treating patients. We are not selling any product we are selling and providing treatments that will change patient life. So just have this thing to step back, think about it, and let’s talk in 10 minutes.
And I give them this time and we discuss again and my they know that my my door is always open because I know it’s easy to say and myself sometimes I’m just in the daily work and some and I need on a regular basis remind myself. Najma, you are you are losing your north star. So just take a breath and rethink why you are here.
This is what I share with my team
Naji Gehchan: members. And that’s really powerful, uh, and, and certainly constantly reminding yourself, ourselves that what we do is so important for the patients, uh, at the end of the day. As you said, this is, this is why we’re here. This is what every day, every single thing we do at the end of the day is going to hopefully benefit and positively impact patients we serve.
You’ve led teams in several organizations. You’ve done medical, commercial. So I’d love first to know when you move to commercial, the reactions probably of your surroundings to, you know, like there’s always for physicians, I feel people will say, I moved to the dark side to the pharma. And then when you say move to commercial, it’s like the very dark side.
And I’m sure both of us disagree with this. So I’d love first your thoughts about this. And then any guiding leadership principle that you always took with you throughout those experiences you had.
Nejma Chami: Yeah. When I think that the first reaction from the sales team, what, what is she doing here? So she’s coming from, uh, from medical.
So she won’t understand what we are talking about and she can’t understand our daily life. So, and, uh, it was, um, a very humbling experience. Because in this kind of experience, You need to come as, um, as a learner. You need to open your mind a maximum. Forget a little bit your expertise because in medical affairs, we rely a lot on our expertise.
And this is what everyone is expecting from us. But when you are in commercial, I think that the first thing is to listen and understand and make sure that the commercial team feels that you speak the same language. As them and you understand what they are doing and what you can provide them is also this direction when I was leading the sales team, and they were we were discussing the objectives.
I was always telling them, don’t think about the number of box of boxes of treatment, you will say, think about the number of patients. that will benefit from the treatment you are providing. So the more you, you, you, you, you, you give, the more patients will benefit from the treatment. It’s a shift of way of evaluating or considering the sales on the field.
And it’s being also able to understand What they are doing. They need to feel that when they speak to you as their leader, they know and they are sure that you understand what they are doing and what their daily life is about. So it’s always, it’s an exchange and it’s a trust relationship. You need to build trust.
I think that my first three months in my position in commercial was about. Listening, understanding and building the trust.
Naji Gehchan: You said, and it’s so true, right? When you think about it, patient by patient, right? And this is always how I felt about commercial or our commercial organizations. And while I was leading teams, it’s, it’s practically the last mile. Like without the work we do, patients would not get the medicine in their hands.
Right. And as you said, like it’s every impact is one patient’s being helped on the medicine they need to do. with the right balance on benefits and risks of this medication. So I loved how you framed it. So you said listening, understanding, and building trust. Is building trust for you listening and understanding or was there anything else that you did to build trust in your teams?
Nejma Chami: It was also about being hands on with the team, always supporting the team, challenging, but supporting them. They know that even if I challenge, I’m there, I’m there to support them, to make them grow, to grow together. So when every organization I joined or every team I joined, especially as a leader, my first objective was to make the people grow.
And I consider that I succeed. Was the people don’t need me anymore because they, they, they can manage without me being behind each of them because I showed them how to do things and they did it by themselves and they learned how to do it so they can rely on themselves. It’s this empowering people.
That’s key in our functions and for me, it’s the it’s the key driver. I’m happy when the team don’t need me anymore.
Naji Gehchan: But this is this is a real big testament of your leadership. You know, I I thought when I when I reflect on those things, I really relate to what you’re saying, which is I’m sure through transformations and leading leaders.
It’s sometimes one of the most terrifying things for a manager when they’re like, Oh, but what would be my job if my team knows to do everything? And for me, it’s always this transformative piece where you get to a point where actually. They really don’t need you. And this is where you obviously grow and you’re able to impact at the broader level.
So I love how you framed that, uh, on
Nejma Chami: their daily basis because they, they, they know the basics. They know how to do it. They know we agree on an objective. We agree where we want to go. We are very clear about the direction and the destination where we want to go. And then I’m eager to, to, to listen and to hear how they will go to the same destination because I can follow a path.
You can follow a path and both of us will arrive at the same destination at the same time. So I need to respect that everyone don’t have to apply my way of doing things. Or to follow the path I will follow to get to the destination. But I need to make sure that the destination is clear for everyone.
And that this is what we want to achieve together. This is where we want to go. And this is our main objectives. And what we want to reach. How we will reach it? I’m happy to listen from you. And perhaps I will learn from you and I will change my mind. And this is what I find very fulfilling in a leadership position.
It’s this seeing the people providing their own solution and not just waiting for me or saying because it’s easier when you are very directive. Yes, we do it this way. And I want it this way. And I want this timelines. It’s easier. It can save you time. It’s more time consuming. To let people try and fail and try again,
Naji Gehchan: you’re bringing several concepts here that I really value and love.
And it’s a great segue to my next session. And I’m feeling the humidity and what you’re saying. You’re really a humble leader to willing to learn and be open to others. So that’s a great segue for my next session where I’m going to give you a word and I would love your reaction to it. And the first word is leadership.
It’s
Nejma Chami: serving the people we are working with. It’s not managing them. It’s working with them and serving their best interests. Because what makes you a leader is the team you are working with.
What
Naji Gehchan: about patience?
Nejma Chami: It’s the main driver for everything I did until now.
Purpose.
Purpose is being honest. In everything I do and see the impact of every action. I can have
Naji Gehchan: the last one is spread love and organizations,
Nejma Chami: trusting people and be humble. Any
Naji Gehchan: final word of wisdom for healthcare leaders around the world?
Nejma Chami: Well, tough question. A word of wisdom. I think it’s, um, I would say, believe, believe in your dreams. Believe in what makes you, you believe in the change you can have and the impact you can have on people’s life, either your team members or each patient you, you can serve and Yeah, I think that I’m a strong believer.
And I do hope that I will continue to be this one.
Naji Gehchan: Wow, what an amazing charge and words of wisdom for all of us in the healthcare world. Thank you so much, Reshma, for your time and for being with me today. Thank you, Najee.
Nejma Chami: I was very happy to exchange with you. Thank you.
Naji Gehchan: Thank you all for listening to SpreadLove in Organizations podcast. Drop us a review on your preferred podcast platform
Follow us on LinkedIn and connect with us on spreadloveio.com. We’re eager to hear your thoughts and feedback. Most importantly, spread love in your organizations and spread the word around you to inspire others and amplify this movement, our world so desperately needs