Samina Hamied, Executive Vice Chairperson, Cipla, is a force to reckon with in the pharma industry. When she took over the reins of Cipla in its 75^th year, the company had no management team, no consultancy firm to guide it forward, had never done a M&A deal and had never hired anyone with an MBA degree or banker. Today in its 86^th year, Cipla is paving the way for a more future ready, innovative company with a formal board, a CEO and a consultancy firm to guide it which has only strengthened the Cipla magic and reinforced the culture that cares for every one of its employees, patients, customers and community. It’s for all these reasons and more that Cipla was awarded the Business Standard ‘Company of the Year’ award in 2021.Here are some key learnings from the closed-door conversation with her.

• Invest intalent

When Samina joined Cipla she hired the best across different sectors to bring their expertise and skillsets to the business. She stressed on the importance of hiring people who are better and hungrier than you but ensure that they can work well together. “Over index hiring the right talent and find ways to keep them engaged.”

• The legacy culture

A company like Cipla which hasa deep-rooted humanitarian purpose and a culture of caring creates the magic and resonates with everyone. It’s important to document these as credos and principles that form the foundation of the company. After speaking to employees across functions, from manufacturing right to leadership, Cipla identified key words that echoed in synonyms and articulated them into Credos that govern everything that the pharma giant does. While this may evolve, the culture will always remain intact.

• Preserve the history

It’s never too early to start an archive since you don’t know the impact of your company or brand decades later—this could be press clippings, early notes or any other memorabilia. A lot of the Cipla archival material was contributed by the family, donated by ex-employees, partners and well-wishers. Their in-house archives team maintains a robust repository of all the items received, in fact while touring the archives an interesting anecdote was shared—the old Cipla tins that were an important part of the memorabilia had to be purchased from a local market.

• Don’t Self Edit

With women there is a constant imposter syndrome and when they are doing well, they self-doubt and this leads to self-editing. It all stems from the fact that most women are perfectionist and always want to put in 100% and will back away when they can only deliver 70%. But people don’t know thats it’s your 70%, for them it could be 110%. “Believe in yourself, aspire and its okay if stuff falls off.”

• Build an Inclusive workforce

For any company to be future ready it must be inclusive and diverse. Cipla, under Samina has taken giant steps to ensure that the culture at the organisation is inclusive, equitable and sensitive to the needs of the employees, staying true to their core principle of empathy and caring for life. Cipla offers insurance for same sex partners, adoption leave, paternal leave, flexi hours to support women to continue their careers and has adopted a hybrid model of work for their corporate offices.  Sometimes these changes must start from the top and be led by example but the best way according to Samina is to think of it as evolution and not change. “Involve your team in the change and make them the change agents, its more powerful.”

• Find the balance

As a working mother, Samina admits the guilt is a constant companion. Here’s how she deals with it: “Stack up on what’s important for today and the rest will drop off.”  She also believes in the concept of mentorship or finding a group of people to tell you real life anecdotal experiences that will help you find your own path. Everyone has the same experiences but at different points of their life so it’s important to open your mind and push these conversations that help people evolve.

BOX:

Strengths of a Leader:

• Humility: Admit when you don’t know something and be open to learning
• Authenticity: Stay true to your beliefs and don’t have dual personas—one for work and one for outside
• EQ: IQ can be hired, but EQ is essential for a good leader.