Business Mint- INDIA’S LEADING & MOST CREDIBLE MARKET RESEARCH ORGANIZATION annually conducts “Nationwide Pharma Marketing Excellence Awards”. The purpose behind the award is to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of a marketeer towards the brand or initiatives dedicated to improve patient outcome.

Mr. Sagar Patil, with his vast experience of 15 years and apt acumen in the field of marketing, is catapulting the growth of cardiology portfolio of USV Ltd. As a Sr. Dy. General Manager. With his outstanding adroitness & efficiency, he is a deriving personality for the transformative leader of year 2022. The man who is a torchbearer for a business worth more than 350 crs, was humble enough during our dialogue with him. With his simplicity, he addressed our questions and gave some pearls of success for younger aspirants. For the benefit of all who want to be an acclaimed leader, we published the essence of the conversation here.

Leaders are born, not made…How would you respond to this famous quote?
I think yes, leaders are made and not born. But there are some inborn characteristics that great leaders have which value adds to provide the solution creatively and proactively. Many skills leaders have to adopt to become a great leader and its continuous process. Skills can be learned, practiced and experienced over the time. Because even if inborn talent is there without experience leader cannot understand the needs and wants of a team, experience teaches many good lessons to the leader.

Q.1: Many a times I wonder, a person laden with lots of responsibilities like you, how do they plan their day? Can you through some light on how you plan your day?
I believe if you want to be a trusted leader then you will have to EMPOWER your team, make them ACCOUNTABLE and MOTIVATE them to raise their performance. I end my day asking myself “Did I do my best today to MOTIVATE/EMPOWER” our team. This helps me to plan my next day & wherever I missed, I try to do it the next day. In this journey I believe in my team, I trust them, and arrive at a solution in a collaborative manner.

Q.2: Being a marketer and a leader, you might be the best person to tell us about, what are the virtues/ qualities, which transform a person from mere marketer to a leader?
Leadership is all about getting results from the team. Empower the team, make them accountable and motivate them to raise the performance. Leader is the personality who creates the feeling of “We all will grow together” in the team. This is possible only when you listen to your team fully and are open for others’ point of view. In-depth analysis is the most important quality of a good leader. In-depth analysis can help leader to respond the negative feedbacks or situations logically that indirectly helps to create motivated environment. 

Q.3: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”- when we have an  excellent leader like you with us, we are keen to know that what are those habits which a leader should imbibe?
A. Plan your task in advance 
B. Finish assigned responsibilities before time 
C. Face challenging situations, do not avoid it 
D. Resume daily job (duty) on time and leave on time 
E. Give sufficient time to family 
D. Keep health on priority 
E. Keep yourself updated 
F. Keep your strength charts in front of you & read them daily. 
G. Develop new habits regularly   

Q.4: Many a time in our professional life we face a dilemma between financial growth & intellectual growth, what do you suggest from your experience, the best way forward in such situations?
I think everyone in this world wants to have healthy financial growth including me. But at the same time, I believe that financial growth has “The End” at some point of time unlike intellectual growth. Intellectual growth opens up the new opportunities every day which can automatically propels your growth by all the means. 

Q.5: For the young cadre of marketers who inspires to become a successful leader in their career, what are the ‘Success Mantras’ you wish to convey to them?
Be polite, listen to the team and their perspectives, whatever position you have reached.

Q.6: In this era of information technology & digitalization, how do you see the digital technologies in  healthcare will help improve patient outcomes?
I think the time has come to invest more and more on technology and digitalization. 3 important reasons to do so are 
1. It’s quick 
2. It’s measurable 
3. It’s economic than traditional mediums. 
Technology offers your real time tracking of patients’ goals/journey that helps to monitor and guide them timely. Moreover, we can understand the behavior of patients on said subjects/goals that can help to customize the action plans. As we all know that every patient has different patient profiles and habits, the technology can help to design and monitor the progress of each patient. This may help us to increase the life expectancy of patients.