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. 2021 Sep;35(5):267-279.
doi: 10.1007/s40290-021-00403-x. Epub 2021 Sep 19.

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Medical Directors

Alexander Bedenkov  1 , Viraj Rajadhyaksha  2 , Carmen Moreno  3 , Susana Goncalves  4 , Pei-Chieh Fong  5 , Andrey Ipatov  6 , Berin Erdal  7
Affiliations

The 7+ Habits of Highly Effective Medical Directors

Alexander Bedenkov et al. Pharmaceut Med. 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Medical Directors in the pharmaceutical industry are responsible for fulfilling multiple roles, including scientific expert, conscience keeper and people leader, as well as being the external face of the organisation. The capabilities described in the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People® are not just the integral qualities of a successful leader, they are important capabilities that are critical to becoming an impactful medical leader too. As scientific, functional and enterprise leaders, country and cluster Medical Directors must possess these seven qualities. Each of the seven habits can be adapted and utilised to shape the specific areas that Medical Directors are responsible for: intuitive creativity, patient centricity, prioritisation, enterprise leadership, communication and behavioural change, building a team, partnering and scientific and technological leadership. To excel in their function, current and future Medical Directors need to sharpen their existing skills and build specific capabilities. Energy management in physical, mental, emotional and spiritual domains is the way forward.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors are permanent employees of AstraZeneca. The thoughts and statements expressed within this article are written in the capacity of medical affairs professionals and not as AstraZeneca employees.

Figures

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Fig. 1
The four quadrants of the Medical Director role
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Fig. 2
The 7+ habits of highly effective Medical Directors
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Fig. 3
iStepUp to Leadership 2.0: Developing international medical leaders that create the future
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
iPeople4 People: Together for one another
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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