Prashant is currently heading the Marketing Excellence function for Abbott India. His team takes care of Digital Marketing, Market Research (Primary and Secondary), Events and Communication across 12 business divisions of Abbott India. This team performs functions – from providing timely and actionable competitive insights (through market research and social media listening) to help business divisions achieve their communication/ patient / doctor reach goals (through digital media/ PR etc.) and creating cross learning opportunities/ challenging the status quo in the business strategy.
The team is also responsible for MD/ Senior Leadership Communication within Abbott India (in form of Annual/ Quarterly reports) as well as Domestic and International Rewards and Recognition events.
Abbott is an American pharma MNC Headquartered at Chicago, IL. It is one of the top 5 pharma companies in the world and is currently ranked #2 in Indian Pharmaceuticals Market.
Social Media:
LinkedIn: Prashant Mishra | LinkedIn
Blogs: Winds of Change- The memoirs of my NGO days! October 2005 (prashantmishra1.blogspot.com)
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A. To use the old cliché – my journey has truly been a roller coaster ride for me. I feel grateful for divine blessings as well as best wishes of my family, friends and colleagues that has helped me live and enjoy such a diverse journey as I have not followed any usual template to live it.
Genesis of this journey occurred during my school days, when all I wanted in life was to join Indian Army as an officer to serve the nation. With a lot of preparation and hard work, I was able to clear UPSC exams and SSB Interview for NDA, but due to a twist of destiny, got rejected on medical grounds. Heartbreaking as it was, with God’s grace, I was able to bounce back and carry on.
With this background, while finishing my graduation (B.Com, IEHE, Bhopal), I wanted to serve the society for few years (akin to 5 years of Short Service Commission in Army). Thus, in 2002, I chose IIFM for my MBA over couple of other MBA institutes considering its excellent placement record in the development sector. Needless to say that I had a great time at IIFM and picked up knowledge and skills that would help me in future.
In early 2002, during IIFM placement week, I was honored to get placement offers from 2 best NGOs: PRADAN and SRIJAN. I chose PRADAN and joined their team in Sironj (in Dist. Vidisha, M.P) to work for implementation of a World Bank funded poverty alleviation project in 6-7 villages nearby. During this stint, I got an opportunity to serve people through Microfinance (forming and managing women self-help groups), promoting agriculture best practices, watershed activities etc. My colleagues there (including Ankur Singhal who was a senior at IIFM) were splendid and so was our work. After a little more than 2 years I had to leave PRADAN due to health reasons/ certain personal issues, but to date I consider those years to be the best and most meaningful years in my life, despite numerous challenges that come along when you work in an undeveloped rural geography.
In Sept, 2004, I got a Delhi based job with ORBIS International, (a US based NGO working for the cause of preventing blindness amongst children). Here I was responsible for organizing the Flying Eye Hospital (FEH) programs in India (which is a full-fledged Eye hospital and training center built in an operational DC-10 aircraft). For this I used to work with different stakeholders (FEH admin team, Host Eye Hospitals), government bodies (like Medical Council of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation etc.). When FEH was not in India, I was working with eye hospitals across India for organizing trainings their medical staff, creating dedicated pediatric units in some of them etc. Working for eradicating preventable blindness among children was again very fulfilling. The high point for my ORBIS stint was an opportunity to meet my ideal, President APJ Abdul Kalam during the inauguration of FEH program in Delhi in 2005!
By mid-2006, as my 5 years of self-imposed Short Service Commission with development sector was coming to an end and I was thinking “what next?” That’s when, with some divine inspiration and persistent support from friends (Ankur Singhal being one of them) I decided to try for getting another MBA to get into mainstream corporate jobs. With a lot of effort and some luck, I was able to make it to ISB, Hyderabad from where I passed out in 2008, majoring in Marketing and Strategy.
Due to my immediate pre-MBA work in healthcare, I got shortlisted mostly by healthcare/ pharma companies during placements at ISB. I decided to join Pfizer as a Management Trainee. As I had zero experience in corporate, being an MT gave me an opportunity to gain firsthand experience of different functions (for a year, working on short term projects). This was followed by a short stint in pharmaceutical sales, after which I joined Pfizer’s consumer health team as an Assistant Product Manager, thus embarking on a journey in Product Management / Pharma Marketing that has continued linearly ever since while working with multiple companies in different roles. My last stint before Abbott was that of a Head of Marketing in a pharma start-up. After completing 3 years in it, I got an opportunity to work with Abbott as Head of Marketing Excellence – a role that helps me share my insights and experiences across the company and also lets me learn new things in the process.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. Key Milestones
Key learnings:
- Satisfaction/ contentment is the single most important driving force in a job – if despite best efforts, one is not satisfied in the current role, it’s ok to look for a change (job/ organization/ even the sector).
- Keep learning no matter what – knowledge never goes waste.
- Take calculated risks and be open for the unknown (new roles, new geographies).
- Managing money is equally important as earning money – start early on learning personal finance.
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A. I work with multiple functions/ business teams at the same time and I always try to add value to them. This process keeps me on my toes and brings new learning every day in some form. Further, it provides me an opportunity to interact with stakeholders at different levels and address their concerns. I see myself as a solution-oriented person, and coming up with novel solutions for corporate problems provides immense satisfaction to me.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. For sure. I picked up many qualities at IIFM that helped me in my career/ life (sincerity, teamwork, professionalism, managing diverse views etc.). There are times when I use one of those and think of IIFM where I learnt them.
Q. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. Advice: Invest time and effort to understand what you want in life (at least a general direction) and go all the way. At the same time, give yourself an opportunity to reflect upon your career/life choices and recalibrate them if needed, to change the direction. In any case, striving to have a work-life balance is critical (balancing your professional life with your physical and mental health, time allocated to family, friends etc.) for a fulfilling life.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. I think the campus itself was the main attraction. Being a nature lover, I had fallen in love with IIFM campus during my days there. Other than that, time spent with my friends and batch mates, late night Bambusa Parties, field trips, OTs and visits to New Market eateries were all surreal.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, and alumni. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. I would keep some faculty members on top of this list. For example – Prof. Suprava Patnaik and Prof. C.S. Rathore. While former helped me have a good command over official communication (forcing me and my friend Sabitra to make 20+ versions of OT report, till it was ready to be shared officially), the latter helped me be more comfortable around technology (coming from a small town, I had rarely worked on computers before IIFM – Prof. CSR Sir asked us to do whatever with the open lab computers other than deleting windows folder or physically damaging the machines to build our confidence). Today, being comfortable with technology (even an early adapter in some cases) is one of the differentiators for me. Another lasting positive impact was that of Prof. Rekha Singhal who taught me a very important lesson- In life, as well as work, always focus on solution, not the problems. This is a part of my personality ever since and has helped immensely.
Amongst the batchmates, while it is impossible to single out everyone who contributed to my journey, my roommates (Rishu Garg, R Teilang Kyriem and later Kisalay Sharma) stand out. So do my SRIJAN OT Partner Sabitra and my field trip mates (roomies and Sumithra and Palam). Additionally, I had great interactions with Aamir Khurshid, Abhilash Chandran, Amol Bhalerao, Aparajita Agarwal, Ashish Gautam, Brijest Kumar Singh, Deepak Bawari, Deepak Mitra, Hari S Luintel, Regina Hansda, Rohit Raina, Shri Ravindranath, Vijay Prasad Kesari to name a few.
Even after leaving IIFM, I got support from IIFM alumni at almost every stage of my career. To name a few, when I was working in development sector, alums like Anishya Madan, Rahul Bist, Yogesh Ghore, Vikram Shanbhag, Ankur Singhal helped me with their time, suggestions and guidance. Once I joined the corporate sector, Rajaram Sankaran was my first mentor, followed by Sunit Kishore (who was my manager in Novartis and from whom I learnt a lot about Product Management/ Marketing).
Q. The best friends / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. Post IIFM, I have been closely connected with Rishu, Sabitra, Deepak, and Aamir. However, when I meet anyone from my batch or my senior/ junior batch, it feels as if nothing has changed between us – we are back to our time at IIFM. That says something about the friendship that we had forged during our IIFM days.
Surprising to me, our non-descript field trip to Chandrapur has provided me one of the strongest memories of IIFM Days to me. We (Rishu, Teilang, Sabitra and Palam) had initially hated it, but as I look back today, it was one of the best adventures of my life. For example- On being asked by the RFO to take a walk deep inside in what we call ‘naxalite forests’, we came across a spot in a fire line where there was no chance of hiding or escaping and we were told that the musky sweat that we can smell was that of a fully grown tiger in close proximity!
Q. As an alumnus, what is your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. 1. Have a balance between fun and seriousness towards your career. Extremes are best avoided.
2. Try to know yourself – your strengths, weaknesses, interest areas, and aversions – and try to identify the direction in which you would like to build your career. Connect with your friends/ family/ teachers to confirm your observations.
3. Connect with faculties/ alumni to know more about your sector of interest (corporate/ non-profit- divisions within them)- most alumni that I know would be very keen to share their insights and experience with other IIFMites, particularly those in current batches.
4. Learn about the basics of personal finance and organizational politics. These two are critical subjects that are not taught in most B-Schools (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
A. Usually my day at the office starts on the previous evening when while ironing my clothes for the next day, I think about the priorities and engagements for the upcoming day. I drop a message to my teammates confirming about agenda / or any issue of priority. I usually leave early (8.00 AM) to beat the traffic. Reach office at 8:45 am and relook at any critical to-dos for the day. Days are usually hectic- involving addressing burning issues if any, attend meetings, conduct reviews as needed and call/ walk up to key stakeholders to discuss critical issues. Go for lunch between 12.30 and 1 with the team (whenever possible) – sometimes I invite people from other teams to connect informally over lunch. Same routine continues till 6.30 pm when I leave for home. Many times I need to open the laptop again if there are any urgent matters that need to be taken care off. Sometimes, have to attend virtual meetings early or late in the day as Abbott being an MNC has many stakeholders overseas. Net-net – it’s a typical corporate workday that most people have these days.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add?
A. Life in Mumbai is very hectic, more so due to bad traffic and long commute times. Therefore, having breaks occasionally is very important. I and my wife love travelling and try to have a holiday every quarter if possible. We share a liking to crime thriller movies / web series, which we enjoy at home (guiltfree, as we don’t have any kids). Since my childhood, I am an information freak – I love reading books and watching informative YouTube videos in the spare time.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors.
A. Difficult to name a single book as my favorite but I have read The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho multiple times. These days I am reading Viktor Frankel’s ‘A Man’s search for meaning’ which I highly recommend to everyone, especially the IIFMites of current batches, as it may be helpful to them for choosing a career direction.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A. I would be happy to take sessions (virtual/physical) on answering IIFM students’ questions on future career options (based on my journey so far). I am especially interested in sharing my learnings on product marketing, corporate structure/ culture, and personal finance (which I see as a clear need gap).
I am also willing to be a part of mentorship program for IIFM students/ young alums as needed. During the placement season, I can help IIFM students hone their CVs or be a part of mock placement interviews depending on the availability of time. I can also share tips for applying for a job, preparing of CV, and facing an interview based on my experiences both as a candidate and a recruiter (these are standard alumni interventions for current batches at other B-Schools, like ISB).
To the IIFM alumni in general – I would like to contribute to any initiative that enhances the employability of India’s youth. I strongly feel that India’s prime resource in next 20-30 years is our youth. Although as a nation we are in the position for benefiting from the demographic dividend (India enters 37 year period of demographic dividend) – this would only be possible if we as a nation/ society invest in our youth – in developing their professional, social, interpersonal skills. This is an area I would like to connect with other IIFM alumni.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A. It’s difficult to say as I have not been in regular touch with IIFM current batches. (I would love to do so – if they are ok connecting virtually over platforms like Zoom and someone takes the initiative to connect us).
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Most people that I could recommend or have mentioned above have been profiled – in case Sunit Kishore and Sabitra Kundu have not been profiled, I would recommend them.