LATERAL THINKING: Why I Recommend a Stint Outside Your Industry

I began my career on December the fifteenth, 2009, lobbying the B-school placements team to bring in a Biotech firm that I was keen on starting with. (Before you ask- No; the sun didn’t shine brighter, the grass didn’t look greener. It felt like just another day in Mumbai’s version of winter)

I wanted the opportunity to put to work, my training in the sciences, and combine it with the newly acquired understanding of business.

With Biocon, my responsibilities steadily rose from a brand executive handling a premium, differentiated product, to a manager developing a small team of associates. Apart from the bread and butter job description, I also asked for and was granted additional opportunities in alliance management, business development/market research and sales projects.

After 3 years and 9 months into a role which offered both growth and diversity, the easier choice was to continue enjoying more of a good thing. Desiring a rounded experience in marketing, I shifted to the MedTech industry.

What this stint helped inculcate notably, was analytic rigor, cross-functional collaboration, and launching product offerings through a rubric of methodical evaluation. Having to work with upstream product marketers required me to keep a close ear to the ground, and report insights with the potential to be meaningful to markets scattered across the world. I benefited greatly from the expertise of professionals based out of Smiths Medical’s multifarious markets (from developed countries like the UK, US, Australia and Japan to the emerging economies of South America, South East Asia and Africa), and was compelled by their logical approach to business challenges.

One of the more satisfying aspects of brand management in the medical devices arena, is the latitude to upgrade your product based on customer feedback and market trends, in a short time-frame (in contrast with Pharma).

In my opinion, a great advantage of a break-out spell is that it forces you to infuse fresh thinking while solving problems; where your former industry may have ingrained methods that you’ve never had reason to contest. 

This is no epiphany, but most industries hire from within, most of the time – people who’ve acquired experience in certain markets/therapy areas or even functional niches, tend to move on (or move upward) in similar roles. Although this tack is sensible for practical reasons from the recruiter’s perspective, it does not lend itself to paving the path for candidates with atypical experience. In the landscape of this workplace, both your peer set and senior colleagues often reinforce tried and tested methods, and rely overtly or subtly on industry truisms. Wouldn't you stand to gain by challenging yourself to step outside the box, for a stretch?

Here’s a final thought and this is for industry insiders (from all my accumulated wisdom of 20-something years):  
Hire for attitude; you can train for everything else (well, almost).

What do you think? Please post your thoughts below; I'd like to hear from you.

Photo: http://www.backyardmissionary.com/