In this episode of the Being Human Is Good For Business podcast, we talk to Vidhu Dev whose amazing career has taken her from being a qualified pharmacist to becoming a leader at one of the world’s biggest companies, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare. There Vidhu leads Rx to OTC Switch, Digital Transformation and R&D.
“Your mindset plays a major role in determining your leadership style,” says Vidhu Dev. “A creation mindset brings energy to your team. It encourages robust dialogue and causes people to test their thinking and experiment in new ways.”
Vidhu Dev, Vice President Rx to OTC Switch and Digital Transformation, R&D, GSK Consumer Healthcare
She stresses that in leading teams means being a better listener than a talker. “To have a robust conversation means listening carefully to support emerging ideas. For example, when you sense some hesitancy, make people feel safe and encourage them to expand on or lean into their idea.”
Leadership coach Wendy Appel agrees. “This is called generative listening. It means listening generously, by giving full attention to what someone is saying without judgement or other internal filters. The goal is to listen and inquire. And one thing I've always admired about Vidhu is her curiosity. She's very curious.”
Listen to the show to learn more about the winning mindset, the hallmark of Vidhu’s leadership development journey and how her natural curiosity plays an important role in driving innovation within her team at GSK. Here are links to information about some of the tools and concepts discussed on the podcast:
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MACHINE GENERATED TRANSCRIPT
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Being Human Is Good For Business Podcast with Vidhu Dev
Vidhu Dev: [00:00:00] Failure, think teaches, humility. And it also inspires you to really get it right the next time. So, I think failure is an important part of how we should be. Embracing it as, as we, as leaders lead teams and initiatives.
Voice Over: [00:00:17] Welcome to the Being Human is Good for Business podcast. In each episode, the leadership development experts at Trilogy Effect explore how the process of self-discovery, unleashes potential in us all.
Now here's your host, Sherrilynne Starkie.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:00:34] Hi, I'm Sherrilynne Starkie. And welcome to the Being Human is Good for Business podcast. Now, recently, Wendy Apple and I from Trilogy Effect, sat down with Vidhu Dev, who is the vice-president at GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. Now Vidhu leads the prescription to OTC switch, digital transformation and R&D.
She started her career as a pharmacist. And now she's a top leader at one of the world's biggest companies. She spoke to us about leadership and leading. And what she's learned along the way Vidhu. Can we start by you telling us a little bit about your career background?
Vidhu Dev: [00:01:13] Yeah, of course. So, I’ve been in the industry for my gosh, more than 20 years.
And it’s been a real journey. I would say there's been trials and tribulations. There's been successes and advances. And I have had many different roles across my, the span of time I've been in the industry. There've been ranging for everything from medical affairs to clinical research, to, R&D innovations and RX to OTC switch and most recently digital transformation.
So, it's just been a great variety of opportunity and I'm, I'm grateful for that.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:01:52] such a broad range of areas of responsibility.
Vidhu Dev: [00:01:57] Yeah, it is. Yep.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:02:00] And your background is, the sciences, isn't it? Aren't you a, a chemist? A pharmacist?
Vidhu Dev: [00:02:05] Yes. I'm a pharmacist by training. Yes.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:02:08] Right boy! Digital transformation. That's a big leap.
Vidhu Dev: [00:02:15] I think we all must make it right in some which way or form, but it's exciting. I think that's where the trends are going. That's where we're seeing more consumerization. That's where we're seeing more personalization and we're certainly seeing tremendous consumer adoption. So, it's a fantastic area and opportunity to be a part of that.
Wendy Appel: [00:02:35] She's very hungry to learn and to grow and looking at what's next for her and her own development. So, you can see the result of that was her career.
Vidhu Dev: [00:02:53] Yeah.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:02:55] Terrific career trajectory, for sure.
Vidhu Dev: [00:02:58] Thank you.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:03:00] I understand that you, a bit of a podcast or in your own, right. Can you tell us a little bit about your podcast?
Vidhu Dev: [00:03:05] Well, that's a, that was another, fun opportunity that, that came to me, serendipitously. we were, trying to create a change in our R and D organization and bring some fun to it. So, this idea of creating a work stream that that was called the Winning Mindset, is one that I, that I co-lead with.
Some are HR partner and it's just a lot of fun to do. And the podcast came in as part of that really, as a way, especially in this time of COVID where we're all remote and you don't have that that sharing as much as we did when we were all in the office. How can we start to showcase examples of the winning mindset, examples of creativity, agility taking a risk, pushing against all odds, perseverance, persistence, just pushing against boundaries, but also just?
The, the, the cross-functional matrix that we must work in and cross geographies. And, and ensuring that what we're doing is a value to the consumer, to our commercial colleagues. And so, I think it was, it's just been a really, it’s a fun opportunity, honestly, to have the chance to lead them, to think about how I could bring diversity into them and topics and people, but also how I could connect with some of the colleagues across the globe.
I've not had the opportunity to work with and bring them to the forefront as, as names and talent that others can reach out to. If the examples that I'm presenting resonate. And so, their internal podcasts are not, they're not for external viewing, but they've been quite a bit of fun to do.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:04:48] Mindset is such an important part of leadership. And what, in your opinion, makes somebody successful leader?
Vidhu Dev: [00:04:56] I don't think I can answer that with just a couple words. I think it it's a multitude of things. I think there’s, a desire to succeed and make a mark in the world to create a product, a service, of real interest and value to others.
So, there's that purpose driven, desire, right? To succeed. There's the pursuit of something new. And unique because it needs to be that, that the world is transforming and you can't just go by what was there before and say that we'll just tweak that and implement it for tomorrow hard work long hours, focus.
So, clear deliverables and strategy, but also, the eye of a Hawk on what the competition's going to do next. Right. So, we need, we need to have that, that focus. Failure, I think teaches, humility. And it also, it, it also inspires you to really get it right the next time around. So, I think failure is an important part of.
How we should be, embracing it as, as we, as leaders, lead teams and initiatives, persistence, persuasiveness, humility, is, is important. Credit sharing, a famous quote that I really liked, by John F. Kennedy was, “Victory has a hundred fathers. And defeat is an orphan.P
And I think that the more we could share credit, the more we can motivate, folks to do even more. So, I think that's an important part. And just keep curious, keep learning, integrity, resilience. I think those are, to me, important for leadership.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:06:44] So Wendy. I wonder if you could expand on the, on the whole ethos about not being afraid to fail in business.
Wendy Appel: [00:06:54] Human is also the same word as humility. They're very connected. And I think I heard Vidhu say that failure also brings about some humility. That you need, we need, we all need that. And so, there's that piece of it. And how does it relate to not being broken or not trying to fix anyone? It's not about anybody, Vidhu, she's my client looking at Vidhu and saying, Ooh, I get to come in and fix Vidhu, or I get to come in and fix this organization.
Cause it's a mess. It's all about surfacing the best in people. And surfacing the best in an organization. And how do you bring out and pull out the best in and call forth the best in others. If you're not failing, you're not trying. If you're not, you're not putting yourself out there. And so maybe that is the link to humility.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:07:50] So what do you think is the key role that leaders should play in, in driving an organization to be innovative?
Wendy Appel: [00:08:00] So often when I work with teams, it’s, an organization and thinking about innovation, it's less trying to fix a problem. And it's more from a, what we want to create standpoint. What do we want to create in the world?
What do we want to see out there and coming from that place? So, this goes back to not wanting to fix. Cause if you look for problems, you'll find more problems, the problems amplify, and it's a rat hole that you go down. But if you move into the creation mindset, it really brings forth a lot of, juice in people I've seen the air gets sucked out of the room or the energy gets sucked out of the room, through the PR the problem-solving conversations.
And I don't know if you're finding that for yourself in the work that you're doing, Vidhu.
Vidhu Dev: [00:08:46] Yeah, II think you're right, it's about right. Creating, and I'm a part of creating you’re in a way solving, but you're not going back and commiserating over things. You're looking at them new and how can we do it?
It's almost liked the mindset, it’s a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Right. And in a fixed mindset, you're stuck with, well, when you get up in the morning, Oh gosh, it's another morning. And with a growth mindset, you're going, it's another morning. What can I do this morning?
It's a different attitude and mindset that you're bringing to the table. And I think that does play a really big role. Like you said, on the energy team collaboration and the output you come to at the end. I think the other part of it is encouraging robust dialogue. So, we, we tend to get caught up in, PowerPoints and, and the formality of how you want to say things and, and how you want to be and present in front of, the forum that you're in.
And I think it really needs to be more informal to encourage that. Robust dialogue because it's robust dialogue that encourages people to test their thinking, to experiment and to cross check. And, and its robust dialogue that ends enclosure as well. So, you’re able to get all of that out, have a decision at the end and move on.
And that's important. I think as we. As we think about innovation and how we want to be as, what do we want to encourage as leaders along with appreciating, the expertise we have on the teams and allowing them and empowering them to find creative ways to solve, or the issue at hand.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:10:37]. I'm wondering. about the role of generous listening in these robust conversations. Wendy, can you explain that?
Leadership Expert Wendy Appel Explains Generous Listening.
Wendy Appel: [00:10:44] Sure. We all listen through our own filters. Do I agree or disagree? Do I like that? Or don't I like that. Somebody’s positing an idea for instance, or just waiting to, to just give my idea, whatever that is and not really paying attention to what the other person is saying.
So, there's a, there's these filters of judgment comparison competition come up and they block our listening. So generous listening is really giving my full attention, trusting that I'll have an opportunity to put my idea out there, but listening through what could I, how could I build on this or I don't quite get it.
What do they see that I'm not seeing and, and moving into inquiry and curiosity, and how can I help them grow that idea? That's the more generous listening, or even you could call it generative listening because it's going to generate other things. In the absence of that, you're in a ping pong match.
Good people get shut down. I mean, the ideas get shut down, but sort of the people. Do you find that Vidhu when you're talking about having a robust conversation?
Vidhu Dev: [00:11:56] Yes, definitely. I think it is important and I think there's also the cues. If you know the people well enough there's cues that you can also say, Hey, could you talk about that a little more?
Could you expand, when you sense that hesitancy, how to handle that hesitancy as a, as a leader is also an important part of the puzzle. It establishes better connectivity and trust. but it also allows for the person to feel like they, they can get it all out and it's okay to do so. And so, I think it's also listening for that, but yes, I would agree with you.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:12:32] Changing track a little bit here. Vidhu, can you tell us a little bit about your introduction to leadership coaching and, what did you learn from that?
Vidhu Dev: [00:12:41] So it's interesting, and I, I was introduced to leadership coaching early in my career at a time where leadership coaching was, not perceived as being a positive thing.
So, if you got a leadership coach that meant something was not right with you and you needed an area of improvement and therefore, you were assigned someone to help you. And, but I was able to break through that perception.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:13:09] What do you like about Trilogy Effect's approach to coaching?
Vidhu Dev: [00:13:11] I think that they make it very. Personable and, it’s so there's, they, they connect with you and because the way they connect with you allows you to, to want to hear what they have to say and implement what they're trying to bring to you. I think they're also, they have tremendous credentials, extensive experience, and they're able to bring best learnings to a place, or a situation that you're trying to really make the best.
It could be. And I just think that their, their ability to connect and be very thoughtful, they're, they're very genuine and thoughtful about the approach they take, how they take it. every part of the execution is very thoughtful and considerate, and that carries through, I think from just a very human perspective.
So, it's not just. Well, let me come in and tell you about this. And like a didactic course, one would take it. It's very much informal and that encourages dialogue. It encourages thinking it encourages, you know. Well, how, how would you say if I'm, if I'm in between thinking here, how would you advise on this?
And I think there, it makes it easy to have like real conversation.
Sherrilynne Starkie: [00:14:32] I want to thank Vidhu and Wendy for joining me on the show. And I also want to thank all our listeners to please check out the show notes for links, to some of the resources and information that we mentioned in today's discussion and make sure you never miss an episode of our podcast by subscribing wherever you tend to get your podcasts, please leave us a rating or review and recommend us to your friends and family.
And to anyone in the world who wants to learn how to become a better, stronger, more effective leader.
I'm your host, Sherrilynne Starkie and this has been the Being Human is Good for Business Podcast podcasts.