Mentor Konnect
Drawing from a rich, 30-year career spanning academia at Cornell and UPenn, and leadership roles at Merck, Amgen, and Biocon, Dr. Narendra Chirmule shared his invaluable experiences on leading a Research & Development (R&D) function in the biopharmaceutical industry. His journey, particularly his transition to Head of R&D at Biocon, offers a masterclass in strategy, career development, and leadership
When Dr. Chirmule took on the role, he described the initial experience as “drinking from a firehose,” with new challenges emerging every day. Despite this, his deep-rooted expertise in immunology served as a strong foundation, allowing him to confidently learn and manage other functions for which he was now responsible.
Here are the key takeaways from his session:
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A Strategic Framework for R&D: The Four Buckets
Upon starting his role, Dr. Chirmule’s first step was to develop a comprehensive plan. This involved extensive data collection—gathering over 5,000 line items of feedback through numerous conversations—and then organizing this information into a coherent strategy. With help from strategy experts, he categorized everything into four fundamental “buckets” that formed the core of the R&D strategy:
Enable: This bucket encompasses all core work-related activities and projects. It includes all functional groups from process development and clinical trials to intellectual property.
Business: Recognizing that everything requires funding, this bucket focuses on the financial aspects, including budgets, monitoring expenses, and long-term financial planning.
Talent: This category is centered on people—their training, experience, and ensuring that individuals with the right skills are in the right jobs.
Culture: A crucial and often overlooked aspect, this bucket addresses the “soft skills,” such as building collaborative teams and fostering a culture of innovation.
Dr. Chirmule emphasized that this four-bucket framework is not just for organizational leaders; it’s a powerful tool for individuals to manage their own careers.
- Career Progression: The Two Triangles Model
Dr. Chirmule strongly advises young scientists to first become an expert in one specific area before broadening their focus. He illustrated this concept using a model of two triangles—one upright and one inverted—to represent a career path:
Early Career (The Upright Triangle): An entry-level professional (e.g., Level 7) spends nearly 100% of their time learning and mastering a core technical skill. At this stage, you are at the wide base of the “learning” triangle.
Senior Career (The Inverted Triangle): As you advance, you spend progressively less time on hands-on technical tasks and more time on other areas like regulatory affairs, quality, or marketing. Your focus shifts, and you need to make time to learn these new, broader functions.
- Building Your Presence: Internal and External Eminence
To grow, technical skill isn’t enough; you must be visible to management. Dr. Chirmule broke this down into two types of “eminence”:
Internal Eminence: This is about becoming the recognized expert within your own company You can build this by:
- Volunteering for presentations in lab meetings.
- Proactively talking to people at different levels.
- Dr. Chirmule noted that junior employees often hesitate to approach senior leaders, but most leaders are happy to engage.
- Finding mentors who will speak positively about you in meetings where you aren’t present.
External Eminence: This involves gaining recognition outside your organization. Attending conferences and networking are key activities. Dr. Chirmule shared a personal story of how his involvement in a non-profit organizing Indian classical music concerts allowed him to network with very senior leaders from his company, including the CEO, in an informal setting.
- Take Ownership of Your Career
Ultimately, your career growth is your own responsibility, not your manager’s. You need to take the initiative. Dr. Chirmule shared a practical piece of advice: “You have to make your boss look good.” By doing your work well and enabling your manager, you empower them to advocate for you. An individual must think of themselves as the “head of R&D of your own self” and strategically plan their path forward using frameworks like the four buckets.
Watch full interview here: https://youtu.be/yOe9x3qVSwI
If you are interested to be part of Mentorship group ” Mentor Konnect” reachout to us at scikonnect@gmail.com with a small description of why you want to join the group.
Next upcoming Mentorship session with in November.
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