Author: Christian Velten

At least inside the pharma branch of industry I am working in, there clearly is a preference for iOS devices, iPhones and iPads. Everyone has at least one of those stylish tools in his pocket, if not in his or her hand most of the time. iOS devices are internal corporate if not even industry standard. Now, I am not going to start an ideological discussion today if this is good or bad, respectively which mobile platform would be the better one. In all pharma companies I was working with so far, iPhone is standard and many people really love…

Why do agency representatives always show up in the same black or dark blue and ill-fitting suits?

A few questions to the colleague who is coming to office with a severe cold or even flu. Do you really think that coming to office sneezing and coughing would be an achievement, a sign of commitment, or in any way productive? No, sorry, to my opinion this is just an explicit mindless, inconsiderate and irresponsible behavior. So, just stop it … please! Stay at home, take a short break, sleep a lot, recover well, and be back restored and filled with energy.

We are currently facing a system migration. From Google tools (with Gmail and Google calendar) to Office365 (with Outlook in the cloud). Allow me to publicly share my very personal user perspective on how it goes.

How to smartly manage being off for 2-3 weeks without caring for business email and phone.

Humorous realization about mistaken perceptions over time.

Last week I had the opportunity hearing a superb and inspiring talk by Mark Gallagher, a former Formula 1 manager. If you ever have the opportunity listening to Mark, I strongly recommend to not miss it! Mark is fantastic in showing the importance of integrated teams and their impact on motivation, quality, if not championship (in its best and true meaning) by telling real-life stories from F1. Not this general “team is important”-blablabla on how it should be in theory. But truly experienced reality in an environment where competition and need for safety & quality converge at high speed. One…

Recently, an esteemed colleague was thanking me for “courageous openness” with a previous email by me. I have been very happy about this feedback. But I was also asking myself: is it really courageous to address important issues by mail … if there also had been opportunities to speak? Honestly spoken, talking would have been courageous, face to face, eye in eye, vouching for my words. Writing email is less.

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” Elbert Hubbart

Well … honestly spoken … I appreciate myself. Not always. But again and again. And I admit to enjoying it. I appreciate myself for minor and major achievements. Every time something worked as planned. Every time I kept milestones and budget … or even overachieved. Then, I am as pleased as Punch, deeply proud of myself, and I inwardly tell myself: “Well done, Christian!” No, I do not miss appreciation by others. Most of the time I have been very fortunate having fellows and leaders, who acknowledged and esteemed my contribution … and myself. Hence, I always felt privileged. I never…