Mr. Asif Jooma Visits IBA

The IBA Leadership Club (ILC) organized a DLS on Leadership – inspirations and revelations in collaboration with the Centre of Executive Education (CEE) on Saturday, 17th October 2009. Asif Jooma, Managing Director Abbott, was the guest speaker.

Mr. Jooma is an eminent professional and has bagged significant career growth. He has worked at major organizations such as ICI Pakistan, American Business Council, NIB Bank and Dewan Petroleum at leading posts.

The focus of the seminar was various interpretations of leadership, leadership personalities, characteristics and the attitude required to make a difference and attain achievement. He shared real life examples of leadership application along with his journey to become the CEO of Abbot Labs, the leading international pharmaceutical brand.

 

He gave brief overview of Abbott’s performance and pharma sector at large. Talking about true leadership, Mr. Jooma said that a leader must have certain traits to be effective. He added that the old school approach is long gone when you had to be bossy and dictatorial to get work done. Now you have to inspire people.

Mr. Jooma also emphasized that in order to be an effective leader, you do not have to be an expert in the field. Quoting his own example he said that he himself never had a prior experience of working in pharmaceuticals, yet he was appointed CEO. This was mainly because of leadership skills that help in developing organizational strategies to maximize the company’s profit and efficiency.

Mr. Jooma also stressed that success is only attained when the person remains true to his values. It shows consistency and character. He said, “Remember that you can never keep a good man down, socializing and networking are also the key factors in building a winning personality and leadership.

 
Finally Dr. Mohammad Nishat, Associate Dean Faculty of Business Administration presented Mr. Jooma a commemorative plaque.