Craig Dashefsky, Schering-Plough

Craig Dashefsky

Executive Director, Global Performance Management and Business Planning, Schering-Plough

I have had the tremendous good fortune of strong leadership throughout my career. I have great admiration for the leaders, bosses, and colleagues I have had and/or continue to work with. I've learned a great deal from them, and they continue to inspire me today. And I consider myself privileged that these highly respected leaders had confidence in my ability to deliver. As an executive, I believe the key is to never lose sight of the details. While you make it a point to hire the best people to carry out the critical aspects of execution, as a leader you have to have an eye toward both implementing the right strategies and ensuring successful execution of them.

I am particularly proud of a recent opportunity I had to lead a cross-functional team in the strategic design and implementation of a new customer-centered selling model at Schering-Plough. We transformed our commercial selling model to deliver greater incremental value to our customers and position our sales representatives to succeed in a dynamic environment. Nearly one year after implementation, I am pleased to say that we are delivering exceptional customer value and have improved our organizational effectiveness. Our US sales team made it happen, and I am delighted to have played a role in this success.

We work very hard to stay in tune with what our customers need. With the nuances in local markets, it's the companies that understand their customers' specific business environment, and deliver value to them, that will ultimately succeed.