Sherif Amin, country president of Novartis: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Sherif Amin (bio). Edited excerpts from our conversation:

My name is Sherif Amin and I’ve been the Country President of Novartis Egypt since July 2022. My journey in pharma started after I graduated from college. I started my journey as a product specialist — the entry level job in the sector — before slowly rising through the ranks to get to where I am today. Before all that, I used to work summer jobs in the US as I was studying. I even worked at an arcade at one point.

Who am I? At my core, I’m a leader. I’m someone who’s really driven to make a positive impact on the world. The interesting part about that is that you never really get the job done — there’s no finish line. I also value relationships with people, learning from people, and helping and coaching them as well.

My job is about both strategy and leadership. It’s about working with the board on shaping a strategy for our future, while leading, inspiring, and guiding others to translate this strategy into outcomes. To achieve this, we need to bring a lot of new ideas into the market. We work on medical education, patient support programs, and finding the most innovative access models to bring the newest possible innovations into the market. It’s all about maximizing the value for the patients we serve and for the shareholders.

The most important factor in achieving all of this is our team, our people. That’s why fostering a strong and positive company culture is at the core of what we do. And in order to be successful while doing that — especially here in Egypt — partnerships with the government and with private partners are crucial to getting this job done right. If the whole system doesn’t work together to solve patients’ problems, it’ll be very difficult for one party to do it on its own.

Coming up with innovative treatments to treat difficult diseases comes with a lot of challenges. It’s a complicated, risky process that’s built on a lot of failures before you achieve success. Getting this one innovative treatment, making it accessible to patients — especially in low-middle income countries like Egypt — is only possible by understanding how the system works and working with your partners in the public and private sectors to find the best strategy that gives patients access to this treatment. The contradiction of trying to deliver the most innovative treatment to everyone while also having a sustainable business model that would fuel further research is the struggle that shapes the industry, day in and day out.

For me, the most interesting trend in the industry right now would have to be personalized medicine. The pharma industry started by inventing molecules that’ll work for a lot of people. It started with antibiotics and that worked for thousands of people — and still does. Chemotherapy is another example of a treatment that works for a lot of people, but comes with many side effects. Personalized medicine, on the contrary, looks at the cause of the problem and treats it directly rather than treating the symptoms, often with very little side effects. This kind of research turned a previously lethal blood cancer like Leukemia into a chronic disease, where patients take a pill every day and carry on living their lives for decades.

Gene therapy is also incredibly exciting. It’s a treatment that changes the genetics of a patient to treat serious conditions. Gene therapy can now treat spinal muscular atrophy — a gene that affects newborns — through adjusting the gene in adolescence before the damage is done and allows them to lead normal lives. This particular medicine has been sponsored by the government in Egypt for over two years for some kids on the orders of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi himself.

If I can’t read Enterprise in my lunch break, I usually do it later in the afternoon. The first thing I do when I get out of bed is to drink my orange juice. After getting ready, I have a 25-minute drive to work where I grab my coffee and start reflecting on my day. That’s really the only window of opportunity for me to gather my thoughts before the day properly starts. If I don’t do this, I get dragged into the chaos of the day and I’m not able to get what I want out of it.

My workday is mostly around people. This job is about coaching teams, solving problems, and inspiring people. This happens in various settings — sometimes in one-on-one meetings or in larger meetings. Other days will be more focused on engaging with our partners and external stakeholders, such as government officials, ministers, physicians, scientists, and experts. For me, that’s one of the most interesting parts of the job.

Staying focused and organized was an uphill battle. What I do now — after some guidance and a lot of practice — is I’m really able to be present in the discussion I’m currently having at a given time. I’m able to leave the issues and challenges of my previous meeting at the door of my next meeting. I’ve also learned how to switch off and avoid being disturbed when I’m taking time for myself. I had to learn these skills over time, but I’ve learned that that’s the only way to be able to be productive and to maintain my level of energy.

The key to a healthy work-life balance is taking ownership. It doesn’t happen on its own and no one will give it to you — not your organization, your team, or your family. You’re the one who needs to own it. That’s what I’ve learned to do over the years, and I can say I now do it relatively well. I still get the couple of hours in the day that I need for myself, and my one hour of complete silence or time spent watching Netflix.

What’s next for me? I want to do this job and do it well, and deliver the impact I want to with Novartis Egypt, before maybe taking on a new challenge. Maybe I’ll be with Novartis in another country and in a different market with new challenges. Personally, I don’t have a family yet and I think it’s the endeavor that I need to take on now. Settling down, building a family — it’s about time.

Leadership from the Inside Out by Kevin Cashman is the book I’m currently reading. I think it’s a very interesting guide for senior leaders, and it’s been very helpful to me personally. It’s really about digging deep inside yourself and understanding yourself very well in order to be able to influence others and lead.

The best piece of advice I’ve been given? If your personal purpose is aligned with the purpose of the organization you work for, the people around you, and the environment you’re in, you’re a happy person. Not many people really get lucky enough to be in a place that is aligned with their individual purposes. I consider myself very fortunate to be in a place where I can do this everyday at Novartis. This advice was given to me by my dad a long time ago. I didn’t know what he really meant at the time, but it’s something I’ve definitely come to understand.

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