48: Claus Eilersen, Senior Vice President, Novo Nordisk

<p>Claus Eilersen, Senior Vice President of Novo Nordisk, Japan, provides deep insight in leading in the pharmaceutical industry in various countries including the US, Canada and Japan. Mr. Eilersen first entered Novo Nordisk after graduating from business school as a liaison between the headquarters in Denmark and Japan, as well as the US doing business development. He initially lived in the US but in 1995 moved with his family to Japan to become the CFO and eventually became the President of Operation in Canada. In 2005, Mr. Eilersen returned to Japan to step into his current role as Senior Vice President in the Japan office.</p> <p> </p> <p>Having led in multiple cultures within the same organization, Mr. Eilersen describes doing business deals in Japan as a “complete immersion in a different culture” with a “very steep learning curve.” To build trust amongst his team, Mr. Eilersen held one-on-one meetings with his direct reports and set ambitious targets while establishing the company’s own distribution system. By having a clear common goal, Mr. Eilersen believes this strengthen the motivation and engagement of his employees. Additionally, in order to establish mutual respect, Mr. Eilersen tried to see things from his employees and customers perspective. For example, by making numerous visits to clients across the country, Mr. Eilersen gained a clearer understanding of what particular question or service is expected from a particular customer and was able to provide a better solution. By talking to customers Mr. Eilersen saw first hand the meticulousness of Japanese consumers, who will only accept the exact number of products or else doubt the brand’s quality and lose trust. Having worked in North America where defect products were accepted if for a discount, Mr. Eilersen calls this an important lesson learned. Under Mr. Eilersen’s leadership, Novo Nordsik of Japan came up with with innovation by creating a centre of excellence for quality to detect early signs of quality issues, which was implemented globall