Reading is FUNdamental to your success

There is an interesting article here in today's New York Times about the personal libraries of some well-known CEOs. What is interesting is that their libraries are not chock full of current business bestsellers. Rather, the libraries of these titans of capitalism are filled with a rather eclectic mix of subjects. As one CEO states, “David Ogilvy said advertising is a great field, anything prepares you for it. That gives me license to read everything."

Good Talent is Expensive

Interesting article about the dramatic rise in salaries for top Pharmaceutical R&D talent in India. The article appeared in the Business Standard here.

The article mentions that:

"The average expenditure of pharmaceutical companies on research and development has increased four times in the last five years. Industry circles say a good share of the R&D expenses is on manpower, especially the heads of R&D."

Also in the article, Venkat Jasti who is CEO of Suven Life Sciences is quoted as saying:

“I would say the top-level scientists in India are paid the same as, or only about 10 per cent less than, the US standards. My R&D spend on salaries increased by 87 per cent last year.”

The lesson here is this - no matter where you are in the world - Good Talent is not cheap.

Welcome to my Blog!

I have been a 'lurker' in the blogosphere for years, spending countless hours reading other people's posts and thoroughly enjoying the process of reading them.

And I had even made an earlier half-hearted attempt to start a blog before. But, because of work and family responsibilities, my blogging efforts were put on the back-burner.

However, I have decided to start blogging again. The reason for my change of heart is simple. I decided that I really wanted to provide a place where both Clients and Candidates can learn about my thoughts and my philosophy about Recruiting and Talent Acquisition. And a Blog is a place where you can write about and discuss topics in more depth and detail than you can during a normal workday phone conversation.

I plan to write about issues that will be of interest to both the Job Seeker as well as the Hiring Manager. I also plan to write about specific issues that will impact the industries [i.e. Pharma/Biotech and Personal Care/Cosmetics] that I recruit in.

Comments and feedback are always welcome.

Now, in the words of Jackie Gleason, "And away we go!!"