English
Español The closing of the XXXIII class of the Master Program in Economics and Business Management was recently held at San Telmo Business School, in Seville headquarters.
On this occasion, the master class of the event was given by Marieta Jiménez, president and general manager of Merck in Spain.
Eustasio Cobreros Vime, president of San Telmo Foundation, Antonio García de Castro, general director of San Telmo BS, Joaquín Aguirre, director of the Master Program of San Telmo BS; Carmen Hernández Rguez.-Mancheño, director of the graduating class and Antonio Chaves Gentil, president of the class participated also in the event.
The difficult task of survival
The Spanish president of Merck began her dissertation talking about the company she headed. She said that it is a science and technology company, with 350 years of history, presence in 66 countries of the world, and "a company dedicated to innovation for improving people’s lives.”
Regarding changes in the environment in which Merck operates, she admitted that before they did it in small environments, in which the differences between companies in the same sector were extreme. She argued that nowadays they did it in much more complex markets, with more competitors, in which details make the difference and in which innovation was the only way to survive. "The big challenge we have now is to be an enduring organization. Now, companies have a short life. There is a large number of companies that fail. They are those that have being doing what they think they do very well, without being flexible in their corporate strategies, nor preparing themselves for changes that may come within their sectors. They are victims due to lack of innovation, because innovation is, undoubtedly, the key to survival”.
Qualities of a good leader
According to Marieta, People who are leading business projects must be prepared to make decisions, adapting them to the circumstances. She mentioned some qualities that she considers that must have this kind of people:
Having purpose: "Mark a goal with a broad vision of knowing where you want to go, and monitor each action you have set in motion to fulfill your purpose."
Confidence in oneself: "We all have talent, each of us has developed some skills more than others, so it is essential to know and exploit our strengths, and at the same time, recognize our limitations and find support in the team."
Inspiration as axis of actions. "An organization that pretends to be agile needs to work in a transversal manner, and for that there must be enough inspirational leadership capable of generating synergies between the teams."
Passion: "There isn’t “no” without trying. Putting passion in what one does on a day-to-day basis makes us much more credible, builds trust outside, with our clients and inside, with our teams."
Do not be afraid of mistakes: "It is fine to make mistakes. It is important to be wrong and learn from that, it is part of the learning path. Those who tries are those who can fail.
Flexibilidad: “Es la base de la adaptación a todos los cambios constantes que operan en nuestros entornos. Si no somos flexibles no seremos capaces de poder tomar las decisiones correctas para poder ser innovador”.
Flexibility: "It is the basis of adaptation to constantly changing environments. If we are not flexible, we won’t be able to make the right decisions to be innovative."
Being Innovative and not wanting to do things in a specific way because they have always been done in that way. “Think about how to improve the work to make it more efficient and thus differentiate yourself from competitors.”
Diversity. "The sum of talents is what really makes companies progress and create value. I believe, because data also shows this, that companies that ensure equal opportunities between women and men are companies that get better economic results. We can’t build anything without inclusion of all talent of the society.”
Marieta Jiménez has a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Salamanca. She has over 20 years of experience in multinational pharma companies, where she has worked in Sales, Marketing, Business Development and Business Excellence.
Her strategic thinking has led her to successfully lead business development, digitalization and cultural transformation processes in companies operating in highly regulated environments. This vision was enhanced during her experience in Sweden, where she reinforced her focus on innovation.
Also, her commitment to gender equality has led her to lead the ClosinGap platform, launched in September 2018, which has been joined by nine other large companies with the aim of calculating the opportunity cost of not having the talent of women in Spain, carrying out actions to guarantee equality and proposing recommendations to contribute to take effective measures at national level.
