The best way to predict the future, is to create it. Let’s do it!” This is the motto of Frank Tischler, General Manager of Bene Farmacêutica in Portugal.
An apprentice by nature, he completed the AESE Executive MBA, an opportunity that allowed him to combine theoretical and practical knowledge with the shared experience of his colleagues.
Building a cohesive, motivated, ambitious and resilient team in the face of challenges is one of its greatest achievements. Honesty and transparency are two key values in his leadership.
What are the main milestones in your professional career, which contributed to reaching the position of General Manager of BENE FARMACÊUTICA?
I’m always learning, I’ve never given up on continuous learning, especially in areas where I don’t have enough knowledge. Obviously, there are numerous offers for technical training, but I have always found it preferable to combine technical and theoretical learning with social learning, that is, with a strong component of interaction and sharing between the participants.
Throughout my career, I have done several training courses, but I must highlight the Executive MBA at AESE, which I started before launching bene farmacêutica in Portugal and which prepared me in an extraordinary way for the launch of the company. For me, AESE’s Executive MBA achieves a perfect combination of Case Studies, Group Work and Plenary Debate. It requires a true spirit of sacrifice and mutual help among the participants to be able to get the most out of it.
I believe that setting ambitious goals for yourself and the organization and being demanding at work every day to achieve them is something very stimulating. I believe in “leadership by example”, but this has to be accompanied by active attention and listening to employees, understanding their motivations and the difficulties they face and, consequently, the help that can be given to them so that they can overcome them.
In this same sense, we must also always have the humility to recognize our mistakes and try to learn from them.
What were your main achievements?
Throughout my career I had several achievements, some bigger, some smaller, but all important.
My greatest professional achievement was, without a doubt, the launch of bene farmacêutica in a very adverse market context. The year 2010, in which we launched the company, was by far the worst year in terms of the pharmaceutical market in Portugal, for decades, with market declines in value of around 20%. Only the following years were worse. At the time, many people asked me, why now and, being German, if I wouldn’t be much better off in the German market. But I always believed in our project, I thought that even in times of crisis we would have space and opportunity for our brands and therapeutic solutions. We achieved sustained growth year after year and became a reference in the market.
But all this was only possible because we were able to build a very cohesive, very motivated and ambitious team that believed in its ability to go further and overcome various obstacles and challenges.
This attitude is in line with our motto “The best way to predict the future, is to create it. Let’s do it!”
But there were also other important achievements and experiences, such as being able to help an employee of mine who was completely indebted and desperate with this situation, restructuring his debt with several financial institutes and thus allowing him to have a perspective on life again.
What are the main lessons that make you the leader you are today?
I have always worked throughout my degree. Especially during the summer holidays I worked in factories where you could earn good money. I learned there that you always have to be honest and transparent with your employees because they realize right away when this is not the case. In a company, it is important that each employee understands what the company is for, what its function and contribution is and, finally, that it is important to achieve the defined objectives.
The more difficult the situation is, the clearer and more transparent a leader has to be. I led a Turnaround project of a manufacturing unit in a very complicated situation. In the first meeting with all the employees, I presented them with all the facts that they had not been aware of until then and explained the way forward. One of the first questions was: will there be redundancies? I replied: It is likely so, but we will try to minimize them as much as possible. If everyone gives up something, we will be able to keep more colleagues employed and thus we can bring the project to a successful conclusion.
The true respect of people in organizations is earned by the way you work, how you manage people, it has nothing to do with the function you perform.
This also applies to foreign partnerships. It is important to create “win-win” partnerships in which all partners win and feel good.
What values do you govern yourself by and that you transmit to your teams?
First of all, we are all the same. We may have different roles in the organization, but we are all important. We have an open-door policy, everyone can talk to everyone about everything. The only condition that exists is that it has to be done in a constructive way to try to improve something. This is essential to create an environment of mutual help. Knowledge is power, but when you don’t share your knowledge, other colleagues and the company are losing.
There has to be a genuine interest in the well-being of our teams, both by managers and employees. For this, it is necessary to listen very carefully when we talk to each other, but especially on the part of the managers, who always have an increased responsibility in this area.
We also have to try to create conditions in which all employees can develop their full potential. We can never fear that an employee will increase his knowledge and skills, even if he is then lured by other companies or “surpasses” his boss. The latter case is a dilemma for many managers who do not like to have employees who can, for example, in a specific area, know more than them, but a true leader is never afraid of this situation, on the contrary, he wants strong people around him.
We have to communicate in a clear and transparent way, be ambitious and demanding but also empathetic. We have to understand who we are talking to and how we can help the person to be better.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
It depends on how long you could retreat…. Perhaps I would opt for a career as an actor or archaeologist, two passions of mine.
In general terms it did not change much, it made some decisions earlier and accelerated certain developments, but this is also due to the subsequent knowledge of the facts.
Professionally, how do you see yourself in 5 years?
Well, almost in retirement. But seriously, I hope to be able to grow Bene Farmacêutica even more and also Bene Arzneimittel, where I was once manager and where I am currently the Speaker of the Board. With a very motivated and dedicated team with the right skills, like mine, we have no limits to grow.
I am optimistic by nature and believe in people’s capabilities. In the first ten years of the company, we doubled sales and conquered new markets. Let’s see what we can do in the next ten years.
