Dear Colleagues! This is Pharma Veterans Blog Post #300. Pharma Veterans shares the wealth of knowledge and wisdom of Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on WordPress, the top blog site. If you wish to share your stories, ideas and thoughts, please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.
What do I feel while writing the 300th Blog Post? This is what I wish to share today. It is not about me really. It is about an effort which anyone of us can do.
I am not always an early adopter as per the standard definition, but I have done it regularly with technology and digital space somehow. I got email IDs at Brain Net and Wol Net and Cyber Net. I was early on Yahoo mail and Hotmail. When Gmail started, it was by invitation only. I got myself invited and made Gmail ID which I am still using as the main email account. I joined Twitter as it came, Joined Instagram, Flickr, WhatsApp and so on. For the same reason, I thought of writing blogs in 2011. I just booked a space on WordPress and started writing under the title Management Matters. During 2011 and 2012, I wrote several blogs and published. The topics were random, and my thoughts were not focused. So, I stopped.
During later part of 2017, I was planning to come back from Vietnam where I had been living and working for over two years. I decided to take up blogging as a permanent activity. Fine, but what to write about? After several ideas, I finally decided to write about Pharma, the place where I started and had been working for over forty years. This time, I committed myself, purchased domain names, purchased a paid site on WordPress which is the most popular place to publish blogs. The site is https://pharmaveterans.com It also has a Facebook page with the same name, a Facebook group, a LinkedIn group, and a Twitter handle, all with the name of Pharma Veterans. It is also published through my own website, https://asrarqureshi.com .There is a growing readership on every site and I keep receiving comments, and likes, and shares.
I decided to write three blogposts in a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It was a tough commitment, but I decided to have a go at it. Before starting to publish, I wrote ten blog posts for two reasons. One, to get running with it; two, to have safety stock, in case I could not write on a particular day.
This is how it started. The blogposts have been published regularly since then, except 6 weeks break I took for Hajj, and 2 weeks break when my wife passed away. Other than that, the post is always published, as far as I remember. I do consider it an achievement, humbly, and pay gratitude to Allah.
I publish blogposts on WordPress® site and Blogger®, and share the link on LinkedIn, Twitter, LinkedIn groups, my Facebook page, Pharma Veterans FB page, Pharma Suite FB page, and asrarqureshi.com.
What have I achieved through writing these blogs? Is it only my expression and catharsis? Has it contributed anything to the industry, and the people working in different departments of industry? From the feedback I receive, I understand I have been able to make a positive contribution for many. Allah be praised, Who Enables us to do good.
Pharma Veterans is a concept, which has several components; blog being with one of them. Actually, Pharma Veterans was conceived as a project to highlight and celebrate the contributions and achievements of Pharma Veterans; people who have given many years or a lifetime to Pharma Industry.
The concepts included following components. These may be further expanded and can include other components also.
Blog – https://PharmaVeterans.com is a shared space, where any veteran can post. On top of every blogpost, I have this invitation that anyone who wishes to share can send to me and I shall publish. I know that Pharma Veterans have a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share, hence the invitation. However, I have only received and published articles from one old colleague, Mr. Hasan Jamal. He had been contributing but even that is stopped now. I would again urge my dear pharma colleagues to come forward and share their stories. If anyone feels hesitant about content presentation, I shall edit it to make it more presentable. Story is important; presentation is also important but at a secondary level. Do consider it and send your contributions to asrar@asrarqureshi.com .
Personal Profiles – the other component is publishing Veterans’ Profiles, covering their career trajectory, achievements, knowledge, and wisdom. This is about letting others know ‘who is who’ of Pharma Industry. I was able to profile couple of Veterans only for reasons of busyness on both sides. However, this is a project worth pursuing and we must do it. I urge Pharma Veterans to come forward and help me in publishing their profiles. I can share a format to collect basic information to anyone interested.
Pharma Forums – In the same space of Pharmaveterans.com, we can create discussion boards and forums. The younger colleagues can ask questions on the forum to get guidance, share relevant information which may be useful for others. Of course, it will not be allowed to degrade into a usual WhatsApp group where useless content keeps piling up. Forums are a great source of people-to-people sharing; many a times, the only source to get information. People reply based on their experiences and it is a wealth of diverse information.
Free to Download E-books – small sized booklets published digitally can be a great resource to learn a range of subjects. Topics may include knowledge, skills, case histories, achievements etc. The possibilities are many.
Dear Colleagues! I have shown above a glimpse of what can be done through collaboration. I would reiterate that Pharma Veterans is a shared space and should be utilized for the larger good. I invite all of you to come forward and share. My email is asrar@asrarqureshi.com.
Allah Bless you all and help you achieve your dreams. Aameen.
1 comment
Gr8 work Israr Sahib. Keep it up.