Emad Graiss has been a part of Merck for over 20 years. During this time, he has seen, experienced and driven the changes that have made this company what it is today. He began his career in Dubai, a rich and defining experience, where he played a key role in building out the entire marketing solution for Merck in the MEA region. Recognition and responsibility followed and after spending a couple of years in Merck’s HQ in Darmstadt Germany as Intercontinental Commercial Operations Leader (what is now known as EMEA) where Emad acquired some of the ‘Germanity’, he returned to his native Egypt to become Managing Director of Egypt and later of the North East Africa Region for Merck. In this blog – Emad reflects on his career to date and tells us about the professional experiences that have influenced who he is as a leader today.
Dubai: the early beginnings
When I joined Merck on 8th August 1997, there were just 17 people operating the entire Gulf region out of our offices in Dubai. Honestly, when I think back to this period in my career, I reflect on it as being such a lovely time in my life. The turnover then was less than $5m and we were not even officially a part of the Merck Group – at the time to qualify for this, you needed to have a revenue of at least $15m, so we were operating as a subsidiary. For me, it really was a very rich period. I was the first Marketer in this region, so all strategies towards marketing, all content development, even all medical training – was conducted through me. I was the office boy, right through to Chief Marketing Strategist. As is often the case in a smaller organization, it was necessary to wear many hats so to speak. To be able to create something and watch your baby grow is such a rewarding experience. Now this region is generating revenue which well exceeded expectations and there are at least 30-40 colleagues in the marketing team alone. I am immensely proud to have been there at the beginning.
Of course, this valuable spell in my career has strongly influenced the leader I am today. I learned during this time that I needed to find a balance between detail and strategy. It is all well and good to be strategic in focus, but to make tough decisions, I like to take a deep dive and fully understand the problem. This very same principle is what enables me to understand what my teams are going through. When I view things through the same lens as they do, it is easier for me to come to a decision. I am drawing on that experience since the very beginning of my career.
The bigger Picture
I believe it to be essential for a person to change one’s perspective, so when I took over as Intercontinental Commercial Operations Director in Darmstadt, I was removed from the view of my region, allowing me to see the bigger picture. My scope was much larger than before and this time was extremely fulfilling for me. Among other achievements, we opened new affiliates and expanded to countries where there had never been a Merck entity before. The view from which I was now able to see Merck, to understand the way the company works, enabled me to see the bigger picture. This breadth of scope still influences my decision making to this day.
Learnings from HQ / The German Experience
In relocating my family, I must admit that moving back to my home country and living again in Cairo was an even bigger culture shock than relocating from Dubai to Darmstadt! Prior to moving to Germany, my family and I had done a lot of research and we were ready to go there. It is also a very welcoming country and we received a lot of support from colleagues and friends.
The key takeaway from my time at Merck HQ has to be that it helped me to understand the belief in systems and processes. I was told when I moved to Germany that ‘you need to learn from us, and we need to learn from you’. I think this is a very good way to represent the openness within Merck that has allowed me to always learn and share. It is this curiosity that has allowed our company to operate and thrive for more than 350 years and why it continues to innovate.
Settling back in at home
Moving back to Cairo with the multitude of knowledge that I had acquired during my career to this point, was maybe one of the reasons why the culture shock was greatest for me upon my return. I constantly had to ask myself, ‘Had Egypt changed? Or had I changed?’. It is likely that it is a mixture of both, and I realized that flexibility would be key in identifying which elements of Merck culture I wanted to adopt locally what things work best just the way they were, and which elements needed a fusion approach.
Forging the right Culture
For me, it was clear that Egypt - and later North-East Africa - needed a clear system of policies and procedures. This is easier said than done in a country like Egypt, an ancient country which has over 67,000 laws dating back to the beginning of our history.
So, we made a very intelligent system that has allowed Merck to do business in a successful way throughout the region. This gave the team the framework they needed to work in a compliant and fruitful manner, thus given both the team and myself the peace of mind needed to thrive. We applied our cultural knowledge and fine-tuned the Merck culture to support this. I feel that my experience leading up to this point in my career enabled me to really tie all these things together and for this, I am especially proud of the way my teams have responded. I hope I don’t sound too proud saying this, but I hear often that we are one of the favoured companies in our region for the culture that we have here. We are fair, offer equal opportunities to all and respected respect and defend your rights.
Giving back
Since being back in Cairo, I really enjoy leading the Merck business here, but what has been morally and equally as important to me, is one of my main professional passions. Giving back to the business community here in Egypt. I regularly take part in entrepreneurial sessions, coaching and mentoring young start-ups. It is my way of paying back to the community. I feel like I owe it to them as they can possibly benefit from what I learned along the way, my failures, my achievements and the insights I gained through that. I try to impart my belief in the science of leadership. As Jack Welch says, ‘when you were made a leader you weren’t given a crown, you were given the responsibility to bring out the best in others’.
Stronger Together
Outside of work, I am really pleased that my family and I are settled back into life in Cairo. I have two teenage sons, so to be quite honest with you, this challenge makes managing a multi-million Euro business seem like a breeze! None of us will ever succeed if we try to go alone. So, I will always look for team players with a dedication and passion for not only excellence in what they do but how they do it. I hope if you are reading this and you think like me and my team, that you keep Merck in mind.
