"When managing people, there can always be something unexpected – and that’s what’s interesting to me."
Axel Struss is a consultant who supports pharmaceutical companies in bringing new products onto the market and in optimizing existing products. He is one of the professionals we are privileged to have in our „PostDoc Office Address Book for Careers Beyond Academia“. On October 14, 2024, he took the time to talk to Johanna Stadlbauer of the PostDoc Office about leadership.
In 2023, he made the switch to being an entrepreneur. He looks back on 12 years of working with direct reports and has held previous strategic and operational roles in regulatory affairs with consumer healthcare companies.
Q1: How does leadership in industry compare to academia?
Axel Struss: My impression from my Diploma thesis, after which I decided to leave academia, is that there wasn’t much awareness that younger researchers are valued employees who should be developed. They were more treated as supplicants than talent to be invested in, and their working conditions were not optimal. The professors had a lot of power, and the PhD had to find their own way around them to finish their thesis.
In a company, you can usually see bad management in the “bottom line” - so there is direct feedback if management is successfull or not. From my experience, there are consequences when the results are not as expected. Like being offered additional training and being directly asked to make changes to your managing style. At my previous employers, it was the view that a people focussed leadership, using cooperation and appreciation lead to more benefits for the company. I think many organisations have learned this, and there is much knowledge in industry about how to work well with employees.
Q2: How did you "learn" leadership?
Axel Struss: It was always a goal of mine to have managing responsibility, but first I was concerned about gaining expertise in the subject matter of my field. Managing direct reports developed step by step, first one employee and then slowly more, up to six. I was able to use internal education offers within the company, and also sought out external training opportunities, as well as leadership literature. I was able to help my staff develop, and the company was really supporting me. The interests of the staff were recognized and they were seen as talents, and it was important to keep them motivated.
Q3: What interests you especially about leadership?
Axel Struss: It’s important for me personally: How do you organize your department, how do you treat employees, how do you help them to develop. What intrigued me is that there are always new, unexpected experiences – these are opportunities for learning. Even with the goal of being supportive and fair, goals of a manager and goals of individual employees can be in conflict. An important insight for me is that having people working well together and work well for the company is not only about objective criteria regarding their skills and qualifications. It’s much more about team structures and relationships with each other. Currently I have no employees as a consultant – the challenge now is to lead myself. As an entrepreneur, no one makes my goals for me, no one but me measures my success or motivates me externally.
Q4: What would you like to talk to University of Graz researchers about?
Axel Struss: I’d be open to talk to anyone who wants to break into the pharmaceutical industry, and I’m interesting in exchange on leadership challenges as well.
(Questions and write-up: Johanna Stadlbauer, 21.10.2024)
We thank the interviewee for being on our contact list! We believe that research leaders can get a lot of inspiration from leaders of other sectors – and that there are benefits to exploring what lies beyond academia. We can introduce you to him and to 13 other individuals if you get in touch with the PostDoc Office.
Next interviews:
- Elli Scambor (Institut für Männer- und Geschlechterforschung),
- Marie-Therese Stampfl (Municipal Libraries)