Intro 0:01
Many aspire to reach the upper echelon of the healthcare industry, but few are able to successfully navigate the corporate ladder. C-Suite Partners sits down with international healthcare executives, asking the tough questions and unpacking the personalities of the top industry leaders. Welcome to the Boardroom.
Michael Murray 0:34
Harish, thank you so much for being a part of “In the Boardroom”. I’m sure everyone at home would like to understand a little bit about your current role and who you’re working for.
Harish Pillai 0:43
Well, I have this privilege of heading the largest healthcare chain in the Philippines, Metro Pacific Health. I’ve been here since October 2021 came in the middle of COVID. And yeah, so I’m slowly trying to make a difference to private healthcare.
Michael Murray 1:00
And what got you into healthcare originally?
Harish Pillai 1:03
I grew up in Dubai. I’m a second-generation expat. So once upon a time, as most school kids growing up in Dubai, I had this fancy for fighter planes. I thought I’ll be a fighter pilot.
Michael Murray 1:15
Okay.
Harish Pillai 1:16
But, you know, being from India, you have this pressure that if you’re good in academics, there are only two choices: you become a doctor or an engineer. So, then, well, I guess, I went to medical school, I became a doctor. And, well, to cut you a long story short, I had a stint in neurosurgery in long time back, a short residency program, which didn’t take me far, and so I switched to psychiatry. You know, it’s all to do with sure what happens up here, which was interesting. At the end of some, let’s say six months, I went to my professor and asked him, what does he think? How am I doing? He said, “Well, it’s fine. Harish, you’re doing well, but you’re not cut out to be a shrink.” So I asked him why. He said, “Well, you, you have something called anankastic personality disorder.” It’s like an OCD. So he said that you’re good for some professions, military, bureaucracy or management. So that’s the first time I heard somebody, you know, it’s kind of –
Michael Murray 1:16
Wow.
Harish Pillai 2:20
– putting a seed of a new thought in your mind. So that’s what happened, and that’s the first time I started thinking of management, and I’m the only only student from my MBBS batch of doctors who went into management.
Michael Murray 2:33
How did you feel hearing that from the professor saying that you’ve got OCD, you may not be cut out for it. Was that soul destroying for you, or did you feel like you, maybe subconsciously, weren’t enjoying it as much as you thought you would? What was your mindset when you heard that?
Harish Pillai 2:51
Well, not really, in the sense that sometimes you have at that stage in life, you’re at a certain crossroads when maybe you’re looking for some answers from the universe. So I think my prompt was some kind of a sign from the universe that maybe I need to pivot and take a different road.
Michael Murray 3:10
I’d be interested, from your perspective, the major differences between India, Dubai, and Southeast Asia, or Philippines, in terms of hospitals. What do you see is the major difference?
Harish Pillai 3:27
The common things like Dubai, of course, is an outlier. But if I compare Egypt, India and Philippines, actually they are the same. Emerging economies where healthcare is a highly regulated subject, very price sensitive. So costing, costing is very important. Doctor engagement is also there, and also, you know, accessibility and affordability. So here I’ve been propagating at Metro Pacific, the AAA mantra is basically affordability, accessibility, and assurance, which is minimum acceptable quality in healthcare, I think this AAA is so true in all these three markets. The big difference in the model is like in India, in my network, Aster in India, the clinicians were, I would say, more or less dedicated to each hospital. So you have almost like they’re not employees, they’re consultants, but they’re loyal, or they stick to one hospital. Egypt and Philippines are almost common, because I call them the butterfly clinicians, because well, they do have a home base, but they flutter around many hospitals, including competition. So that poses its own set of challenges. But in terms of growth, I think it’s common. All the three are growth markets. You have to crack the puzzle about being conscious about the consumer price sensitivity, really invest on clinical outcomes, therefore, quality is so important. And also for growth, you have to improve accessibility in all these three markets.
Michael Murray 5:00
Do you remember any of those decisions that you’ve made where you went, “Wow, that’s a mistake.” And what did you learn from it?
Harish Pillai 5:07
The mistake which I do remember, I guess for the rest of my life, was when I went to Egypt. I was appointed as CEO of Egypt’s largest private hospital in 2006.
Michael Murray 5:17
Okay.
Harish Pillai 5:18
So going fresh from Dubai, and you know, I was this democratic CEO, of course. My two predecessors came from the UK, and I was conscious that their tenures were rather short. But I said that I have a vision for this organisation, I’m going to be fully transparent about it. I grew up in Dubai, as I said before, so my third language is Arabic. So I had to take a translator to, you know, to basically do town halls across, it’s a vertical structure. So I went to all the clinical units, non-clinical units, to explain to them, you know, with my laptop, and said, “This is where you are today. And next five years, ten years, this is where I’m going to take to you. I thought I was this enterprising CEO who’s democratic and transparent till the reckoning was a few months later. There was this fat registered letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Labor. In 2006 the Minister of Labor was Madam Aisha, and we had industrial trouble in Cairo at that point of time. Some of the large factories were up in arms, you know, labor trouble, and very unusual that a hospital, even though this is a prominent hospital, As-Salam International Hospital, that you will get a notice from the Minister of Labor asking for a personal appearance.
Michael Murray 6:32
Wow.
Harish Pillai 6:32
So my legal counsel, myself, and I think there was an HR person, we all went to meet Madam Aisha. So I was, you know, as usual, when you meet senior officials, the exchange of pleasantry, but she was grim looking. She was not willing to budge. So I thought, okay, I’m in some spot of trouble. So she pointed out to a bunch of letters in Arabic, which is on our table. And then I realised that my legal counsels said all those letters are complaints from my staff about me. So what the basic contents is, well, you have this Indian CEO who’s landed up in Egypt, and he wants to take away our jobs. Basically he wants to fire all of us, and I was thinking, “Where did this come from?” Because I never, all I said was, “You’re here. I’m going to make this kind of impact in the next five years, and this where I’m going to take you. And I explained to her what I was trying to do. And she, of course, she understood that, and we, you know, we ended the meeting quite well, but that was a moment of great learning for me, in terms of not appreciating culture. And I’ll explain that to you. I was in high school in Dubai. The President of Egypt was Hosni Mubarak. And I’m going in 2006 as the CEO of this large hospital. Who’s the president of Egypt? Hosni Mubarak,
Michael Murray 7:49
Right.
Harish Pillai 7:49
So, and in history, who’s the greatest Egyptian pharaoh? It’s Ramses. Ramses II is the greatest Egyptian pharaoh. So, in an Egyptian cultural perspective, the boss is all powerful. Boss, it’s like in Arabic, the CEO is called al-mudir al-tanfidhi. He’s the Chief Executive Officer. You cannot afford to forget the authority of your office, and you know, try to be so. You have to change your management style to suit the culture, and I did that. I changed, I stopped what I was trying to do. But I did not forget the people-centeredness in terms of change management or transformation. It’s just that I had a greater sensitivity towards history and culture, right. So I think that was an important lesson in life, that you cannot cut paste lessons from one country to the other. You have to deeply appreciate historical aspects and culture. Why do people behave? I mean, everyone, I mean, doctors, for example, it’s a global tribe. But a doctor from one country to the other need not be. He might have the tools of the trade, but to be a more effective doctor, you have to appreciate culture and be sensitive towards that. I think that is an important lesson.
Michael Murray 9:02
Fantastic. Well, Harish, thank you so much for being a part of “In the Boardroom”. Absolutely enjoyed it.
Harish Pillai 9:07
Pleasure.
