The MSL role is an individual contributor role. They don’t manage a team or have direct reports. Because of this and because they do not have a fancy title, many MSLs think that they are not leaders or grasp the leadership potential of their role. This is a missed opportunity to have a large impact. The fact is that if you are an MSL you are a leader. Here’s why.

What is Leadership in Medical Affairs

You often hear Medical Leadership saying MSLs should lead from the title they have. What this means is using your credibility, relationship-building, and communication skills to influence and teach others how to think. The MSL role is perfect for this.

Why MSLs are Uniquely Positioned to Be Leaders

The skills required to lead are:

• Credibility
• Relationship-building
• Communication and listening

These are all things MSLs do on a daily basis! MSLs not only have the scientific and medical expertise, they also know what is important to customers through their interactions with HCPs/KOLs. This is huge! Internal company positions are cut off from customers and know how important this is for strategic thinking. That’s the credibility piece. Check.

MSLs use relationship-building and communication skills to engage with HCPs, understand their motivations, and uncover great insights. That covers the last 2 required leaderships skills. Medical leaders recognize this and want MSLs to recognize it as well.

What Leadership Looks Like as an MSL

In a nutshell, leadership wants MSLs to leverage their credibility, relationship-building, and communication skills to:

• Tell them how to think about customers/patients
• Show wow to serve customers better
• Know what opportunities and barriers to look out for

They want MSLs to leverage their leadership skills internally to identify internal stakeholder and company needs and teach on how to think about external customer viewpoints.

3 Ways To Start Leading From The MSL Position: 

1. Mindset: An MSL’s potential as a leader starts with mindset. How do you think about the role of an MSL? Do you view it as powerless or recognize your ability to influence others by teaching them how to think? Do you view yourself as a leader? Understanding your unique position to lead is essential.
2. Confidence: If you are not feeling confident about your ability to lead from where you are, consider taking steps to develop your leadership skills. This can mean finding a mentor, hiring a coach, reading leadership books, enrolling in an online course, etc. Check out this article on investing in yourself.
3. Asking Great Questions: An underappreciated way for MSLs to lead is by asking great questions that get their internal stakeholders thinking more deeply and understanding what they really think. Use the questions you ask HCPs to uncover their motivations and get to the why with your internal stakeholders. Here are 3 resources on asking great questions that were designed to help MSLs ask HCPs great questions. They can be modified and used to help you lead in internally situations.

A great example of how asking great questions demonstrates leadership is with my MSL Insights Course. In the course, students learn to ask informed questions about insights that get conversations started and lead to positive change.

One MSL mentioned he used the learning from the Medical Strategy module to help his manager think about how to structure the insights process. A Medical Director used the questions in the course to bring up insights to her leadership and start the process. Asking questions that get people thinking more deeply is a pro-leadership move!

Conclusions: If You Are An MSL You Are A Leader

Leadership isn’t defined by a title. It starts in your head. I hope this article inspires MSLs to embrace their leadership role fully and recognize the impact they can have on the company, the healthcare landscape, and patients.