Jean-Claude's Story by Valentin MONACHON and Clara MICHELLIER

Jean-Claude Delapierre, a retired man of 70 years old, told us a great turning point in his life, which he qualified as really « decisive » for him, because it has literally changed his professional life, and changed his way of seeing things. He summarizes his life as a series of different objectives, challenges, that were given to him and has sworn to achieve.

Born in 1944, Jean-Claude continued a basic school career, and turned to a literary subjects. He obtained his BAC L in 1962, at the age of 18. He then chose to stop studies, and to get directly into the world of work. Then, he discovered that he was interested in becoming a doctor. That's why he became wholesaler-distributor (=grossiste répartiteur), a work which consists in buying medicines (over 250 000 references of drugs) to pharmaceutical companies ; to manage and store them in establishments spread across the French territory (190 sites), and then, to deliver them and make them available in pharmacies, in the shortest possible time. Doing this job, Mr. Delapierre learned and remembered by heart more than 7000 references of drugs !!

Not feeling completely satisfied by this work, and looking for a more interesting job, offering a better salary, Jean-Claude discovered the work of representative in pharmaceutical products (=visiteur médical), a job which consists in promoting the products of pharmaceutical laboratories, to the professional health community (general practitioners and specialists, hospital officials ,department heads,...). He applied for the position of medical representative in April 1968, at the age of 24 years old.

He then met a recruiter, who clearly explained him that it wouldn't be possible because he hasn't got the required qualifications, because this job requires a BAC +2 diploma (minimum) in science subjects. Furthermore, he told him that this post was already coveted by another person, coming out of a BAC +3 in medicine subjects ; and, to get the job, he must obtain at least, a mark of 18/20 at the entrance exam. Mr. Delapierre supported, somehow, that he wanted this job, and that he was very motivated and will do anything to succeed this exam and get the job. The recruiter then agreed, but on one condition: he had to resign his actual job of wholesaler-distributor. Jean-Claude was married, so he didn't know if it was good to take the risk of losing his job without being sure of getting the job of medical representative. But he still decided to try, and went one month in training course in Paris to learn the basics of medicine to try to catch up, and to work his competitive entrance exam.

Only, he didn't choose the right month to go work in Paris, because he went in May 1968, which means during the great french social crisis, which led to a wave of political, social and cultural contestation movements by almost all the French people. This revolt began with a student movement in the capital, and it then generalized, leading to general strikes that have imperiled the summit of the state. The building where Mr. Delapierre was studying, was located at the heart of the demonstrations, which made him working in very difficults conditions: he could never concentrate or sleep... During this month, Jean-Claude lost 10kgs ! Finally, he took the competition with his competitor who has obtained a 18/20, against a 18.5/20 from Jean-Claude !! He won, so then he became medical representative in June 1968, at the age of 24 years old.

He then fixed a new challenge: to be among the best medical representatives of his team. This mentality allowed him to be promoted to the position of Director of Medical visitors of the Rhône-Alpes region in 1990, at the age of 46 years. He was able to evolve with his own team (that he recruited himself), to make medical trainings, etc... Moreover, Jean-Claude applied different methods of work than other directors. Indeed, he has opted to privilege the « human », which means that he was always attentive to his colleagues, to never have any problems, and to make the company evolve in a good atmosphere ; he left them work alone, he wasn't always behind them, because he wanted them to develop some autonomy, and he didn't want to treat them as « flunkeys ». Thanks to this methods, the Rhône-Alpes region stayed, for almost all the years he was director, the best French region of medical representatives, in terms of results. This earned him the visit from one of the European pharmaceutical managers, who wanted to see by himself how Jean-Claude worked.

What Mr. Delapierre learned from it all, is that educational qualifications don't always mean everything: what matters most is the will, the volition, because, according to him, « When we want: we can ». Indeed, Jean-Claude started with almost nothing and succeeded, and, additional, he succeded more than he hoped because he didn't think that one day he would become a Regional Director...

Jean- Claude Delapierre then concludes by saying:

" When you want to succeed your life, and if you take the trouble: then you can become a successful man."