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Merck Group’s Chief People Officer believes the true measure of leadership lies not in being needed at every turn, but in building teams that can move forward with confidence, clarity and independence.
For Khadija Ben Hammada (pictured above), Member of the Executive Board and Chief People Officer at Merck Group, leadership starts with a conviction that has remained unchanged throughout her career: people are an organisation’s greatest asset.
“There is no transformation and no business plan without a people plan,” she says in-conversation with Sarah Gideon. “Your people are the greatest asset you need to care for, nurture, develop, and grow, because they are the ones driving any organisation to success — and potentially to failure.”
Having led transformations across regions and functions, Khadija has seen firsthand how strategy can only go as far as the people entrusted to deliver on it. But over time, her belief in people-first leadership has deepened into something more personal and deliberate.
“Leadership is a choice you make every single day,” she says. “What kind of leader do you want to be? What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? What do you want people to say about you?”
For her, that choice shows up in daily decisions: how leaders treat people, how they communicate, how they handle uncertainty, and how consistently they act.
Her own leadership philosophy is anchored in clarity, courage, care, and consistency.
“The choice I make every day is to put my team first,” she says. “Even if clouds are coming, you have to tell them, ‘Clouds are coming, and this is how we are going to get through them.’”
It is also about integrity between words and actions. As she puts it: “The audio has to match the video.”
A leadership philosophy shaped across cultures
Khadija is clear that she did not arrive at this philosophy overnight. Instead, it was shaped by her personal background, global career, and the many cultures she says she has been privileged to live and work in.
Born into both French and Moroccan cultures, she learned early on to be agile. Her career with Merck later took her to France, the US, Singapore, and Germany, while extended periods spent with teams in China and Japan further deepened her global perspective. Together, these experiences taught her to lead without judgment and with curiosity.
She explains: “Things are done in a certain way, and that is how it is. Who am I to judge the French, the Germans, Indians, or Singaporeans?”
Instead, she has learnt to take inspiration from different cultures and bring the best of those worlds into Merck. That global exposure reinforced one essential truth for her: while leadership styles may differ across markets, human needs remain consistent.
“No matter where you are, human beings are human beings. They want to be valued, respected, and considered. The way we lead may be different, but if you always keep that in mind as a leader, you cannot go wrong.”
Building leadership at scale
That belief now is integrated into one of her core priorities: building leadership pipelines through global frameworks and programmes such as Merck’s Global Leadership Growth Forum.
The idea for the forum came from a gap she observed in how organisations often invest in talent. While companies tend to focus heavily on senior leaders and new joiners, middle managers can sometimes receive less attention, despite being crucial to transformation and execution.
With 62,000 employees and around 11,000 managers, Khadija wanted to ensure that leaders across the organisation had a consistent experience and a shared understanding of what leadership means at Merck.
“We expect our leaders to bring clarity, to lead with courage and care, and to be consistent,” she says. “But we also have to tell them what we expect. You cannot join a company and be left to figure it out by yourself.”
The Leadership Growth Forum was designed not as a traditional training programme, but as an experience that would give thousands of managers across markets access to common tools, peer coaching, inner circles, and opportunities to learn from one another.
The forum has brought leaders from the US, Latin America, China, Japan, Singapore, and other markets through the same experience — creating a shared language of leadership while allowing individuals to find their own way of leading.
As she highlights, “leadership is a journey. It is not a one-time event.”
Democratising career growth
This same commitment to access and consistency sits behind MyGrowth, a platform that allows employees to explore roles, projects, mentors, learning opportunities, and short-term assignments within the organisation.
For Khadija, the platform is fundamentally about fairness.
“MyGrowth has helped us democratise access to career opportunities, growth, and development,” she shares.
“It should not matter where you sit. If someone is in Singapore, they should have the same access as someone at the headquarters in Germany, or someone in the US.”
In the past, visibility often depended on geography, seniority, or proximity to decision-makers. According to Khadija, MyGrowth changes that by giving employees more transparent access to opportunities and giving the organisation a clearer view of the skills it already has.
That visibility has a direct impact on engagement. Employees are more likely to feel connected to the organisation when they see that opportunities are accessible regardless of location or level.
“If I feel I am treated the same way, no matter who I am or where I sit, that creates a strong level of engagement.”
The platform has also delivered business impact. According to Khadija, it has helped reduce time-to-fill by five days, increased internal hiring, and allowed the organisation to identify skills across countries that may previously have been invisible.
“In the past, you had access to people around you,” she notes. “Now, if you look for specific skills, you may find someone in Colombia, Singapore, or Japan.”
Internal mobility with external perspective
While Khadija is a strong believer in developing internal talent, she is equally clear that organisations must also bring in external perspectives where needed.
The key, she says, is intentionality.
“The starting point is to understand what situation or problem you are trying to solve.”
“There will be some situations where you have to look externally because the skills you need are not available internally.”
MyGrowth helps the organisation make that decision more thoughtfully by first asking: do we already have these capabilities inside the company? If the answer is yes, the priority is to develop and mobilise internal talent. If not, the organisation should acquire those skills from outside.
Globally, she describes the balance as roughly 60% internal development and 40% external acquisition, though the ratio may differ depending on the business area.
“You need fresh talent from other companies, sectors, and industries. You need that shake-up. But you have to be intentional.”
Making global work locally
Rolling out global initiatives across different markets was no easy feat. It brought on another set of challenges: ensuring they resonate locally.
For Khadija, the answer began with involving local teams early — not after a product or programme had already been designed.
“You cannot develop something in isolation in Germany and expect it to work everywhere.”
For initiatives such as MyGrowth, the team brought in perspectives from Asia, the US, and Europe during the conceptualisation stage. The aim, as she explains, was to build from the bottom up, ensuring the solution would work for the majority of markets while allowing for local adaptation.
Language was also a key consideration. MyGrowth is now available in several languages to help employees engage with the platform in ways that feel accessible, easy to follow, and relevant.
This global-local mindset also shapes how Khadija partners with country HR leaders, including the Singapore HR team.
“The global organisation is not here to dictate,” she says. “The global organisation is here to listen and help the countries run.”
She believes in reducing distance between global and local teams, empowering country HR leaders to speak up, and trusting those closest to the market to explain what is really happening on the ground.
“I cannot sit in an ivory tower in Germany and explain what is happening here.You have to trust your people on the ground, empower them, give them your support, and back them up when they need you.”
From representation to belonging
Merck’s workforce in Singapore spans 24 nationalities and multiple generations — and Khadija sees this diversity as only the starting point.
“Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is the act.”
That distinction is central to how she thinks about belonging: representation alone is not enough; employees must feel included in their day-to-day experience at work. Leadership, she stresses, plays a decisive role in creating that environment. Leaders are expected to build teams where people feel welcomed, respected, and able to contribute. The organisation, therefore, supports this through employee representative groups, celebrations of different cultures and religions, inclusive leadership training, and engagement measures such as a belonging and inclusion index.
“We want to make sure that we welcome everyone in the same way and create a sense of belonging.”
Globally, inclusive leadership training completion stands at around 96%, and belonging scores are strong. But Khadija emphasises that inclusion requires continuous attention, measurement, and action.
“It is not just about the diversity we have. It is about how we make sure those nationalities come together,” she affirms.
HR as a business and people function
Having moved from CHRO to the Executive Board with a broader mandate, Khadija’s view of HR remains grounded in a dual responsibility: to be both a business function and a people function.
She believes HR leaders must understand how organisations run, including P&L, return on investment, and EBITDA, while also being guardians of people, integrity, and values.
“We will not compromise on business, we will not compromise on people, and never on values.”
These, she believes, are not competing priorities. They go hand in hand: a strong business creates opportunities for people, and a strong people agenda enables better business outcomes. Her role on the Board has allowed her to bring the people and values voice even more directly into business, operational, and acquisition decisions.
“The HR function should always stand up for people and values, and it should also think like a business function.”
Leading without becoming the bottleneck
On a personal level, Khadija admits that balancing a global leadership role with family responsibilities is not always easy. To that effect, she makes it a point to remindd herself that she is also a mother to a young son, as well as a daughter.
Her approach to balance begins with prioritisation — and with building strong teams.
“I do not want to be the bottleneck,” she says. “I have to trust my team and empower them.”
Over time, she has let go of the idea that she needs to be everywhere. Instead, she asks whether her presence is truly needed. If not, she lets her team lead.
“As a leader, you are not important because you are in meetings.
“You are important if your team can run without you.”
For her, that is the real measure of leadership: not how much a team depends on its leader, but how well it can move forward with confidence and clarity.
“The less they need me, the more I think I have built a good team.”
Giving back and staying humble
As the conversation draws to a close, Khadija reflects on the experiences and choices that have shaped her leadership — including those that did not always look obvious at the time.
Across her career, she has learned that leadership is not about title, visibility, or career progression. In fact, some of the most important decisions in her career did not look obvious at the time.
When she moved from Germany to Singapore in her earlier years, some people questioned the move, seeing it as a step back. However, she says it was one of the best decisions of her life.
“I loved it here. I loved the people, and the job was the best,” she recalls. “Then it accelerated my career.”
Her advice? Don’t be overly driven by career planning alone, but by impact.
“When I enter a room, I am never driven by myself. I am driven by the people I serve.”
That sense of service extends to her view of leadership as giving back. She believes that, as a leader, one is never complete without contributing to others.
“You can never be a complete leader if you do not give back,” she says. “If you do not give back, you cannot call yourself a leader.”
Global experience, motherhood, resilience, and the people she meets continue to shape her leadership. But the most important quality, she notes, is the willingness to keep learning.
“If you think you have all the answers, you will never become a better leader,” she reminds us. “But if you stay grounded, humble, and connected with people, that is how you become a better leader.”
For Khadija, leadership is not a position to occupy. It is a responsibility to choose — every day.
READ MORE: Beyond the "lazy worker" myth: Are legacy systems failing to reward young talent?
Lead image / Merck Group
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