Notes from the Back of the Book

Pharma Marketers: Eight Things We Might Learn From Zappos.com

Here’s my take after reading Delivering Happiness:  A Path To Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh CEO, Zappos.com, Inc. While it’s true that Zappos lives in a less regulated business environment than the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, Tony’s standards for communicating with consumers are now part of the context of our work. Patients have come to expect Zappos- level experiences.  This blog accepts that challenge:  what might a pharma company or hospital might look like if Tony were CEO…

Eight marketing insights for Pharma (or any healthcare or consumer business for that matter):

1. Are you sitting at the right table? If not, it’s never too late to change!  It’s easy to get caught up and engrossed in what you’re currently doing, and forget that you even have the option to change tables. It’s also easy to overlook that the game starts even before you sit down in a seat… Don’t let inertia win, be sure you’re playing in the right game—one that you can both win at and fulfills your goals.

 While Tony learned this lesson during a phase of heavy poker play, he switched tables quite a few times during his life, and certainly for Zappos, they switched tables when they shifted the company strategy to focus on customer service and experience as a brand differentiator. It caused a shift in their business model from one of drop-shipping to one of carrying their own inventory so that they could be in control of their customers’ experiences…What’s the game your pharma co is playing?

2. Be patient and focus on what’s best for the long term.  Poker teaches that you may win or lose individual ‘hands or games’, but it’s what happens in the long term that matters…Zappos has a track record of making decisions based on the longer term. Tony provides numerous examples of this e.g. free shipping in both directions, shipping upgrades to high potential customers,  turning down skilled new hires because they didn’t fit into the Zappos culture…Focusing on the long term and making the necessary tradeoffs is not a new concept, but one that Pharma and all companies bump up against every day.  Unfortunately, all too often, most decisions are made with a short term view and little thought for the long-term impact or consequences on the brand and/or the patient's health …

3. Never outsource your core competency.  Zappos learned that if they were going to build their brand to be about the very best customer service, that they shouldn’t outsource that department.  This meant that core competencies that they had built as an e-business, like inventory management and warehousing and/or customer service, couldn’t be outsourced. 

What are healthcare and pharma companies' core competencies? What happens when a new drug is licensed-in, but the clinical trials have not been done with the insights to optimize claims and information for physicians and patients?

4. A Brand’s critical success factor (CSF) must be the responsibility of the entire company, not just a department.  For Zappos, when they decided that they wanted to build their brand to be about the very best customer service and the very best customer experience, they believed that customer service shouldn’t be just a department, it should be the entire company. For pharma, customer service is largely not considered a true success factor let alone the responsibility of each and every person in the company.  Further, how many pharma cos like to call themselves patient –centric, yet we see inconsistent decision making, demonstrating that patient-centricity  isn’t the responsibility of each and every person in a pharma company ….it's usually the responsibility for a few members of a brand team, but is this enough to ensure consistency and success?  (What does it take to truely be patient-centric? Read Pharma: Is Your Brand Patient-Centered? 5 Critical Success Factors)

5. Culture is the best way to build a brand for the long term.  At Zappos, they believe that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff—like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers—will happen naturally on its own.  It’s Zappos belief that your company’s culture and your company’s band are really just two sides of the same coin.  The brand may lag the culture at first, but eventually it will catch up.  Your culture is your brand.  Zappos takes it a step further…core values are only core values if you can commit to them—and by commit, they mean that you’re willing to hire and first based on them…

If pharma cos had strong cultures of patient- centricity, and/or transparency, would we have situations where safety or clinical data was held back?  Is your company  guided by ‘committable’ core values?

6. Deliver WOW!  At Zappos, anything worth doing is worth doing with WOW.  "To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means do something a little unconventional and innovative.  You must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected.  And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver. ..Whether internally with co-workers or externally with our customers and partners, delivering WOW results in word of mouth. “

When was the last time that a doctor or patient felt a WOW and personal connection from a Pharma company?  How could Pharma achieve more WOW from more customers and patients? Every brand wants to achieve consumer buzz or to have patients advocate on their behalf…but what is the brand’s responsibility to help instigate this? Word of Mouth or WOW doesn’t just happen, it can’t be bought— it has to be earned…  Ask yourself:  What are things you (your brand or your company) can improve upon in your work or attitude to WOW more people?  Have you WOWed at least one person today?

7. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication. Transparency is no longer a nice to have, but an imperative in today’s world. With the internet connecting everyone together, companies are becoming more and more transparent whether they like it or not. Both the good and the ugly can spread like wildfire by e-mail or with tools like Twitter and Facebook. Zappos lives in a world of transparency…Why can’t pharma and healthcare companies act with greater transparency and openess? Really?

8. It’s not just about the money, but about happiness. Cliché but oh so true!  Tony reviews different frameworks for happiness.  All roads lead to greater happiness based on an individual world filled with more passion and purpose—being part of something bigger than yourself.  Is there a greater purpose than helping people to live healthier and happier lives? Then why aren't pharma companies and the people in them happier?

Having had positive purchase experiences at Zappos.com in the past, I decided to revisit Zappos the other day when I realized I still needed hiking boots for two of my sons for camp.  When I hit the send button for free shipping I knew that I might not get the order in time, but I decided to put my faith in the Zappos culture and hope for a 'surprise' shipping upgrade…to my ‘joy’, I received a ‘fun’ email letting me know that my order had been upgraded!  Thank you Zappos! 

Here's the email I received:

Marketers: What Would Jake and Rocket Do? 13 Imperatives for 2010 (part 3 of 4)

What Would Jake and Rocket Do?
This is the third of a four part series for Consumer and Pharma/Healthcare marketers looking to tame the rigors of 2010... In case you're just coming in now, here is the first of the series: What Would Steve Jobs Do? And the second: What Would Google Do?

Who are Jake and Rocket you ask? Jake and his trusty dog Rocket have become icons of optimism, and Life is good ® America's little clothing brand that could-that is trying to spread good vibes all over the world. Having recently returned from a few days of holiday skiing in Vermont, and the proverbial t-shirt buying with ‘my three sons'... Life is good was all around us spreading their optimism and good cheer.

Here are some of Jake and Rocket's insights that all marketers-Consumer, B2B and Pharmaceutical/Healthcare - may want to pay attention to in 2010.

What Would Jake and Rocket Do?

1. Run like a dog. Dream on. High end destination.
Optimism, hope and dreams are crucial for human beings, healthy and/or sick...If you forget what it feels like to ‘run like a dog', take a look at: 19 Seconds of Pure Joy and Steve Woodruff's young dog experiencing snow for the first time! Or listen to Dr. Groopman speak about Hope and Medicine on NPR. You can also read Jen McCabe's blog on the importance of hope.

2. Consider yourself a lucky dog.
Go deep. Think out of the box. Don't knock something, build something. Create your own happy hour. This is not a year to wish you had more. Use any financial or human constraints to innovate...to build something big, to go deep. Constraints are not something to fear, but often spur innovation. Read 37 signals Getting Real: Embrace Constraints; a concept duly noted by Tim Brown and Matthew May's Change This Manifesto on Elegant Solutions (no.6 p 22)

3. Whatever you are, be a good one.  Style points count. Get dirty.
Successful people and companies raise the bar, and continually strive for excellence with every move they make...If you take nothing else away from What Would Steve Jobs Do?, think about the bar of excellence he sets and expects for himself and others at every step of the way.

4. Get outta town. If you don't go, you don't see. If you don't live it, it won't come out your horn. Who feels it knows it.
Reading Tim Brown's book Change By Design, I was stuck by this quote: "Good design thinkers observe. Great design thinkers observe the ordinary." How true it is that you have to get out to see and experience what your customers are doing and thinking, and how they're interacting with the world. Yet how many busy executives actually do? And then actually take the learning and insights and share them across the organization and find rightful ‘owners' to turn them into action? (Brian Solis often speaks to this very need of leveraging what you hear in social media throughout the organization by insuring rightful owners.)

5. Mix it up.
We seem to be stuck in a world of X OR Y, TV advertising or web, traditional advertising or social media, facebook or twitter, branded advertising or value-add conversations...when we could be mixing it up and thinking AND...The consumer mixes it up, why don't marketers?

6. The little things in life are the big things.
How true it is that what we most often remember is not the big things or the big/expensive presents, but those little special gestures that let us know that people really appreciate us, trust us, care about us, and know us. (You can also read Linda Kaplan and Robin Koval's Power of Small)

7. Takers may eat well, but givers sleep well. Sometimes the best conversation is a game of catch.
We all know that building relationships is a give and take. What better analogy for two-way conversation than a game of catch? When your catching the ball, you can't be throwing at the same time...it's a rhythm of give and take... While it's never this simple, much has been written about how the new world of marketing is no longer about ‘sell and tell' or ‘push', but give and take (with more emphasis on giving than taking), remembering to listen first - sell later, adding value via marketing with meaning), earning trust a la Brogan's trust agents, and ‘earning' customer love and word of mouth.

8. Hold a true friend with both hands.
This is the year for quality over quantity and this goes for relationships as well. Only those that add value to your life will get your time and attention. Who are your true friends? Who are your most loyal customers? What do they need and want? How can you help? How can you bring them value?

9. The best things in life are free.
If you are around kids, how many birthdays and holidays need to go by before we realize that it's not the most expensive present that people/kids like, but the box that it comes in...The concept of Free is everywhere and shouldn't be overlooked or taken lightly. The web is full of content... so it's critical to create content with value or to organize content to bring value: ‘elegant organization'...Think free or the minimum you must charge or take out of the system if you want to maximize growth and usage. Read Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do? or Chris Anderson's Free: the future of radical price if you're still are unsure....

10. Change your perspective.
Experts in education suggest that adult learners should "jiggle their synapses a bit" by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own..."bump up against people and ideas" that are different. (NYTimes: Neuroscience-How to train the aging brain) If you are a ‘social media' guy, look at the world through other lens...most of the world still doesn't know what RSS feeds are, let alone use them...email is still the most widely used way to send others information...Marketers, look outside your industry for ideas, seek different perspectives that may bring new value to your customers' and patients' lives. Look to other disciplines, from science to design, for new thinking.

11. Write on. Read ‘em and reap. Keep Growing.
They say 2010 is the year that Content is King. We know that Links create value. Creating valuable content and acting as a ‘content curator' are critical new marketing and leadership skills...think "elegant organization".

12. Simplify.
With the number of emails, blogs, tweets, friends contacting us, more and more it will be critical to simplify and focus on what's most important. Only a few can stand out. Focus on less and make each ‘friend', ‘contact', ‘tweet', 'program'  more impactful and valuable...both simplify and 'elegance' are at the very core of both Steve Jobs/Apple and Google's success. Do You Have a Stop Doing List? (Also read Power of Less or Mathew May's The Elegant Solution)

13. Laughter has no foreign accent. We will never know all the good a simple smile can do. Celebrate.
Let's promise each other that we won't overlook a little laughter and smiles in our busy lives this year...(You can also read Dave Murray's 11th Lesson of Life)

 

Marketers: Which ones are most meaningful for you this New Year?
Which ones would most help spur growth and innovation for your brand and business?

Pharma and Healthcare Marketers: Which ones would most bring growth and innovation to our industry? Which ones would help bring back hope and trust? Value to our patients?

Stay tuned for part four of 4...What Will Pharma and Healthcare Marketers Do? What Will Champs in New Marketing Do in 2010?

My 13 Favorite Business Books of 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, I want to share my thirteen favorite biz books from this year that I found myself writing the most "Notes in the Back of the Book", and stimulating the greatest new thinking and ideas. The list of books covers social media, marketing and new marketing models, and innovation and leadership. For reference, here are also business book favorites by Fast Company, Mashable, Amazon and The Brand Bubble (John Gerzema).

If you're looking to better understand and excel in today's social media and web 2.0 worlds, here are four: Inbound Marketing is a must for anyone who wants to be found online, and is especially helpful for anyone who is actively considering how to get started with inbound marketing. Written by the leaders of Hubspot, they know what they're talking about. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith shows how people use online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can tap into the power of these networks to positively impact your business. Because trust is essential to building online reputations, those who traffic trust are "trust agents" and key people for any business.  Putting the Public Back into Public Relations shows how to reinvent PR around two-way conversations with traditional and new influencers, bringing the "public" back into public relations. Both are consistent thought leaders in the area of PR. Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik begins to bring accountability to web 2.0 online programs with focus on customer- centered thinking and measurement, and builds upon his 2007 book.

Of course, to participate in our ever changing digital and social world, strategic marketing and a deep customer focus are still paramount.  How is marketing evolving? In Marketing with Meaning, Bob Gilbreath outlines the next evolutionary step in a progression following direct marketing and permission marketing. The book calls for the end of "push and sell" marketing in favor of adding value to customers' lives. Excelling in marketing also starts with listening...In Listen First. Sell Later, Bob Poole outlines the benefits of listening FIRST. And to remind us about customer- centered marketing, I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss is a great read. Who can argue that companies like Lands End didn't get it right early on?

Eating the Big Fish still feels as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The 2009 edition is packed with new examples and Morgan's eight credos still worthy of consideration-especially for small specialty and biotech Pharmaceutical brands. In FREE: The Future of a Radical Price, Chris Anderson (Long Tail) argues that in the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all. He illustrates how savvy businesses are raking it in with indirect routes from product to revenue with such models as cross-subsidies and freemiums.  But when you stop to think about the real changes in expectations that the web has brought about, this is a book to think hard about.

Tim Brown's Change by Design suggests that innovation in today's world means taking a design thinking approach, and one that is human-centered. The CEO of global design consultancy IDEO offers a guide for thinking and organizing our everyday creative processes.  A great book and a nice break  from so much focus on social media...

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a must read for anyone looking to improve their own presentation skills. Why not learn from a master, who is consistently voted the most important CEO of the decade?  Knowing how to present is critical today, but this book goes beyond just presentation tips...Power of Less is a very useful reminder to focus (and act) on what is most important and forget the rest. It's simple and direct without the fluff. Born to Run, while not a business book per say, provides lessons in mind and body, and shows the advantages of anthropological learning from others, in this case a special Indian tribe from Mexico.

Favorite Business Books of 2009

1. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

2. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

3. Putting the Public Back into Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business in PR by Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge

4. Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik

5. The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect With Your Customers by Marketing With Meaning by Bob Gilbreath Listen First Sell Later

6. Listen First Sell Later by Bob Poole

7. I Love you More than my Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss

8. Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands can Compete Against Brand Leaders by Adam Morgan (2009 reprint)

9. FREE: The Future of Radical Price by Chris Anderson

10. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown

11. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great In Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo

12. Power of Less The: Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta

13. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen by Chris McDougall

Other books you think should be on this list?

 

Books I plan to read in the New Year:

1. Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by A Penenberg

2. Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta/What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis

3. The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarella

4. Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation by Grant McCraken

5. Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations by Garr Reynolds (due December 28, 2009)

6. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink (due out December 29, 2009)

7. Lynchpin: Are You Indispensible? by Seth Godin (due out January 26, 2010)

8. Rework by Jason Fried (due out March 9, 2010)

What about you? What's on your list to read?

 

Other blogs to read related to these favorite books of 2009:

If You Charged For Your Content, Would Anyone Pay? By Jonathan Richman Dose of Digital blog

Marketing With Meaning: Is there any other way? Advertising Age

Pharma: Are Current DTC Ads Meaningful? By Ellen Hoenig Notes From the Back of the Book blog

How Marketing With Meaning Can Save Pharma (3 Part Series) by Jonathan Richman

Book Review: I love You More Than My Dog - Small Business Trends

Pharma: Say NO To More Bullets! and Presentation Tips  by Ellen Hoenig

Pharma: Is Your Marketing Designed to Engage and Educate or Sell?  By Ellen Hoenig

For my list of top books of 2008 and 2007, click here.

Happy New Year to all! See you in 2010!

 

 

 

Best Learning Actions for Healthcare Marketers in 2010? (free eBook)

Inspired by Alvin Toffler's quote: "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn," we asked 12 leading bloggers and healthcare thought leaders to share their reflections: what would they recommend as top learning strategies for Pharma and Healthcare marketers in 2010?

Overall, there were six themes that contributors brought to life:

1)  e-Patients are at the center and critical to learning and design;
2)  Authenticity isn't a ‘nice to do', it's a ‘must' (and you won't be the one who decides whether you've succeeded);
3)  Don't' get distracted by ‘bells and whistles'-remember the basics and keep your brand core strong;
4)  New marketing challenges require new ROI thinking...the ROI of connection, authenticity and compassion;
5)  The marketing cycle of life is going through unprecedented change requiring all marketers and communications people to unlearn much-the movement from paid marketing to earned marketing requires a different mindset and skills; and
6)  Effective marketing and engagement will require new kinds of leadership skills.

Or as Steve Woodruff would say, "it's a holiday grab-bag of nuggets from the wise travelers--some myrrh, some gold, some SEO, some patient communities--stick your hand in and grab some goodies!"

My heartfelt appreciation to the 12 contributors-yet another example of the power of the community.

• Phil Baumann, Phil Baumann online blog, CareVocate Interactive Media Solutions
• Wendy Blackburn, ePharma Rx blog, Intouch Solutions
• Adam Cohen, A Thousand Cuts blog, Rosetta Interactive
• Dave deBronkart, The New Life of e-Patient Dave blog, Society for Participatory Medicine
  
• Angela Dunn, Odom Lewis blog, Executive Search Specialists in Healthcare Marketing/Medical Education
• Susannah Fox, Health Research for Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Fard Johnmar, Path of the Blue Eye Project, Envision Consultancy
• John Mack, Pharma Marketing blog, Editor-in-chief of Pharma Marketing News
  
• Jonathan Richman, Dose of Digital blog, Bridge Worldwide
• Marsha Shenk, Thriving Enterprise blog, The Bestwork People
• Andrew Spong, STweM blog and Consultancy, UK
• Steve Woodruff, Impactiviti blog and Consultancy

If you enjoy this eBook, feel free to blog it, tweet it or email it. (But please don't change it)...We also hope that you meet some new 'friends' to learn with in 2010. Lastly, we welcome feedback below or on slide share.

Download PDF;  also available on slideshare  (see below) and scribd

The Gift of Learning for Pharma and Healthcare Marketers In 2010 (free eBook)

View more presentations from Ellen Hoenig Carlson - Advance MarketWoRx.

May you and yours enjoy a rich and rejuvenating holiday season. We look forward to more learning and collaboration in 2010!


credits: eBook production: Courtney Justice, The Cournell Group

 

Strong Brand Core--More Core Than Ever?

This has been quite a year for pharma and marketers:  big market changes and budget cuts, not to mention a continued explosion of noise, with less time to absorb and respond.

As we head into quarter 4, I've been asking myself,

What disciplines would take good care of our brands in this vulnerable moment?

Creativity gives the brand wings.  David Ogilvy is famously quoted, "Give me the freedom of a tight creative brief."  When the strategic core is strong, it serves as a foundation to produce the richest creative that can make your brand soar.  The triangle's three points: meaning to consumers; elegance and balance; and rigorous execution act as foundational questions to help marketers check-in with their brand and test new strategies and tactics. 

My prescription is: mind the strength of your strategic core. 

The practice of keeping a strong strategic core has become very popular with consumers in recent years, with rapid growth in both Yoga and Pilates, and now next-generation offers like Barre 3 and PiYo.  The techniques improve condition and balance by building core strength--Checking in with their core before taking any action enables people to move better, feel better, look better, and lead more productive lives.     

In a chaotic world, the discipline to strengthen core strategy and keep it strong is a formidable challenge.   The noise in the marketplace is a din; changes in social media alone in the last 6 months have many marketers in a spin.  As the noise increases with the plethora of new tactics to distract us,  those with the discipline to stay grounded and centered on brand core, to ensure that each tactic is informed by core strategy, will enjoy stronger brands.

How are you keeping your brands' core strong and focused?  

With all the noise and distractions, and little time to stop and think, how are you holding an unwavering stance to power your brands' core?

 

Leadership: The First Unassisted Paraplegic to Summit Mt Kilimanjaro

Think about using only your arms to crank 528,000 revolutions of your pedals to reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro! 

 

(click on the widget above to watch the video and participate in helping Chris to reach his dream)

While this blog is usually focused on pharma, healthcare 2.0 and consumer marketing...Today, I'm writing to help out a friend, Chris Waddell, who is undertaking a project to help countless other disabled people [estimated at 600 million globally and nearly 1 in 10]. Chris is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise awareness of the plight, and potential, of the global disabled community.  He is seeking contributions to fund both his climb and the making of a documentary about his climb.  What makes Chris's undertaking and leadership so compelling is that he himself is a paraplegic.  [Learn more about Project One Revolution]

 

"I'm climbing this mountain and making this film because the world doesn't see me and other people like me. It doesn't see our potential--only our limitations...The climb is a metaphor for my efforts to bring visibility to the disabled of the world, particularly the disabled in developing countries like Tanzania, where they are hidden away--living shortened lives of darkness and isolation, and all because  their culture believes they are cursed, that they are useless...", says Chris.
 
Despite being a promising young ski racer at college, Chris broke his back in a freak ski accident twenty years ago, but did not let this slow him down.  He went on to revolutionize the sport of monoskiing and become the most decorated male skier in Paralympian history, winning thirteen medals, including five gold medals.  Outside Magazine asked, "Could [Chris] be the World's Greatest Athlete?"  Skiing has named Chris one of "The 25 Greatest Skiers in North America".  All this without the use of his legs. [Having skiied with Chris last year, I can tell you, he's pretty amazing to watch, and faster than a speeding bullet...As much as my 12 year old and I tried, we could not come close to keeping up with Chris...]
 
Chris' athletic accomplishments are matched by his commitment to help the disabled and motivate individuals to rise to their full potential. 

Please check out the One Revolution link to learn more about the Mt. Kilimanjaro project and how you can be part of it.  Please feel free to help spread the word if Chris' story and work is moving to you...Many thanks...
 
Good health and spirit,
Ellen and family

P.S.  You can also read about Chris and Sarah Will, two of the greatest Paralympic athletes in the world, who have signed on to particpate in the Kelly Brush Century Ride on Sept 12th in Vermont to raise money to buy adaptive sports equipment for others with spinal cord injury.

Can Pharma Marketers Glean Insight From 10 Successful Entrepreneurs?

In a recent article by Inc., a group of visionaries share their reflections on the rise to prominence of entrepreneurship, and how their lives and perspectives have changed over the course of the past 30 years. What insights surrounding innovation and leadership can Pharma Marketers glean today?

1.  Donny Deutsch: There are No Geniuses 

This frees you up to think "I can do that"  ( ...We desperately need this kind of thinking in business right now...)

2.  Scott Cook: Why Culture Matters 

"People who suggest the end of the workplace totally misunderstand the social nature of work.  There is a social fabric to work."  His greatest entrepreneurial legacy has been fostering an environment of open-mindedness and a culture where great ideas are nurtured  (Sound familiar in Pharma's highly political environment? I don't think so...)

3.  Roxanne Quimby (co-founder of Burt's Bees):  The Other Side of Failure

"...I really believe that success is just getting up one more time than you fall."  (How many companies enable failure?)

4.  Scott Adams (creator of the Dilbert cartoon): On the limits of Technology

Commenting on the initial impact of technology in the early ‘90's, Adams said in 1994, "The biggest impact of technology has been to allow us to do more unproductive things at a far more impressive rate." (...technology is an enabler, but often not a strategy  unto itself...)

5.  Michael Bloomberg:  Go Out on the Top  

Clearly a skilled businessman, he maintained that progress only happens when organizations are purposely thrown off course... (Often innovation comes from dealing with constraints and challenges...But never be content with status quo)

6.  Pat  McGovern: The World is Yours

Founder of International Data Group (IDG) in 1964, McGovern spent a majority of his career abroad, forging ahead in new global markets and practically writing the rulebook for doing business in foreign countries.  Reflecting on building a global company:  "Even after 40 years, my adrenaline starts pumping every time my plane touches down in a new country. Every trip is a story waiting to happen."  (...it's essential to keep ourselves open to learning and new ideas--creating new stories)

7.  Harvey Mackay: The Importance of Connections

Author of How to Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Mackay's guiding principle in business is to build strong relationships with customers and employees, and practice the lifelong art of networking.  True to his philosophy, he told Inc. in 1990, "If the house is on fire, forget the china, silver, and wedding album-grab the Rolodex." (Today, it would be to grab your iPhone or your Blackberry .... but networking is especially critical- now more than ever...)

8.  Ted Turner: The Upshot of losing $8 Billion

When Time Warner subsequently merged with AOL in 2001, Turner's stock in the company collapsed and so did his position as an executive at the company. Undefeated, he returned to his entrepreneurial roots and started Ted's Montana Grill, now a nationwide chain of 55 restaurants...(once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur...)

9.  Ken Hendricks:  In Praise of Modesty

His Building Supplies Company, ABC Supply was a No. 1 Inc. 500 Company and hit $3 billion in sales in 2007.  Despite his huge financial success, Hendricks always kept the business small at heart and spoke often about frugality in business (an approach Pharma would have been wise to consider during the past decade and moving forward...)

10.  Peter Drucker:  The Right Kind of Leader

Frequently referred to as the 'father of modern management'...Drucker observed a great deal about the leaders that emerged in the entrepreneurial community and found that not all managers are cut out for the world of big business...In 1985 he said, "There are people who don't belong in large organizations." (Ain't that the truth! Enough said...)

Now, more than ever, innovation and leadership is needed in Pharma... and business today--We can learn something from these successful stories!  Which entrepreneur(s) do you think Pharma can learn most from?

 

 

The New Marketing: Leading A Tribe to Create a Movement?

Every once in a while, it's good to take a step back...

The Ted Tribe Talk: "Tribes are what matter now" just went live.  In 17 minutes, Seth Godin bring to life his story: the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change... Everyone and anyone should step up--find something worth changing and start a movement by asking the tribe to spread the idea...

 

 

Seth speaks to the evolution in marketing from factory, to mass market and "push" advertising,  to the growth of the internet and the idea of tribes as a way to lead and connect people and ideas. He believes that tribes are what people want now--tribes can create movements that can help change the world-- not because of force, power or money-- but because people want to connect especially to something worth changing. Seth makes the point that its not about the numbers, but creating a movement among the people that care--the true believers--and as little as a thousand believers is enough.

In his Ted talk, Seth outlines 4 key steps that move in a continuous circle:

1. Tell a story
2. Connecting a tribe
3. Leading a movement
4. Make a change

Seth believes that leaders today:

1. Challenge status quo--"they are heretics"
2. Build a culture through their curiosity and ability to connect like-minded people
3. Gain charisma by leading (and not the other way around)

(You can find the book and more information here.)

My friend Sophie is just embarking on starting her own movement. She's trying to incite awareness, funding and greater use of the many miles of open space trails right here in Princeton, NJ--the most populated state in the country--with a new book that outlines 16 great walks. She's not doing it for the money (all the profits go to local land preservation organizations), but to bring the simple joy of using and appreciating our local open space land to as many in our area as possible. For years, I've enjoyed many a morning walk with Sophie and friends--a few moments of connected friendship, health and activity surrounded by nature and beauty. (Yes, there really are a few trails that you'd be hard pressed to think you're in 'jersey'...)

In 1998, Jenifer Estess, her family, and friends, started Project A.L.S. when Jenifer was diagnosed with the fatal brain disease (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) at the age of thirty-five. Upon discovering that there were no effective treatments, Project A.L.S. set out to put medicine into place.

The mission today is to bring the best science to ALS patients in the form of effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure. Project A.L.S. has raised over $37 million, directing 81% to research programs. The hallmark of Project A.L.S. research is collaboration. Researchers who were competitors now play on the same team, meet regularly, share data openly, and work rationally, constructively, and aggressively toward shared goals.

My childhood friend Valerie and her sisters never asked for permission, and have accomplished incredible success with no formal pharma marketing or product development experience...just intense focus and the belief that status quo wasn't good enough...

Seth argues that leadership is the best marketing tactic for any organization--and a marketer's role today is to find, connect and lead tribes in order to make change happen.

In thinking about pharmaceutical and healthcare marketing... who will take that leadership role?

I hope to contribute to changing the role of marketing in pharma and healthcare today from one historically based on "push" (and I don't just mean DTC advertising but also the whole R&D Development and Salesforce selling approach) to:

• one of greater customer and patient focus at every step of the way

• authentic product and marketing differentiation, and

• simplicity in design and execution (more emphasis on the "elegant solution" vs the shotgun approach). 

• This would mean that the consumer/patient is not only fully integrated into the development and business model, but actually has a seat at the table at every important decision (which unfortunately is still not the case across the industry). This would also mean leading change in how we engage and collaborate with customers and consumers...which includes, but goes beyond the use of social media...DTC in the 21st Century (DTC 21)

What are you not happy with? What do you want to change? What is worth starting a movement about?

Neuroscience in Business: What we can't do while 'multi-tasking'

The brain does not multi-task. This simple biological fact has huge implications for business...says Marsha Shenk in her blog "Neuroscience in Business: What we can't do while Multi-Tasking."

Marsha, long time friend, business anthropologist, and student of leadership in commerce is in the continual search for how organizations and the people in them can do more than succeed, but thrive in today's tumultuous environment...

So what if your corporate culture accepts-even demands-multi-tasking? (Do you know one that doesn't these days?)

As Marsha writes, "You're as sharp as a drunk driver. You will miss-and misinterpret- as much of what is going on around you as someone who could be arrested for DWI...

Not only will you miss important information, you certainly will not generate new questions or solutions. Responsive to market changes? Forget it. Figuring out new ways to deploy resources? Not a chance."

...Imagine we're in an economic downturn (sound familiar?)-- markets and people are worried, jittery, fearful..."Your enterprise will thrive - or not - based on your ability to:

• Notice what's going on-Be curious about what might be valuable in this new reality
• Generate new solutions for new concerns
• Provoke Customers' curiosity about new solutions.

Multi-tasking may be the most dangerous habit we've ever allowed," says Marsha.

"Driving while talking on a cell phone is worse than driving drunk," says John Medina, author of "Brain Rules."

So how many meetings have you attended where most of the participants, or better yet, the very ones that the meeting has been called for, are using a blackberry while someone else (maybe even you) is presenting a new idea? How many times have things had to be repeated because meeting participants admit that they missed what was said? Or dialog and ideas are curtailed because people aren't engaged? Is this leadership?

More people are recognizing how dangerous multi-tasking can be to business and relationships. Edward M. Hallowell captured this concern back in his 2005 Harvard Business Review article titled: "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"  Multi-tasking... the frenzy... "prevent managers from clarifying priorities, making smart decisions and managing their time"..."As data increasingly flood our brains, we lose our ability to solve problems and handel the unknown.  Creativity shrivels; mistakes multiply"....says Hallowell.

I don't know about you...but maybe it's time we all said "enough" and started by putting an end to the continual use of blackberrys and laptops in meetings...so that we can all better focus on the issues at hand; improve creativity. 

I know at home, my husband and boys have said "enough of the gamegirl" (their fond nickname for my blackberry)--and I have to say, I'm better for the honoring of their request... How about you?