Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness) in Pharma

I was just browsing twitter and found a great article by Forbes contributor Jessica Hagy.  The article entitled "The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)" has real implications to life science and specifically large pharma companies.  Here are some of our thoughts.  



  1. Availability
    • Marketers typically take the path of least resistance.  They feel they need to push things fast and often miss future opportunities when the evidence right in front of them aligns 
  2. Ignorance
    • Life science marketers often have settled for what they can get done with their regulatory/legal colleagues. If we do not know how to make something great, we simply won't. It is easier to succumb to the legal challenges than take a longer term view and fight the key issue facing marketers.  The ability to create valuable medical content that patients and healthcare professionals want to read 
  3. Committees
    • Hagey's quote here says it all. "Nothing destroys a good idea faster than a mandatory consensus.  The lowest common denominator is never a high standard.
  4. Comfort
    • Many of us are all well paid and very comfortable in our lives.  People who are complacent are often not encouraged to pursue greatness. Only recently has the industry been feeling the need or desire to change.
  5. Momentum
    • If you have been doing something for more than 3-5 years and it is no longer providing you exciting results, you might want to change.  Marketers should begin to look at how the electronic communications are conveying important messages and value to customers.  
  6. Passivity
    • Do not accept something if you truly believe "this is a bad idea."  The challenge with many senior leaders is that they hear only the good news and do not accept contradictory views.
Finally, Hagey finished the article with a survey question to the reader.  What did they think was the biggest obstacle in achieving greatness?  The respondents suggested that comfort and passivity more than any other barrier prevent greatness.  

Lets see if we can not change this some.