The Three Rules Movement

We recently came across a website that is supporting a book by two Deloitte Consultants.  The book is The Three Rules by Micheal Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed and here is a link to the site.  Here is another link to a radio interview on Bloomberg Radio. 

In short, it highlights for us the need to have companies focus on being better before cheaper. Our world today seems to be run by lawyers looking out more for risk mitigation, HR people who are looking for the exact specs on their job postings and finance personnel who are looking more at cost avoidance than revenue generation. Somewhere in all this advancement the last 4 years, industry and corporations focus less and less on the customer.  We believe this is very true in life science companies and to some degree we now see it in healthcare entities as they try to figure out how they are going to manage the US healthcare reform act.  

We are interested in your thoughts. Let us know what you think of the rules and the book.  

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.  

Saving Capitalism and Sunday Dinner

Whatever happened to taking our time? For those of us old enough to remember, a time once existed when virtually all stores were closed on Sundays. Yes, all shopping happened the rest of the week. Sundays were reserved for family and friends; some of us even ate dinner at an earlier hour, and we didn’t dare be late for it, either. Of course, this was a time when computers were the size of tanks and most of us only got three channels on our television sets. 

Life moved at a slower pace.

Now, life moves in nanoseconds. Is it possible to connect today’s freneticism to Dominic Barton’s argument in the Harvard Business Review that for capitalism to thrive, the business world, among other improvements, must start thinking in the long-term –- and that means not in terms of a few months, but in terms of many years?

Mr. Barton’s concern is that unless business leaders fix those problems that were exposed during the Great Recession, Washington and the public will do it for them. 

“There is growing concern that if the fundamental issues revealed in the crisis remain unaddressed and the system fails again, the social contract between the capitalist system and the citizenry may truly rupture, with unpredictable but severely damaging results,” writes Mr. Barton, the global managing director of McKinsey and Company.

He advocates:

• Adopting a long-term view for success –- at least five years;

• Convincing typical stakeholders that also serving atypical stakeholders –- customers, creditors, the environment –- is essential to success, and;

• Converting disengaged board members into engaged, proactive members.

He makes a lot of sense, but we fear his words are too scary for some.

“Analysts and investors are focused on the short term,” he quotes one executive as saying. “They believe social initiatives don’t create value in the near term.” In other words, Wall Street may not like it.

A couple of statistics from Mr. Barton’s story:

• In 1995, the average CEO stayed on the job for 10 years; now, that tenure has dropped to six years. 
• In the 1970s, U.S. equities were held for an average of about seven years; now it’s about seven months. 
• "Hyper-speed” traders account for 70% of all U.S. equities trading. 

When McKinsey and Company broke down the value expectations buried in share prices, it discovered that 70% to 90% of a company’s value was connected to cash flows that were anticipated in at least another three years. If most companies’ worth relies on results that far out, but its leaders are concerned with what’s reportable in the next quarter, then capitalism -- and by default our American culture -- is in trouble, Mr. Barton says.

We think capitalism, Sunday dinner, and a whole host of other valuable traditions  are in trouble.  Maybe we need to focus on what is important and slow down.