Archives for June 2020

The Key Challenges: Life Sciences and Healthcare 2020’ is the latest report from Cornerstone International Group based on a global survey of stakeholders from across the life sciences healthcare (LSH) industry. The following is an extract on leadership compiled by project leader Eric Bouteiller of Cornerstone Beijing

The first impression listening to CEOs and leaders was their humility. Almost one quarter did not answer or comment about leadership related questions. Some felt they were too young in their position. Maybe it is due to the length of the product cycle and the fact that the results of their work will be for their successor. Leaders’ tenures are often shorter than product cycles. “I needed two years just to understand our business”, records the head of a big medical device company.

Another explanation might be the intrinsic difficulty of making decisions in an environment controlled on one side by scientific experts and on the other by Government officials. Leadership in this business, said one French executive, must be ego-free.

The following four soft skills of efficient leadership were widely cited across responses:

1. Understand science and technology

Cross specialty and cross expertise are nowadays required by the leader, explains the CEO of a start-up:

In my field, a pharma leader that does not understand digital, biology & diagnostics will be lost. We are at the junction of these fields. Everything is inter-connected now. You can no longer just do phase 1, phase 2, phase 3 and then launch (…) Everything is opening up… Even in pharmaceutical, you now have to focus on Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) at the same time… It has to be mastered by the leader”.

This is true for “noble products” like pharmaceuticals, but also for basics such as surfactants, added the COO of a European group. The customers (hospitals) care about the environmental impact:

Breakthrough innovations are expected even for wipes. How to target specific germs in hospitals and prevent nosocomial diseases? How to prevent flooding with chemicals? How to recycle them?”

2. Manage complexity

Leadership in LSH is linked to the complexity of sciences and market access. Most often products or services in LSH are reimbursed in different ways and reimbursement processes are complex to master. They are very country specific, and, being at the core of public decision-making, swing according to political situations. In the words of one US CEO, it is about…

catching what escapes higher-order thinking, making connections between different dots”.

3. Act fast

Another set of concepts used by interviewees to describe leadership soft skills included “change”, “be agile”, and “be reactive”. The CEO of a Healthcare IT company put it in a poetic way:

I cannot change the direction of the wind, but I can change the sail.”

4. Act with integrity

Another suite of attributes concerned what it takes to deliver on such concepts as “courage”, “risk taking”, “determination” and “integrity”. We were impressed not only by the level of energy needed to guide transformation itself but also by the strong ethics required to do this for the good of the patient. A seasoned head of a global organization observed:

Ethics and compliance have changed everything for us. It started one decade ago and is continuing. Compliance is about how you interact with prescribers but also how you interact with academics and scientists. We launch one initiative every few months. It makes our life more complex and bureaucratic, but it is for the good”.

The above summary also appeared in the global publication PharmaBoardroom.
Click here to read the full report: ‘The Key Challenges: Life Sciences and Healthcare 2020’.

What does this mean for me? That’s the only question anyone has for an executive onboarding into a new role.

No one cares about you. All they care about is how you’re going to impact their lives.

And they’re scared. Change is uncertain and unsettling. This is why you have to establish your credibility, connect emotionally, rationally confirm the current reality, and paint an inspirational picture of a shared future.

This is counter-intuitive for most new executives. They think others want to learn about their background, how they like to work, and their vision and values. People do want to understand those – but not first. They can’t hear anything until they believe they’re going to be safe. And, in a crisis, this is magnified exponentially.

Start with Aristotle’s Ethos – Pathos – Logos framework:

• Ethos gets at why the audience should listen to you – credibility and character.
• Pathos is about connecting with the audience’s emotions.
• Logos is about convincing with logic or reason.

Add the emotional – rational – inspirational framework:

• Emotional: Be authentic, relatable and vulnerable as you empathize with how they are feeling.
• Rational: Lay out the hard facts and possible impacts of the current situation.
• Inspirational: Paint an optimistic view of the future and how you all can get to that future together.

Mash those together, adding-in the need to converge into an organization before you try to evolve it, and you get these building blocks for your day one communication.

Credibility. Someone needs to give the audience a reason to listen to you – but not you. Let someone else introduce you and explain why you’re the right person for this job. They can say things you can’t.

If they talk about you’ve done in the past, that helps others believe you are the right leader for this situation. They are endorsing you and making people more willing to listen to you. If you say those things, you’re bragging. And no one likes braggarts.

Emotional Connection. The person introducing you should give your audience a reason to listen to you. Follow that by making the audience want to listen to you. Do this by giving them insight into your character.

Help them relate to you in a way that makes them think you’ve been in their shoes or, at least, understand what they’re going through.  Be authentic, relatable and vulnerable as you empathize with how they are feeling.

Rational Current Reality. Having connected emotionally, now you can look at the hard facts of the current situation. This is the first part of the Stockdale Paradox – realism. This is cold, rational, logical and reasonable. Stay as close to the facts and as far away from opinion as you can.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has started every one of his daily Covid-19 press conferences with facts. He is being crystal clear on when he is sharing facts and when he is sharing opinions. Do that.

Inspirational Shared Future. End with the second part of the Stockdale Paradox – optimism. Paint a picture of the future in which all can envision themselves. It’s not about your vision. It’s about their vision.

This is where you inspire them and make them want to work with you to get to that better place together. Note that “work with you” is hugely different than “follow you.” Share the vision. Build the path together.

If you do this right, your audience will think:

1. I should listen to this new leader (credibility)
2. I want to listen to this new leader (emotional connection)
3. This new leader understands our predicament (rationally)
4. I like this new leader’s direction (inspired)

This has been about day one first impressions. Once you’ve established your credibility, think in terms of emotional connection – rational assessment – inspirational direction.

Many new leaders go through New Leader Assimilation sessions to answer questions about their background, ways of working, vision and values. This flips the communication from bragging to responding.

A month or so in, pivot from asking questions and converging to evolving by co-creating a shared purpose and imperative. Telling yields compliance. Selling, testing or consulting invites contribution. Co-creation inspires commitment.

Despite severe pressure arising from the coronavirus pandemic, global health regulations could be a beneficiary in the new normal, says a leading US health authority.

“We are seeing a broader interaction between industry and the regulator as a result of Covid-19,” says Susan Winckler, CEO of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the US Federal Drug Administration.  “As this travels the world, we will see more rapid decisions being made in s structurally lengthy process.

Speaking at a Life Sciences and Health webinar held by the global executive recruiter Cornerstone International Group, Winckler cited ways in which the regulatory process is being improved by the impact of Covid-19.

“There is a growing acceptance of what is called real world evidence,” she says.  “This is where the information we gather about product or test performance includes real-life data from electronic health records as well as data from formal screening and diagnostic tests.”

Another improvement is the significant progress being made in harmonizing global standards.

A life science company has to work with many different regulators having different requirements around the world. A pandemic by definition brings the global healthcare authorities together and they learn quickly how each works and how adjustments can improve or speed up a process.

“The new normal that the post pandemic world brings may be quite different,“ says Winckler. “I think particularly in the acceptance of real world evidence, and in the need for regulators and regulated industry to interact even more extensively than they typically would.”

The Life Sciences and Healthcare practice is one of several talent specializations of Cornerstone International Group and recently published a major global report on challenges facing the industry.

COVID-19 took the world by surprise locking down countries and suspending the economy. Now we are moving forward, through uncharted waters, creating a new normal.

Here is a leadership framework that can provide navigation.

Protection
Provide structured procedures and measures to ensure your employees, customers, subcontractors and their families feel protected returning to work.

Recovery
Business is open, reaffirm strategies that are designed to keep the employees and the Company together.

Opportunity
Align all Leaders; manage with compassion; coach for success in the new business landscape.

Analysis
Be proactive. Plan and prepare for a 2nd Wave of the Pandemic.

Communication
Launch an agile communication plan that is flexible and adaptable, ensuring effectiveness of messages and utilization of the best platforms.

Transformation
There will be a new business landscape; set expectations, provide structure, vision and mission.

Sustainability
We are here to stay. Test the effectiveness of what has been put in place and evolve to the new ways of working.

To learn more about each of these steps, join the Cornerstone International Group – Cornerstone Toronto webinar on June 8th, 2020. Webinar registration is here;