The talent pool may not have a lifeguard on duty
Oct/19/2007 11:27 Filed in: Life inside
pharma
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What I have seen at Lilly over the last few years is a bunch of very talented people either leave the company or take jobs outside of their area of expertise. Sure companies expect turnover but when your best people start leaving you have a real problem. I keep in touch with a lot of people within the industry both on the corporate and agency side and they are all telling me the same thing; there good people are leaving and the only ones that get promoted are those who now how to "play the system". At a time when DTC desperately needs new talent and new ideas to make inroads we are left with more of the same old same old. Even when a new drug is launched and the DTC campaign has kicked in along comes a major new issue (Byetta) that throws a wrench into business plans. Speed is a competitive advantage but in pharma a snails pace is the way they usually approach issues. As of this morning there was still nothing on the Byetta.com homepage to address the recent health warnings around use of the product.
Pharma usually recruits young MBA's right out of school so that they can "train" them before they get any big ideas on how to market products. Business magazines are now saying that some MBA's are choosing to go to small companies where they can make a difference instead of big Fortune 500 companies. Good for them ! I worked with a lot of MBA's and have seen them get frustrated and leave in droves. They are tired of moving in slow motion and having their ideas shot down by arrogant managers who give them reasons why things can't be done instead of encouraging them to take risks.
What this all means for DTC marketing is that talent pool maybe getting smaller and while some people sink or swim there is no lifeguard on duty. It means that to attract top talent pharma is going to have to pay more dollars but that not might be enough. In a recent survey by a management company more than 88% of people 25-55 indicated that they would chose a position for which they enjoyed work over a higher salaried job. Guess what..people want to be happy in what they do and have a meaningful job rather than a job where their livelihood could be taken away as more clinical trials indicate that the product has more problems then benefits.
I am passionate about DTC marketing. I really believe that if it is done well it can educate and inform a public who desperately want health information. But I also believe that patients have more power today over their treatment options than ever before and that transparency is now an essential to doing business. Pharma continues to use old business models and outdated MBA thinking to market products. This is going to lead to a drain on the talent pool which may take a decade to repair.
What I have seen at Lilly over the last few years is a bunch of very talented people either leave the company or take jobs outside of their area of expertise. Sure companies expect turnover but when your best people start leaving you have a real problem. I keep in touch with a lot of people within the industry both on the corporate and agency side and they are all telling me the same thing; there good people are leaving and the only ones that get promoted are those who now how to "play the system". At a time when DTC desperately needs new talent and new ideas to make inroads we are left with more of the same old same old. Even when a new drug is launched and the DTC campaign has kicked in along comes a major new issue (Byetta) that throws a wrench into business plans. Speed is a competitive advantage but in pharma a snails pace is the way they usually approach issues. As of this morning there was still nothing on the Byetta.com homepage to address the recent health warnings around use of the product.
Pharma usually recruits young MBA's right out of school so that they can "train" them before they get any big ideas on how to market products. Business magazines are now saying that some MBA's are choosing to go to small companies where they can make a difference instead of big Fortune 500 companies. Good for them ! I worked with a lot of MBA's and have seen them get frustrated and leave in droves. They are tired of moving in slow motion and having their ideas shot down by arrogant managers who give them reasons why things can't be done instead of encouraging them to take risks.
What this all means for DTC marketing is that talent pool maybe getting smaller and while some people sink or swim there is no lifeguard on duty. It means that to attract top talent pharma is going to have to pay more dollars but that not might be enough. In a recent survey by a management company more than 88% of people 25-55 indicated that they would chose a position for which they enjoyed work over a higher salaried job. Guess what..people want to be happy in what they do and have a meaningful job rather than a job where their livelihood could be taken away as more clinical trials indicate that the product has more problems then benefits.
I am passionate about DTC marketing. I really believe that if it is done well it can educate and inform a public who desperately want health information. But I also believe that patients have more power today over their treatment options than ever before and that transparency is now an essential to doing business. Pharma continues to use old business models and outdated MBA thinking to market products. This is going to lead to a drain on the talent pool which may take a decade to repair.
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