State of the Union?

In many ways, these are the most baffling times I can recall, with U.S. politics changing daily, like the mini cliffhangers in an episode of a bad sitcom. For the biopharmaceutical industry, political turmoil that began pre-election, in late 2015, has created uncertainties that continue to impact biopharma investments, M&A and growth. After more than a year-and-a-half of waiting, we still lack clarity around what will become of the Affordable Care Act; how the FDA might be reformed and streamlined; if the Government will impose drug pricing controls; and how much talked about tax reforms might impact U.S. companies. With all these decisions still very much up in the air, is it any wonder that we have seen a drop in biopharma M&A or that we have continued to see a net outflow of investments in biotech since late 2015? The longest negative run that I can remember.

It’s at times like these that companies need to look deep inside themselves and ask the hard questions. What do we do now? How can we be different? Reinvent? Reinvigorate? Everything that we do, every decision that we make impacts our future success. It can be stressful to make important decisions – and very often, as leaders, we must make the hard decisions without all of the information that we would like to have. But, make decisions we must!

It’s not always simple. Often, executives are forced to make rapid decisions with imperfect data. We look at the facts that we do have, focus on the likely outcome and work with each other to make the best decision that we can. And by the way – making decisions is not about everybody agreeing, it’s about everyone being heard and then committing to the agreed path – cabinet responsibility or collective responsibility, leaders publicly supporting a decision or a direction, even if they do not privately agree with them. Once the decision is made an organization, and especially the management, must stay the course and learn from successes and even more from miscalculations. 

I have often used the 10-80-10 mantra. In my opinion, to be effective and decisive, an organization should spend 10% of its time planning and deciding on the best path forward, 80% of its time executing that plan and the remaining 10% of its time learning from both its successes and failures. Far too many companies spend too much time planning, or not enough time learning from their mistakes. The perfect plan, poorly executed, will undoubtedly fail. A mediocre plan that is well executed, is often successful, allowing for tweaks and changes along the way.

Once the plan is in place, whether you’re a an entry level worker, a member of the executive committee or part of an important corporate project, it’s essential to work together toward the best results. Teamwork allows individuals to contribute their knowledge, time and skills to accomplish something bigger than the individual contributors. In order for a team to function properly and succeed, unity is essential. So, in this uncertain state of our Union, stay united!

Happy Friday