Patient stories and stories of patience - how Pharma 4.0 leaders share purpose with their teams and how you can too
GenAI notice - No AI-powered tools were used to generate the text for this article. It was improved however by some empowered humans on the IAAE team I work with to make it much better!
“You know, one of our team worked on a device line that was actually used to save his life.”
During a recent 2023 study of leading medical device manufacturers in Ireland, it was extremely interesting to hear this and several other inspiring stories of life-saving medicines and medical devices.
Some manufacturers are finding inspiration in having personal stories that connect their work to the impact it creates – and find ways to for these stories to be shared directly with their teams. Many of these leaders had arranged coffee mornings for their teams where patients were asked to share how a certain medical device assisted their treatment or recovery. It’s not a universal practice, This wasn't done by all leaders, and even those who have done so successfully shared that they intend to do it more often and get even better at sharing such stories?with their teams.
In this article let's explore:
Why Pharma 4.0 leaders need to share purpose
How life science leaders can share purpose through patient stories
How leaders can share purpose through stories of patience
Steps you might take to inspire others with purpose
Why Pharma 4.0 leaders need to share purpose
All leaders of organizations large or small need to share purpose. Every religion and worldview has an understanding of it. It has been well researched that to do meaningful work that contributes to a wider purpose is an innate desire of human beings. The psychiatrist and WW2 POW survivor Viktor Frankl, who wrote Man's Search for Meaning, described how the innate human quest for meaning is so strong that, even in the direst circumstances, people seek out their purpose in life.
We all seek out purpose in our lives, sometimes more explicitly and consciously, and depending on circumstances sometimes indirectly and subconsciously. In 2024, there were estimated to be approximately 3.5 billion people employed worldwide. It is to be expected that as human beings we will also seek out purpose and meaning in our workplaces.
However, the application of purpose to organization is a newer idea. Without thoughtful leadership, purpose could become a source of new organizational pathologies (self-imposed burnout, cause-based short-sightedness, even illegal activities such as record falsification to cover up a 'noble purpose', etc.) rather than seeing purpose as a source of organizational health that can give a deep sense of meaning and dignity to both individual and collaborative efforts.
Let's begin with two questions to orient ourselves to the context in Life Sciences where we can share purpose: What is Pharma 4.0? and What type of leadership is needed by life science leaders as the nature of work itself is changing?
What is Pharma 4.0?
To gain a full understanding of the concept of Pharma 4.0, I recommend a review of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Pharma 4.0 Baseline Guide. However, the explanation below by Thomas Zimmer, one of the ISPE Pharma 4.0 guide’s?core team, gives a helpful overview in this article and quote below.
Originating historically from Industry 4.0 approaches, Pharma 4.0 aims to transfer the principles of Industry 4.0 to the pharmaceutical industry, in particular to the codes and terms typical of the industry and the strict regulation of processes, products and technical standards that are unique to this industry. Pharma 4.0 therefore describes the prerequisites for a successful digital transformation, regardless of size and area of application. - Thomas Zimmer, ISPE
What type of leadership is needed as the nature of work itself is changing?
To quote Wolfgang Winter, another member of ISPE’s Pharma 4.0 guide core team:
“Digital transformation is not a sprint; it is an ultra-marathon, requiring patience, persistence, and a long-term vision. - Wolfgang Winter, Ibid.
This is great. Not only does this convey the more accurate understanding of digital transformation as something much longer-term and needing long-term vision, it also conveys the idea of people leaders needing to rethink their roles to increasingly be one with attributes of a coach. Next generation business leaders will need to be ultra-marathon coaches rather than sprinter coaches. So why is this shift important?
According to a 2019 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers , only 28% of employees felt connected to their company’s purpose. This study was across industries and reveals a serious disconnect that needs to be addressed by leaders so that purpose goes well beyond just an abstract intention. Leaders have an opportunity to create a much more concrete and tangible communication of how the efforts by a specific person, team, product or function group, connect to the purpose of the wider company and to the customers or patients the company seeks to help.
The good news is that the Life Sciences?industry is one of the very best industries to work in, or with, when connecting work with purpose for you and your teams – your work together helps either improve or saves lives!?We are all patients, know someone who is a patient right now, or will be a patient in the future.
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How Life Science leaders can share purpose through patient stories
At a National Institute for Innovation in the Manufacturing of Biopharmaceuticals conference in Washington, DC, where I and some of the IAAE team attended in June 2019, Tom Whitehead, a father from Pennsylvania was invited to speak. He shared how his daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2010 when she was only five years old. Emily was enrolled in a cell therapy trial two years later and was the first pediatric patient in the world to receive CAR T-cell therapy. The process involved collecting her T-cells (a type of white blood cell), genetically reprogramming them to recognize and attack cancer cells, and infusing the modified cells back into her blood. The therapy worked and she is still free of cancer today. She and her parents established the Emily Whitehead foundation and you can read more about her inspiring journey here .
This is an extraordinary story – and clearly left an impression on me, as I’m still thinking about it five years later. Sharing similar patient stories during a coffee morning is a great way to deepen genuine empathy, personalize collective impact, inspire and energize your team, and instill a healthy urgency into the way you and your team work together, a chosen urgency in proportion to a human and empathetic response to the patients who have shared their stories. Could this be done poorly? Of course. Should it be done thoughtfully and sensitively, making tangible links between the medicines or medical products you are researching, producing, or distributing, making an impact on real peoples’ lives? Definitely.
How leaders can share purpose through stories of patience
Leaders who share purpose share both patient stories and stories of the often long and patient journey needed to impact others. Such leaders understand how cumulative effort and action, or lack of action, impacts the lives of real people. They spend some time to develop a deeper understanding of the history of medicines and medical devices, the context of their own industry and medical products, as well as some stories of those who have led breakthroughs in the field.
To build upon the earlier story of Emily Whitehead, a documentary film?following the work of the medical staff at the Children’s Hospital of Philadephia. It is called Of Medicine and Miracles and follows Dr. Carl June as he and his fellow researchers attempted to find a cure for acute leukemia, and enrolled Emily in the first clinical trial available to children It is a remarkable and moving documentary and recently in 2024 became available via Vimeo to stream on demand.
Steps you might take to inspire others with purpose
Re-ignite your own purpose
Ask yourself what motivates you . Reflect on connections between your own work and purpose. Consider reading or watching stories like that of Dr Carl June, who work tirelessly to invent, manufacture, or distribute medicines or devices. Or for example, listen to the fascinating book Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients and learn about those who patiently study what makes us ill, keeps us ill or kills us. Consider reading or watching stories by patients who have been treated by innovative medicines or medical products, perhaps starting with the ones that your company makes or contributes to.
Hone your question asking skills
Ask your team “questions that echo”, the ones that aren’t easy to answer quickly but rather stimulate deeper reflection and curiosity as to why you are asking them. For example, “What motivates you to work as well as you do and for as long as you have?” ?You may find some of the answers that your colleagues give you to be wonderful examples of how you can phrase purpose to others.
Practice sharing vision informed by your renewed purpose
Almost no one is an immediate expert at anything. With the advent of social media we are now all subject to a tendency of recent bias that leads us to perceive the work by everyone else as 'fully formed' on first or early attempts. Our recommendation at IAAE is to start using your own voice with the people you work with, however imperfect you perceive your efforts may be. Your colleagues will respect you all the more for making authentic efforts to go beyond your comfort zone, and are more likely to trust you, and what you say in future, as a result.
For future articles I invite you to follow me here on LinkedIn and also consider subscribing to the IAAE email newsletter to hear about articles by other IAAE thought leaders.
Sources?
The Crisis of Purpose (PWC)
Pharma’s Digital Transformation - Lessons Learned from ISPE’s Pharma 4.0 Baseline Guide (CHEManager International, Accessed 27SEP24)
Of Medicine and Miracles (Vimeo on demand)
Epic Measures: One Doctor. Seven Billion Patients (Amazon audiobook)