Sometimes our greatest
strengths hold us back rather than propel us. It’s something I’ve
learned as I shift, like so many, towards a more digital way of working.
I pride myself on being someone who strives for perfection with the minimum of fuss, an impatient perfectionist. Few appreciate the concept of perfection better than those of us in the pharmaceutical industry. Every day our teams collaborate towards one overarching purpose –improving people’s lives with the most effective treatments possible. As I’ve written before, we have to get it right.
We’re trained to be cautious and methodical, reasoned and certain, motivated by proof points and accustomed to long lead times. We need to ensure that the data is certain, the i’s and t’s dotted and crossed before we progress. However, operating within a digital environment is not always conducive to such a structured process. Digital is disruptive, it thrives on risk and failure, it’s messy but liberatingly so.
And in my journey to become a digital leader, I’ve come to realise how important it is to embrace imperfection and uncertainty, to measure and use data with more spontaneity. Instead of always being definite about what works, I now need to sometimes figure it out as I go along.
For instance, we are about to embark on a pioneering new scheme for our inhalers by fitting them with smart technology. Even though we are confident in the need for such technology, its true potential is not yet clearly defined. Like our MyAsthma app I’ve mentioned before, rather than designing the soluti
ons all internally, we will be learning them by getting out there to see what works with patients.
Unusually for our industry, we will make broadly available something whose effect has not been perfected in-house. Instead, we’ll monitor the technology attached to an inhaler’s progress as ‘real’ people experience it in their ‘real’ lives, and each day of use will make its digital capabilities better and more responsive. To ensure that happens, the mind set of my respiratory teams must be one of willing experimentation rather than satisfied perfection.
And, as a leader, I will need to explore the paradox of my perfectionist yet impatient instincts. By seeing dead ends not as mistakes but as steps closer to success, I will have to embrace some chaos and imperfection. And by being more agile and iterative, gradually testing approaches rather than insisting upon certainties, I will embrace unpredictability and my impatience too.
In the pharma industry, we tend to focus on what we define as a problem and its solution. However, by reframing those problems with a wider perspective - utilising digital technology to challenge assumptions - we can learn with greater clarity about our patients’ lives and how we can better serve them.
With this more creative way of working - in which there might initially be minimal viability in products, and solutions are more complex to attain - everyone is pushed out of their comfort zones. To become a digital leader, it’s imperative that I empower individuals to express themselves. Allow them to feel uncomfortable, encourage them to iterate and pivot, loosen the shackles to inspire more courageous entrepreneurial attitudes rather than constraining them with perfectionist aspirations.
Digital compels me and my teams to be in a perpetual state of never quite dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s. We need to be open to new ideas and willing to fail - or at least not fearing it.
The real world is messy and most scientists don't like mess. Experiments are conducted in a controlled manner where all the parts are in place and the variables measured. In the digital world, we can't control everything and nor should we seek to, something I appreciate from my background in behavioural science.
The more we embrace the innovative ways digital tools are able to address problems, the more intuitive we become as leaders, scientists and businesspeople. By using technology to forge closer connections with our patients and customers, we’ll gain deeper and more meaningful insights into their problems and behaviours.
That doesn’t mean we should stop striving for perfection, we just need to achieve it in a different way.
Eric Dube
SVP & Head, Global Respiratory Franchise
I pride myself on being someone who strives for perfection with the minimum of fuss, an impatient perfectionist. Few appreciate the concept of perfection better than those of us in the pharmaceutical industry. Every day our teams collaborate towards one overarching purpose –improving people’s lives with the most effective treatments possible. As I’ve written before, we have to get it right.
We’re trained to be cautious and methodical, reasoned and certain, motivated by proof points and accustomed to long lead times. We need to ensure that the data is certain, the i’s and t’s dotted and crossed before we progress. However, operating within a digital environment is not always conducive to such a structured process. Digital is disruptive, it thrives on risk and failure, it’s messy but liberatingly so.
And in my journey to become a digital leader, I’ve come to realise how important it is to embrace imperfection and uncertainty, to measure and use data with more spontaneity. Instead of always being definite about what works, I now need to sometimes figure it out as I go along.
For instance, we are about to embark on a pioneering new scheme for our inhalers by fitting them with smart technology. Even though we are confident in the need for such technology, its true potential is not yet clearly defined. Like our MyAsthma app I’ve mentioned before, rather than designing the soluti
ons all internally, we will be learning them by getting out there to see what works with patients.
Unusually for our industry, we will make broadly available something whose effect has not been perfected in-house. Instead, we’ll monitor the technology attached to an inhaler’s progress as ‘real’ people experience it in their ‘real’ lives, and each day of use will make its digital capabilities better and more responsive. To ensure that happens, the mind set of my respiratory teams must be one of willing experimentation rather than satisfied perfection.
And, as a leader, I will need to explore the paradox of my perfectionist yet impatient instincts. By seeing dead ends not as mistakes but as steps closer to success, I will have to embrace some chaos and imperfection. And by being more agile and iterative, gradually testing approaches rather than insisting upon certainties, I will embrace unpredictability and my impatience too.
In the pharma industry, we tend to focus on what we define as a problem and its solution. However, by reframing those problems with a wider perspective - utilising digital technology to challenge assumptions - we can learn with greater clarity about our patients’ lives and how we can better serve them.
With this more creative way of working - in which there might initially be minimal viability in products, and solutions are more complex to attain - everyone is pushed out of their comfort zones. To become a digital leader, it’s imperative that I empower individuals to express themselves. Allow them to feel uncomfortable, encourage them to iterate and pivot, loosen the shackles to inspire more courageous entrepreneurial attitudes rather than constraining them with perfectionist aspirations.
Digital compels me and my teams to be in a perpetual state of never quite dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s. We need to be open to new ideas and willing to fail - or at least not fearing it.
The real world is messy and most scientists don't like mess. Experiments are conducted in a controlled manner where all the parts are in place and the variables measured. In the digital world, we can't control everything and nor should we seek to, something I appreciate from my background in behavioural science.
The more we embrace the innovative ways digital tools are able to address problems, the more intuitive we become as leaders, scientists and businesspeople. By using technology to forge closer connections with our patients and customers, we’ll gain deeper and more meaningful insights into their problems and behaviours.
That doesn’t mean we should stop striving for perfection, we just need to achieve it in a different way.
Eric Dube
SVP & Head, Global Respiratory Franchise
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