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The Promise AI Journey in Pharma: Summary and final Reflections

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 16:19:14 GMT

Over the past months, through my LinkedIn series “Chapter: The Promise Journey,” I have explored how AI is weaving a transformative red thread throughout pharma’s complex ecosystem. This article offers a comprehensive summary and reflections on the early stages of this journey, highlighting the immense promise AI holds, and the leadership and cultural shifts required to fully realize its potential.

A New Era of Innovation in Pharma

Pharma has traditionally been a high-stakes, high-investment industry with long development cycles and significant uncertainty. AI introduces a paradigm shift by accelerating processes, reducing costs, and enhancing precision. From early drug discovery to personalised medicine, AI-driven tools are enabling breakthroughs that were once unimaginable.

The first chapters of this journey focus on how AI accelerates drug discovery by analysing vast datasets, identifying novel compounds, and predicting their efficacy and safety profiles with unprecedented speed. This not only shortens timelines but also increases the likelihood of success, ultimately bringing therapies to patients faster.

Personalised Medicine: Tailoring Treatments Like Never Before

One of the most exciting promises of AI in pharma is its ability to unlock personalised medicine. By integrating genomic data, electronic health records, and real-world evidence, AI algorithms can identify patient subgroups that respond best to specific treatments. This precision approach improves outcomes, reduces adverse effects, and optimises healthcare resources.

The journey also highlights how AI-driven diagnostics and predictive analytics empower clinicians to make better-informed decisions, shifting the focus from reactive to proactive care. This transformation is vital in chronic disease management and rare conditions, where early intervention can significantly alter patient trajectories.

The Human Factor: Leadership and Culture

While technology is a powerful enabler, the real challenge lies in leadership and culture. AI adoption demands more than just tools; it requires a mindset shift. Leaders must foster a culture of experimentation, where failure is seen as a learning opportunity rather than a setback. This cultural agility is essential for navigating the uncertainties and complexities inherent in AI projects.

Visionary leadership plays a pivotal role in setting a clear AI strategy, aligning stakeholders, and ensuring ethical considerations are front and centre. Transparency, data privacy, and patient trust cannot be compromised in the pursuit of innovation. Leaders must balance ambition with responsibility, guiding their organisations through this transformative journey with courage and clarity.

Building AI-Ready Teams

The Promise Journey also underscores the importance of building cross-functional teams that combine domain expertise with data science skills. Collaboration between biologists, clinicians, data scientists, and technologists is critical to translating AI insights into real-world impact. Investing in upskilling and fostering a learning culture ensures teams remain adaptive and resilient.

Moreover, empowering teams with the right tools and data infrastructure accelerates experimentation and innovation cycles. This agility enables pharma companies to iterate rapidly, test hypotheses, and scale successful AI applications effectively.

Reflections on Early Successes and Challenges

As with any transformative journey, the path is not without obstacles. Data quality and integration remain significant challenges, as pharma organisations grapple with siloed systems and fragmented datasets. Overcoming these barriers requires robust data governance frameworks and strategic partnerships.

Early successes, however, demonstrate the tangible benefits of AI. From identifying promising drug candidates to optimising clinical trial recruitment, AI is delivering measurable improvements. These wins build momentum and confidence, encouraging broader adoption across the industry.

Looking Ahead: The Road to Realising AI’s Full Potential

The Promise AI Journey in pharma is still unfolding, but the trajectory is clear. AI is set to become an indispensable partner in the quest to develop safer, more effective therapies and deliver personalised care at scale. To fully harness this potential, pharma organisations must:

Embrace a culture of continuous learning and experimentation
Invest in leadership that champions innovation with ethical stewardship
Build integrated data ecosystems that enable seamless AI applications
Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration to bridge the gap between science and technology

The journey is as much about people and culture as it is about algorithms and data. By aligning technology with human insight and values, pharma can unlock a future where AI truly delivers on its promise—transforming lives and healthcare worldwide.

Key Takeaways

AI accelerates drug discovery and clinical trials, reducing timelines and costs

Personalised medicine is becoming a reality through AI-driven data integration

Leadership and culture shifts are critical to successful AI adoption

Cross-functional teams combining scientific and data expertise drive innovation

Data quality, governance, and integration remain ongoing challenges

Early successes build momentum for broader AI implementation in pharma

This summary reflects the core themes and insights from my LinkedIn series, providing a roadmap for pharma leaders and innovators eager to navigate the AI journey. The promise is immense, but realising it requires courage, collaboration, and a relentless focus on patient-centric outcomes.

Together, we can shape the future of medicine with AI as a trusted ally.

The Promise AI Journey in Pharma: A First Summary and reflections

Mon, 12 May 2025 17:21:45 GMT

As artificial intelligence reshapes the pharmaceutical landscape, I am compelled to synthesize the key milestones and reflections from my LinkedIn series, The Promise AI Journey, into this first comprehensive summary. This article distills lessons from building AI roadmaps, navigating Pharma’s unique challenges, and envisioning a future where AI accelerates both innovation and ethical responsibility.

This article brings together the key learnings, milestones, and perspectives, making the journey accessible in one place for all those eager to harness AI’s transformative power.

Understanding AI and Its Impact on Business

The journey began with a fundamental realisation: AI is not just a tool, but a transformative force that is reshaping how businesses operate and compete. In the early chapters, I explored the profound impact of AI on business models, decision-making, and organisational culture. It became clear that true digital leadership requires not only adopting new technologies but also fostering a mindset open to change and innovation.

Choosing the Right AI Project

A pivotal step in any AI journey is selecting the right project to start with. Success hinges on aligning AI initiatives with core business objectives and ensuring they address real pain points. I emphasised the importance of starting small, learning fast, and scaling what works-advice drawn from both experience and industry best practices.

Building an AI Roadmap

No AI transformation happens by chance. One of the most valuable lessons has been the need to chart a clear AI roadmap. This involves defining strategic priorities, securing executive buy-in, and setting realistic milestones. In my posts, I highlighted how a structured roadmap not only guides implementation but also builds confidence across the organisation, enabling teams to navigate challenges and celebrate progress.

AI in Pharma: Bridging Promise and Reality

Given my background in the pharmaceutical sector, I dedicated a chapter to the unique opportunities and challenges of AI in pharma. While the promise of AI is immense-from accelerating drug discovery to personalising patient care-the reality is often more complex. Bridging the gap requires not just technology, but also collaboration, regulatory understanding, and a relentless focus on value creation.

The Leadership Imperative

Throughout the journey, one theme stands out: effective AI transformation is a leadership challenge as much as a technical one. Business leaders must champion digital transformation, foster a culture of experimentation, and empower their teams to embrace new ways of working. My reflections underscore the importance of continuous learning and the courage to lead through uncertainty.

Looking Forward

The Promise AI Journey is far from over. Each chapter brings new questions, fresh insights, and opportunities to grow. I am committed to sharing these learnings openly, hoping they inspire others to embark on their own AI journeys-whether in pharma or beyond.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." – Alan Kay

Let’s continue to explore, experiment, and shape the future of AI together.

AI in Pharma: Promise vs. Reality - Bridging the Gap

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 07:45:28 GMT

The pharmaceutical industry stands on the brink of an AI revolution, yet a significant gap exists between potential and practical application. Discover why embracing AI fully is crucial for the future of pharmaceuticals.

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the pharmaceutical landscape, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation and efficiency. In drug discovery, AI algorithms analyze vast datasets of chemical compounds and biological processes, significantly accelerating the identification of potential drug candidates. This technology has reduced the time and cost associated with traditional drug development methods, which typically span 15 years and cost billions of dollars. AI's impact extends beyond drug discovery. In clinical trials, machine learning algorithms optimize patient selection, predict drug interactions, and improve success rates. Personalized medicine has also seen advancements, with AI analyzing patient data to tailor treatments to individual genetic profiles. Furthermore, AI enhances operational efficiency in manufacturing processes and supply chain management.

The potential of AI in pharmaceuticals is vast. From generating new molecules with desired properties to synthesizing biological sequences and simulating complex clinical scenarios, AI is driving innovation across the entire drug development pipeline. This technological revolution promises to deliver faster, safer, and more cost-effective drug development processes, ultimately benefiting patients worldwide.

The Reality Check: AI Adoption Challenges

Despite the promising potential of AI in pharmaceuticals, the industry faces significant challenges in its widespread adoption and practical implementation. While many companies claim to use AI, the reality is that deep, transformative AI integration remains elusive for most.

One of the primary obstacles is the lack of suitable IT infrastructure. Many pharmaceutical companies operate on legacy systems not designed for AI integration, necessitating substantial investments in upgrading their technological capabilities. This misalignment between existing infrastructure and AI requirements has slowed adoption rates considerably.

Another critical challenge is the shortage of AI expertise within pharmaceutical organizations. The complex nature of AI technologies requires specialized knowledge that many companies lack in-house. This knowledge gap has created a disconnect between AI's potential and its practical application in day-to-day operations.

Data quality and accessibility also pose significant hurdles. AI algorithms require vast amounts of high-quality, well-structured data to function effectively. However, many pharmaceutical companies struggle with data silos, inconsistent data formats, and privacy concerns, limiting the effectiveness of AI applications.

Regulatory uncertainty further complicates AI adoption. The lack of clear guidelines for validating and approving AI-driven drug development processes has led to hesitancy among industry players, particularly in areas directly impacting patient safety and drug efficacy.

These challenges have resulted in a significant gap between AI's theoretical potential and its practical implementation. Industry experts estimate that only about 30% of pharmaceutical companies have successfully integrated AI into their core processes, with even fewer achieving transformative results from their AI initiatives.

A Framework for Deep AI Integration

To bridge the gap between AI's promise and its practical application in pharmaceuticals, a strategic framework is essential. This approach should focus on three key areas: the "Why," the "How," and the "What" of AI integration.

Why: Understanding the Value Proposition

Companies must clearly articulate why AI is crucial for their specific needs. This involves:

Identifying key pain points in current processes

Quantifying potential benefits in terms of time, cost, and innovation

Aligning AI initiatives with overall business strategy

How: Building the Foundation

Successful AI integration requires:

Investing in robust, AI-compatible IT infrastructure

Developing in-house AI expertise through training and strategic hiring

Establishing data governance protocols to ensure high-quality, accessible data

Collaborating with regulatory bodies to navigate compliance challenges

What: Implementing Targeted AI Solutions

Focus on:

Prioritizing AI projects with the highest potential impact

Starting with pilot programs to demonstrate value and gain organizational buy-in

Continuously measuring and communicating AI-driven outcomes

Iterating and scaling successful AI applications across the organization

By adopting this framework, pharmaceutical companies can move beyond surface-level AI applications and unlock its transformative potential. Deep AI integration requires commitment, investment, and a cultural shift towards data-driven decision-making. However, the rewards – in terms of accelerated drug discovery, improved patient outcomes, and enhanced operational efficiency – make this journey essential for the future of the pharmaceutical industry.

The Power of Strategic Storytelling in Pharma Branding

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 16:18:06 GMT

Strategic storytelling has emerged as a compelling tool for pharma brands to effectively engage and connect with their target audiences. By leveraging the power of storytelling, pharma brands can communicate their messages, build relationships, and establish an emotional connection with customers

Storytelling plays a crucial role in the pharmaceutical industry for several reasons:

Strategic storytelling has emerged as a compelling tool for pharma brands to effectively engage and connect with their target audiences. By leveraging the power of storytelling, pharma brands can communicate their messages, build relationships, and establish an emotional connection with customers. This article explores the concept of strategic storytelling, its benefits for pharma brands, effective story crafting, and strategies for maximizing impact.

Simplifying Complex Information: Pharmaceutical products and research often involve intricate scientific data. Storytelling helps distill this complexity into more understandable and relatable narratives, making it easier for patients, healthcare professionals, and investors to grasp the essential points.

Building Emotional Connections: By sharing real-life stories of patients and their experiences, pharmaceutical companies can create emotional connections with their audience. This humanizes the brand and fosters trust and loyalty.

Enhancing Engagement: In an age where attention spans are short, compelling stories can capture and retain the audience’s attention more effectively than dry, factual presentations.

Driving Brand Loyalty: Stories that resonate emotionally with the audience can lead to stronger brand loyalty. When people feel connected to a brand’s story, they are more likely to remain loyal customers.

Influencing Decision-Making: Storytelling can influence both healthcare professionals’ and patients’ decision-making processes by presenting information in a way that is memorable and impactful.

Differentiating the Brand: In a competitive market, storytelling can help a pharmaceutical company stand out by highlighting unique aspects of its products or mission.

Understanding Strategic Storytelling: Strategic storytelling involves conveying a message through a carefully crafted narrative that resonates with the target audience. It establishes an emotional connection, communicates brand values, and differentiates from competitors. By utilizing strategic storytelling, pharma brands can shape a positive brand image and effectively convey their mission and goals.

Benefits for Pharma Brands

Pharma brands can reap numerous benefits from strategic storytelling:

Emotional Connections: Sharing relatable stories enhances customer loyalty and trust.
Differentiation: It helps brands stand out in a competitive market.
Engagement: Drives sales, generates leads, and enhances overall customer engagement.

Crafting an Effective Story: To craft an effective story, pharma brands must:

Understand Their Audience: Create a narrative that resonates with them.
Be Relatable and Engaging: Ensure the story reflects the brand’s values and goals.
Maintain Realism: Keep the narrative compelling and realistic.

Maximizing Impact Through Storytelling: To maximize the impact of their stories, pharma brands should:

Utilize Multiple Media Platforms: Reach the target audience effectively.
Incorporate Visuals: Enhance the story’s engagement and memorability.
Include a Clear Call to Action: Prompt the audience to take desired actions.

The Role of Cultural Relevance: In today’s diverse society, it is crucial for healthcare brands to demonstrate cultural relevance in their stories. Bridging the gap across languages, cultures, and awareness states ensures that individuals have access to care that can improve their lives. Collaborating with creative studios to develop culturally relevant stories builds trust and inspires action.

The Power of Storytelling in Health: Storytelling is an immensely powerful tool in healthcare marketing, offering a unique opportunity to connect with individuals rather than merely present information. In the deeply personal field of health, patients deserve to be treated as humans with nuance and complexity. Shifting the perspective from traditional marketing to storytelling can pave the way for improved outcomes and patient satisfaction.

In the face of time constraints on primary care physicians, patients are increasingly seeking additional resources to supplement their understanding of their health conditions. Contextual and culturally relevant storytelling can play a pivotal role in healthcare marketing, effectively engaging diverse populations and inspiring informed health decisions. By embracing the power of storytelling, healthcare organizations can improve patient outcomes and ensure that individuals receive the care they need with empathy and nuance.

STORYTELLING IN PHARMA AS NEW MANTRA_part 2

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 13:40:10 GMT

Storytelling in healthcare marketing is a tool that allows you to tell a story using sensory language presented in a way that enables listeners to internalise it, understand it and create their own meaning. Your customers do not buy your product or service. They buy the emotion you make them feel.

Storytelling as Healthcare & Medical marketing strategy

The pharmaceutical industry, as we well know, is highly regulated and restricted, facing an enormous challenge: health care consumers.

Pharmaceutical companies have always faced challenges in attracting the attention of patients, such as being their default drug of choice in the face of so many barriers to prove their product is good, with advances in technology people have changed the way they approach their health. The pharmaceutical industry today focuses more on educating and sensitising patients about diseases and how to prevent them, as opposed to the old product-focused health marketing strategy.

Today's pharmaceutical industries have become more personal with their patients, if your content does not appeal to the audience emotionally, you will lose their attention; content must provide meaning and relevance.

Emotion as the protagonist in a healthcare marketing strategy

People are attracted to stories because they have meaning and create an emotional impact. Good stories can produce powerful results for brands by connecting with people through values, ideas and lived experiences. Virtual reality in medicine exists to help us achieve this.

What is storytelling in healthcare medical marketing?

Storytelling in healthcare marketing is a tool that allows you to tell a story using sensory language presented in a way that enables listeners to internalise it, understand it and create their own meaning. Your customers do not buy your product or service. They buy the emotion you make them feel.

In a health marketing strategy, any medium can be used to tell a story, including video, e-mail, social channels and case studies. However, each medium provokes a different reaction from the audience.

In our case, through videos, we can offer the customer the experience of experiencing more closely how a disease develops, how it is observed, how the medicine we use works in our body and a number of other processes.

WHAT DOES STORYTELLING AS A PHARMA CONTENT MARKETING TOOL CONTRIBUTE?

Storytelling allows you to connect with the customer/patient on an emotional level through the stories that are told; a story always has a purpose and through it you can make a more detailed explanation either of the disease (which helps a lot to understand people and the disease they are experiencing), or of some experience with the disease by a patient (it can provide support to people who suffer from the disease and do not feel alone), or of a medical device (how it was used, mistakes, benefits, who can use it) .... Storytelling can be adapted to the needs and objectives of each company.

3DforScience believes that stories help inspire people to think differently and engage their senses and minds. They don't just hear the stories, they experience them. This creates a real connection between the company and the patient.

Why does storytelling matter in marketing?

It provides simplicity

Expressing information as a narrative condenses a complex situation down to its essentials. Concentration adds power without necessarily taking anything away. The novelist Ernest Hemingway once won a bar bet on who could write the shortest story, with an article of only 6 words: 'For sale: children's shoes. Never worn'. But those few words express an entire story and have a great emotional impact.

It focuses on what’s important

Storytelling is a lens that identifies and magnifies what really matters. This is crucial in marketing, where we often struggle to select key brand attributes and market factors. Once you have decided what to focus on, it is easier to organise the facts and link cause and effect to support decision-making.

It provides meaning

The search for meaning is a fundamental human need. The Uses of Enchantment, a book by Bruno Bettelheim, concludes that the psychological purpose of folk tales is to help us make sense of the world. Stories can help us understand the forces that motivate people and guide events, and come to terms with the randomness of life.

It provides emotional engagement

Marketers have long known that emotional arguments are more persuasive than rational ones, even in people who consider themselves rational. This is supported by cognitive psychology and behavioural economics, which show that most of our decisions are based on emotions, which are then justified with logic. Information is more effective if it is affective. Fortunately, healthcare brands have enormous emotional capital, which can improve or even save people's lives.

It is more memorable

When we absorb information, we are more likely to retain ideas when they are presented in the form of stories. If you have read the Bible, you will probably struggle to remember all the things about who begat whom, but you will remember the parables and stories, such as Noah's Ark, David and Goliath and Jonah and the whale. Linking topics together like a story or a journey is also a recognised mnemonic technique that helps us to fix facts in our memory.

Stories are universal. They cross cultures and disciplines. The Golden Bough, a comprehensive study of myths and religions from around the world, found that the same basic stories and creation myths recur in different and geographically distant cultures. This is echoed by more recent studies that conclude that in all art and literature, there are only about nine basic plots. All other stories are variations on these themes. It seems that we are all wired, or perhaps wired, to look for similar patterns of events and behaviour and respond to the same ideas and themes.

KEY TAKE AWAYS

1. Provides simplicity

2. Communicate what it is important

3. Mix data and emotions to be memorable

Stories inspire people to think differently, don’t stop to tell them

STORYTELLING IN PHARMA AS NEW MANTRA

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 18:20:13 GMT

Most of the decisions people make are not based on logic. The hippocampus, the logical part of the brain, is only 2% of the brain. So, if we want to change people's behavior, their logic is the weakest tool. To change behavior, pharmaceutical brands have to tap into emotions.

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CHALLENGES IN LAUNCHING NEW DRUGS

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 14:05:55 GMT

The pharmaceutical industry is economically and socially critical. However, it constantly faces multiple challenges that question the sustainability of several companies. Even before the pandemic, launching a new brand was far from straightforward. A successful launch must overcome a series of barriers, including supply chain, intensifying competition, increasing pricing pressure, increasing market entry barriers, and rising expectations among caregivers and patients.

The pharmaceutical industry is economically and socially critical. However, it constantly faces multiple challenges that question the sustainability of several companies. Even before the pandemic, launching a new brand was far from straightforward. The huge portion of worldwide drug launches between 2009 and 2017 failed to meet their two-year sales forecasts. A successful launch must overcome a series of barriers, including supply chain, intensifying competition, increasing pricing pressure, increasing market entry barriers, and rising expectations among caregivers and patients. The pandemic and its economic consequences have added further complications to what was already a risky launch environment .

1. Supply chain disruption

Every industry faces supply chain issues. Supply chains have witnessed an unprecedented disruption all around the world. In fact, this represents one the biggest challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry.

Even though pharmaceutical companies’ managers constantly seek to improve processes for maximum efficiency, technical contingencies might unfortunately cause a delay in the entire sector. Hence, to reduce challenges of their supply chain, they change their strategy and make the best use of their resources, internally and externally.

Even though we are in the midst of the digital age, it is important that companies invest in monitoring software to improve efficiency and project management. In general, the monitoring software will help you see where your products are and their supply chain status. It also helps to predict potential problems and opting for this software will also play a role in improving accountability, helping to avoid counterfeit products to be marketed. Project Management defines the application of a structured process and set of tools for leading the people side of change to achieve a desired outcome.

2. Need for qualified workforce

In order to define qualified workforce, we can say that it concerns people who carry out technical or intellectual work that requires thorough knowledge in a particular field of discipline. It should be noted that work productivity within an industry depends on the level of qualification of the workforce.

Relying on qualified people is even more one of the essential elements that ensures a promising future in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, the pharmaceutical industry needs highly qualified workforce that has significant knowledge, experience, and skills. The sector has to increase its investment in highly qualified people to continue to grow.

Training the workforce helps to acquire the necessary skills to ensure, enhance and improve their participation in daily tasks. This will also help to fill in the skills’ gaps. The training should focus on technical knowledge applied within the company.

This is about one of the essential factors that play a substantial role in improving the company’s productivity. Indeed, the more the employee is trained, the more they become productive.

3. Collection and analysis of huge amounts of data

It should be noted that data is a true pillar in industry 4.0 or better, data is the new gold or oil. Indeed, it will allow to better control aspects of the company.

In the pharmaceutical industry, data refers to all the information entered by technicians or generated by machines. It should be noted that data collection and data quality are the crucial elements for every industry that aspires to face competition. In addition, the importance of data collection lies in the companies’ ability to perform analysis that can guide decision making.

Pharmaceutical industries are exposed to complex risks concerning drug approval, quality control, supply chain or even the different global commercial practices. To do this, pharmaceutical industry operators need agile tools in order to gather and manage data well while creating action plans.

Every pharmaceutical industry can collect data at several levels including maintenance, production and quality service. This step has to be digitalized in order to be easily exploited.

However, data collection and quality should be planned. In fact, this will help to avoid wasting resources. Whether to feed continuous improvement processes or to set up maintenance planning, the data collected must be stocked and studied.

4. Need for agility and transparency

In its primary meaning, agility refers to skill and vivacity. These are two characteristics that companies want to integrate into their daily operations. In the pharmaceutical sector, there is a growing need for faster, more accurate and transparent operations in all the fields.

We find 4 fundamental values to increase the sense of agility within the company.

The team: You should know that the team is more important than tools or even working procedures. In fact, it is essential to build a cohesive and communicating team rather than having a team of experts working in isolation.

Collaboration: It is also important to involve the customer in development. In the agile perspective, we must not neglect the customer’s demands.

Change management: Moreover, initial planning and the product structure must be flexible in order to allow the evolution of the customer’s demand throughout pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The product or the service: Finally, it is important that the product meets the implemented standards and the outcomes.

5. Workforce optimization

Optimizing workforce refers to all the commercial strategies aiming to improve the efficiency of employees and operations. It should be noted that in pharmaceutical industry, optimizing workforce maximizes the employees’ benefits and thus maintains efficiency.

When it comes to batch production through batch folders, the pharmaceutical industry is sometimes obliged to implement new standard operating procedures in operations and quality. The turbulence of the past few months has made pharma companies keenly aware of the need to rethink their medical education, engagement channels, and platforms—but it has also left some of them paralyzed by uncertainty. Should they invest now in transforming their commercial model or wait to see how things play out? As commercial leaders consider their go-to-market plans for new drugs, they have a unique opportunity to experiment with new approaches without disrupting their entire business model. Innovations developed for new drugs that prove valuable for commercial success will reshape the commercial strategy of the whole company.

EVOLUTION OF THE PATIENT'S EXPERIENCE-PART 2

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 05:11:29 GMT

A first-class customer service experience has as goal to ‘delight’ customers by anticipating the unexpressed wishes of their guests. Customer data is used to shape a personalized experience, and an innovation database stores ideas to share across properties

Predictive engagement, using data for personalized experiences

Anticipating needs and meeting expectations

Transforming clinical trials and patient services often requires catching up with other patient experiences. Patients have expectations that they may not even be aware of, shaped from previous experiences. For example, when someone has a great customer service experience in retail or online, they expect the same from their health care app, website, or consultation.

A first-class customer service experience has as goal to ‘delight’ customers by anticipating the unexpressed wishes of their guests. Customer data is used to shape a personalized experience, and an innovation database stores ideas to share across properties.

In health care, we can enjoy this mental attitude and anticipate adverse health events by using data and digital tools to predict and prevent, as for instance algorithms which may predict who is likely to have a second heart attack, and companies can work

with patients to prevent it.

Enhancing engagement with leading-edge technology

Healthcare companies can drive purposeful and meaningful digital innovation by creating precision experiences with leading-edge

Technology, leveraging on AI-driven engagement, connecting patient, and using health care provider (HCP) platforms that can provide

patients and partners timely access to content and treatments that are relevant and personalized:

360-degree view of patients and partners (cloud/data lakes)

• By combing behavioural and socioeconomic patient data with marketing data (interactions with online ads, impressions,

conversions) in data lakes or the Cloud, companies create 360-degree view of patient behaviour across digital and physical footprints.

• Similarly, data on how physicians interact with the company and affiliate web ads, email, and social media content is aggregated to provide a view of their engagement across channels and platforms and can be cross-referenced to specific patients.

Al-based engagement recommendations (Al)

• AI marketing solutions analyze patient datasets to recommend how, when, and with what customized content to engage patients and partners (such as personalized ads, tailored medication regimens, and adherence programs) across channels and the patient journey.

Next gen HCP portals (chatbots)

• Next generation HCP portals and AI chatbots enable on-demand access to information and seeking peer opinion to improve care delivery, while broadening access opportunities for companies.

Connected patient platforms (cloud/wearables)

• Cloud-based connected patient platforms aggregate data from patient wearables and medical devices , track and analyze patient outcomes, and link patients to physicians and support groups to create longitudinal engagement.

Proactive market intelligence (Al/cloud)

• Al enables curation and analysis of unique information sources to sense changes in the marketplace (such as likely changes to reimbursement practices, regulations, competitor tactics) that could affect launch strategies and competitive dynamics

Investing in more patient-centric digital capabilities

Digital becoming a strategic priority

Digital health, digital medicine, and digital therapeutics offer life sciences and stakeholders an opportunity to create more

personalized experiences and new ways to become a patient-centric company. In the coming year, life science and medtech companies

plan to grow investments in digital skills for more personalized therapies and patient support.

In accordance with a recent study by Deloitte, executives from life sciences, technology, payer, and provider organizations expect

digital medicine products to become a strategic priority. Specifically, digital therapeutics are starting to impact patient

outcomes and show clinical validation. The need for education around these solutions is intensifying daily. If physicians are not educated on what digital therapeutics can acheive and how they may help patients, they are unlikely to prescribe them. Staying up to date on regulations, the types of solutions available, clinical applications, digital biomarkers, etc. will remain an on-going need as technology evolves exponentially. Here below some practical examples:

Digital Health. Digital health includes technologies, platforms, and systems that engage consumers for lifestyle, wellness, and health-related purposes; capture, store or transmit health data; and/or support life science & clinical operations.

Digital Medicine . Digital medicine includes evidence-based software and/or hardware products that measure and/or intervene in the services of human health.

Digital Therapeutics Digital therapeutic (DTx) products deliver evidence based therapeutic interventions to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease.

Building holistic patient services experiences

Developing patient services in-house

Life sciences companies typically manage patient services programs by therapy or therapeutic area. As patient engagement

becomes more comprehensive, an increasing number of healthcare companies are moving patient services in-house. An important first step to proving value for an in-house platform is starting small—with one or a limited number of therapies.

Operationalizing a patient services program and moving it in-house requires integrating with internal and external systems

and refining operations and processes. Service offerings should be adapted toward excellence in patient support. Innovating

means analyzing key interactions to generate strategic insights that will inform the patient journey. There are specialized solutions along the patient journey, with which companies will want to partner (vs. seek to build themselves). Services to facilitate scheduling, pharmacy e-commerce, drone distribution of medical supplies, best in class Natural Language Understanding, and the plethora of digital applications enhancing a specific touchpoint are all capabilities life sciences companies can harness and integrate to their in-house services programs.

Working with partners in the ecosystem

From my personal point of view, the partnerships across the ecosystem are also key and should be considered a must-have . When different companies deliver various parts of the journey, everyone needs to come together to create ‘one experience’ for the patient. Whether for observational studies, clinical trials, or therapy support, the patient service workflows extend beyond a single life sciences or

health care enterprise. Nowadays, there are exciting and amazing innovative solutions which drive standardization of workflows, like enrolment, benefits checks, and authorizations through a set of interfaces, leveraging data, cloud and AI. Wherever opportunity exists, these tools eliminate manual workflows through automation.

In addition, these platforms provide personalization and enable the “whenever, wherever” paradigm of patient access by

providing seamless integration of communication channels like phone calls, secure messaging, and video chats. In each

scenario —standard workflows, communication channels, or automation—the patient can benefit from these experiences, as well as companies can learn and improve day-after-day.

EVOLUTION OF THE PATIENT'S EXPERIENCE-PART 1

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Thu, 12 May 2022 05:47:25 GMT

The pandemic put patients at the center of every conversation, catalyzed innovation. Over the last two years, collaboration across life sciences and with stakeholders has been unprecedented, with everyone mobilizing in the interest of patients.

The pandemic put patients at the center of every conversation, catalyzed innovation. Over the last two years, collaboration across life sciences and with stakeholders has been unprecedented, with everyone mobilizing in the interest of patients.

Communication between patients, sites, sponsors, and supply partners increased. As of 14 December 2021, sponsors are enrolling or have enrolled more than 90 million people in 775 COVID vaccine-related clinical trials.

The pandemic helped to create more patient-centric channels. Digital technologies in particular, were globally adopted, and telemedicine became broadly available. Digital is allowing companies to collaborate with patients to develop therapies with endpoints that the patients care about, including quality of life measures. Collaborating with health systems is enabling insights from data and patients are now taking charge of more of their health.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

BECOMING A MORE PATIENT-CENTRIC ORGANIZATION

Co-creating with patients, the heart of patient centricity

The concept of patient-centricity is decades old, but remains a challenge to master. Patient input to life sciences companies designs is increasingly more sophisticated and widespread. But some patient advocates believe that patients should be equal partners in the process with the patient at the center of decision-making. From concept to launch, patient “co-creation” would change many of the micro and macro decisions that life sciences companies make along that journey, including; what to research, how to develop, how to package and distribute, how to get into patients hands, and ultimately, how to

measure patient outcomes. Pharma companies are starting to adjust their enterprise decisions by reflecting the patient needs in more decisions, and health tech and other ecosystem companies are gaining traction filling this need.

Integrating engagement, fully partnering with patients

According to Dr Freda C. Lewis-Hall, former chief patient officer for Pfizer, life sciences organizations need to stop trying to solve problems themselves, and instead, they should fully partner with patients. “Get insights into what patients preferences and needs are, what their current skills are, and how they can help us shape ourselves as companies and industries. Let them know that their input is important for what we are ultimately going to offer to them. When we bring the solution, they’ll know that we’ve worked on it together to provide it,” she says.

For accurate patient insights, it is important that life sciences companies are proactive, involving patients early, and not waiting until there is a final product such as an app or website for patients to review. Begin with the initial brainstorming through to the launch of the product. Be flexible, see the process of co -creation as an open dialogue and change direction based on the feedback you receive. In addition, life sciences companies need to plan for the investment required to really involve patients, including patient compensation. When patients aren’t compensated for their time, sponsors risk bias by design and lack of diversity, because only patients who are able to afford to and have the time will be involved.

Enhancing engagement, creating value

Digital and data solutions can help embed patient centricity across the value chain. Digital health, medicine, or therapeutic technologies offer many ways to provide value:

• Empowering patients to monitor and self-manage their health.

• Increasing access to therapies which are clinically effective and safe, with side effects that are typically less severe than in traditional pharmacological interventions.

• Improving medication management and patient adherence.

• Helping alleviate the limited access to therapy.

• Providing updates on outcomes through regular monitoring.

• Reducing medication dosages for patients who adopt healthier lifestyle habits as a consequence of tracking their symptoms and health status.

• Reducing the number of face-to-face interventions, e.g., through digital cognitive behavioural therapies.

• Enhancing patient experience by receiving care in a more convenient setting, e.g., in the comfort and privacy of patients’ homes or wherever a patient may be.

• Increasing access to interventions for underserved populations.

• Enabling more predictive, preventative, personalized, and participatory care.

Monitoring value and use of products and services

Tracking consumer interest and actual use of technologies enables life sciences companies to be more patient-centric. For example, consumer use of risk assessment and early intervention products and services is increasing. These products and services provide early warnings regarding infectious diseases, genetic diseases, and cancer, amongst others. According to a survey of Chinese consumer preferences by Deloitte, higher utilization of these products was among those with chronic disease.

SHAPING CLINICAL TRIAL DESIGN WITH PATIENT INSIGHTS

Patient-focused drug development

Patient-focused drug development incorporates patient experiences, needs, and outcomes to further drug development and evaluation, with greater emphasis being put on quality of life measurements.

The SF-36v2 (36-Item Short Form Health Survey, version 2) is a widely used and validated instrument for patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures. Patients answer questions regarding their quality of life and overall physical and mental health (see figure 3).

Sage Therapeutics, Inc. and Biogen Inc. were able to receive patient feedback on a clinical trial for zuranolone for major depressive disorder (MDD) with the SF-36v2. The assessment reported rapid improvement in quality of life and overall health for patients across all domains at Day 42 of the trial.

Co-creating patient-friendly outcome measures

Pharmaceutical companies should consider more patient-friendly outcome measures and functional outcomes, as opposed to just regulatory or clinical outcomes, according to Gautam Gupta, senior vice president and head of strategy for Pfizer. He says that when selecting metrics for clinical trials, you should involve the patient and consider:

• What metrics does the patient care about?

• What outcomes does the patient want to see?

• Is the medicine making the patient’s daily functioning easier?

• Is it increasing mobility, if relevant to the disease?

This is the first part of my latest reflections on how we could drive a company to be a more patient centric organization; in the upcoming months I'll develop the part 2, but in the meanwhile, please, let me know your thoughts, happy to discuss with you!

HOW PHARMA COMPANIES ARE RESHAPING THEIR PRIORITIES

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 13:00:26 GMT

In the pharmaceutical industry, as in many others, the COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly forced companies to operate differently. Ways had to be found to make fast decisions, even though it was sometimes difficult to convene all those in the organization that would usually be part of the process

In the pharmaceutical industry, as in many others, the COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly forced companies to operate differently. In-person meetings with colleagues became virtual, for instance, as did those with healthcare providers (HCPs)—if indeed HCPs had the time to engage with field representatives at all. Ways had to be found to make fast decisions, even though it was sometimes difficult to convene all those in the organization that would usually be part of the process.

The result was an acceleration of certain commercial-organizational trends, as well as companies already accustomed to agile ways of working were able to adapt faster to the pandemic. In a nutshell, companies are facing an important business question: how could organizations best engage with already-overstretched stakeholders?

The traditional commercial model will no longer be fit for purpose, touchpoints with HCPs will be simplified, and companies will outsource more components of the value chain to focus on their core capabilities.

My purpose is to understand where companies were focusing their efforts right now, Even though most respondents agreed that organizational structures will become much simpler, they regard some of the initiatives that could deliver that change:

Stakeholder-engagement initiatives: High value; high implementation

At the top of the list is the broader development of digital and analytic capabilities. That development was a high priority before the COVID-19 pandemic, but many companies are now doubling down on building these capabilities to strengthen virtual interactions with healthcare professionals, give more employees more data and information for fast decision making, and facilitate seamless engagement with stakeholders. Companies are also newly prioritizing HCPs’ and other stakeholders’ access to subject-matter experts. Before the pandemic, such interaction was rare: experts did not have the capacity to attend in-person meetings, and it might have felt awkward for them to join meetings by phone. But times have changed. Accustomed to pandemic-related working conditions, most HCPs would now appreciate an offer to transfer their calls to experts—a move that improves a company’s remote interactions with HCPs and extends expert’s reach. Recognizing the value, one company has created new, non-sales roles that serve as single points of contact for HCPs and stakeholders, whatever their needs: commercial, medical, or market access. The aim is to help connect stakeholders to the right information and right expert instantly.

Agile initiatives: High value; low implementation

Agile initiatives tend to be perceived as key priorities, and many companies that have implemented them have seen rewards. The consequences of slow progress have been made clear during the pandemic, when all companies have been forced to be more agile. When operating in a virtual world, interactions with coworkers, cross-functional experts, and managers cannot happen by chance. They require intent, which has often resulted in smaller meetings and more careful consideration of who should be present, and decisions are needed quickly. Inevitably, it has been the companies with more experience in agile practices that have had the edge under crisis conditions. They are accustomed to working in smaller, empowered, cross-functional teams to speed progress, and are familiar with practices that have helped them adapt. The pandemic experience perhaps helps explain the high value of introducing agile methodologies more broadly across the organization and to two supporting initiatives:

- Performance management. The first initiative is the redesign of performance management to include metrics other than sales to encourage entrepreneurial action and a focus on what matters most to HCPs.

- Risk management. The second initiative is a more thoughtful, flexible risk-management approach that no longer considers each product or business unit in the same way. Recognizing the differences among them can help accelerate speed to market.

Organizational initiatives: Low value; high implementation

Though there is much talk of how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated certain trends in the world of work, less mention is made of the initiatives that have been deprioritized. Low value was assigned to reassessing the size of the field workforce—a common, prepandemic initiative aimed at deploying resources as cost-effectively as possible. Low value was also assigned to structuring business units around the capabilities needed to serve HCPs and stakeholders rather than traditional therapeutic areas, functions, and geographies. One potential explanation is the high importance given to the HCP experience. When it comes to the effectiveness of the field workforce, the quality of HCP engagement may matter more than the coverage does. And executives are perhaps questioning whether it is worth investing so much in internal organizational initiatives, having witnessed companies still thriving when their existing structures have been blown apart by the pandemic. HCP engagement and agility could prove to be the main keys to performance.

Miscellaneous initiatives: Low value; low implementation

Having marketers take up “scrum master” roles in agile teams, would have depended on companies making considerable progress in implementing agile ways of working, and even then, they might not have been seen to offer much additional value. Others, such as creating office-based, stakeholder-facing teams of pooled resources able to address broad stakeholder needs remotely 24/7, were only ever experimental and, it seems, failed to prove their worth. It seems unlikely that they will be reevaluated any time soon.

So what?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an inflection point at which companies have the license to reconsider where they are investing time and resources. Any pharma company not implementing the high-value stakeholder-engagement initiatives discussed here should consider doing so without delay. If they fail to do so, they will surely struggle to compete against those able to deliver what HCPs and other stakeholders want, how they want it, and when they want it. Many companies also have the scope to accelerate all things agile to support HCPs and their patients further, from the way content is created to the way capability building is delivered at scale.

THE FUTURE OF WORK IN HEALTHCARE IS HERE

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 09:15:19 GMT

In technological terms, the future is already here. But in many provider organizations, the plan for working in that future is still on the drawing board. Organizations have the opportunity to fuse talent and technology or to have them “join forces” instead of burdening or competing with one another. To do so they need to intentionally coordinate human and technological resources from the outset.

The nature of work across almost every industry is being disrupted by a number of factors. Rapidly evolving digital technology is driving increased automation, affecting the proximity of where work is performed, and giving rise to new operational models that enable talented people to perform better. With so much change in the air, many provider organizations are understandably apprehensive about how to grapple with such exponential change and its implications on how, where, and by whom work gets done. What these organizations need to keep in mind with this shift is the immense opportunity to alleviate current pain points like nursing shortages and physician burnout, and refocus professions on mission-oriented, fulfilling work.

World Economic Forum founder, Klaus Schwab, has dubbed this transformation in the way work as “the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, making the distinction that it is not about replacing people, but rather how new technologies are “fusing the physical, digital, and biological worlds”. This augmented workforce combines people and machines to get things done in a way that is not only more productive, but also more rewarding for the worker.

Interestingly, while 69 percent of US health care providers consider the augmented workforce to be an important trend, only 33 percent feel the same way about robotics, cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence. What these providers may not appreciate is that all these areas are part of the same wave of change.

Seven disruptors shape the future of work (source Deloitte article):

1) Technology is everywhere, 6 billion+ smartphones in the world by 2020

2) Cognitive computing, robotics affordability , $500,000 in 2008, $22,000 in 2020

3) Jobs vulnerable to automation 35% UK 47% US 77% China

4) Diversity and generational change , Millennials reaching 50% of workforce

5) Change in nature of a career 2.5–5 years : Half-life of skills

6) Explosion in casual work US casual workers 40% by 2020

7) Tsunami of data 9X more in last 2 years

Organizations have the opportunity to fuse talent and technology or to have them “join forces” instead of burdening or competing with one another. To do so they need to intentionally coordinate human and technological resources from the outset. The organizations that fail to do so risk missing out on great leaps in efficiency and engagement. From a health care perspective, it can mean a demotivated workforce with growing nursing shortages and high levels of burnout, a reduced ability to attract and retain highly skilled clinicians and non-clinicians, a reduction in the quality of care, and a loss of position as a patient’s provider of choice.

THE FUTURE OF WORK IN HEALTHCARE

Plenty of technology. Rapid change. Workforce uncertainty. And no shortage of well-entrenched “ways we’ve always done things.” Few industries match this description better than health care. Although 100% of health care providers surveyed in the 2017 Deloitte Human Capital Trends report plan to make significant progress in adopting cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the next three to five years, and 33% say they consider it a priority to train employees so they can work side by side with robots and AI, however none have made significant progress in adopting these technologies. One reason for this may be that many leaders of health care provider organizations anticipate that the scale and pace of change will overwhelm their workforce and compound current challenges, such as a short supply of nurses and a burned-out physician population. What these executives may not be considering is that these shifts – and subsequent disruption to the automation of tasks, proximity of where work is performed, and evolution of new and open talent models – represent a tremendous opportunity to help resolve those current challenges. Today’s hospital systems are asking, “How can we hire and retain more nurses to combat our labor shortage?” The question they should ask instead is, “How can we augment nursing roles so that high-performing nurses wouldn’t want to work anywhere else?” To answer this question, provider organizations will need to assess the trajectory of specific jobs and workflows, evaluating the mix of factors that combine to operate those jobs and workflows and how they can be re-envisioned by employing enabling technologies and new talent models:

Talent category: Is this a full-time, in-house job? To what extent can different categories such as contract, off-balance-sheet, or crowdsourcing, accomplish this?
Automation level : How much of the work is made up of tasks that can be delivered through either physical robotics, cognitive automation, or a combination? What skill-based parts of the job must remain in human hands?
Physical proximity : Must this job be performed in person? Does the practitioner need to be present at the site of service delivery? What about the patient?

In technological terms, the future is already here. But in many provider organizations, the plan for working in that future is still on the drawing board. As each provider organization seeks to map out its own workforce strategy, it needs to adopt an exponential mindset : Each part of the workforce will evolve not along a single linear path, but in response to a collection of forces. Rather than fearing this wave of change as an overwhelming challenge, provider organizations should proactively seek out the opportunities for augmentation and automation in clinical workflows – and pinpoint where both clinicians and patients will benefit from new technologies, innovative talent models, and expanded locations where care is delivered.

BIG PHARMA IN THE MIDDLE OF A GREAT EVOLUTION THANKS TO INNOVATION, CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND PEOPLE

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 09:07:25 GMT

Suddenly, over the last 2 years, Biopharma companies have invested enormously in advance analytics and machine learning to organise internal and external data and information, to improve the customer’s interactions, increase services and drive incremental sales.

Did you know that Big Pharma are investing a lot of money, resources, time, and human effort to improve their interactions with customers? This is because they realised that were sitting on an enormously valuable asset: the data they produce, record, and purchase. Nevertheless, this amazing heritage has always remained unused, reducing the capacity of value creation in the pharmaceutical industry.

Suddenly, over the last 2 years, Biopharma companies have invested enormously in advance analytics and machine learning to organise internal and external data and information, to improve the customer’s interactions, increase services and drive incremental sales. This is one of the greatest process of change management that the pharma industry has ever seen: we are not talking about innovation, but rather change management, and as with every single process of change, the biggest threat to this process is resistance to change from people that don’t want to drive the future.

You are probably wondering which roles are reluctant to change? Surely, people that don’t want to get tired and challenge the status quo, because change is super tiring and requires us to rethink what we have done in the past; it means breaking your routine and experimenting with something new; it means imagining processes and governance differently. In a nutshell, it’s complicated!

Generally, Sales Reps and commercial Leaders think that sales model, that has worked for decades, can continue endless, using the same way of approaching, the same channel and content, not thinking that technology can be a valuable tool to help the in improving their performance in an increasingly competitive market.

From my perspective there are 5 different, but equally important actions, that biopharma companies can take to implement change management, overcome resistance in their Teams, develop a digital culture basing on the evidence of the data:

1) Cocreate the change with the Teams

2) Reinforce the accountability of the people

3) Get the buy-in of first line Managers

4) Drive the best data quality culture

5) Address cultural barriers

COCREATE THE CHANGE WITH THE TEAMS: Too often, next-generation experiments are projected in some hidden corner of headquarters and then rolled out to a few regions. Especially, when offices are not part of the experiment, this approach generates suspicion from the start to all the people that can take part of the change.

For instance, when you want to provide a machine learning tool to sales reps, they generally begin believing that headquarters does not think that they know how to do their jobs or that Big Brother is watching.

Firstly, Field teams must be engaged from the very beginning to prevent this from

happening. Reps and field managers need to be actively involved in cocreating the

experiments in a way that makes the most of their years of experience. It neds to create Ambassadors and super Users who can discuss and prevent any kind of various questions, accurately positioning advanced analytics and machine learning as useful tools for the field team, so that the sales organization can prepare the ground for a fertile experiment.

REINFORCE THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE PEOPLE: the biggest fear is that new technology will make people more controlled and driven by an engine than they already are. As it is, many companies are beginning to use tools that can suggest which doctors to visit and how often, and they drill their reps on the precise messages to convey besides recommend the weighted channel mix.

So, in order to overcome the threat to be perceived as an imposition, new technology

needs to be presented as a tool that cuts through the noise and aids decision

making—not a tool that dictates what to do next, because people decided what to do next. People are accountable of their destiny, they will decide the next best action, using the best tool to take the best decision.

GET THE BUY-IN OF FIRST LINE MANAGERS: Regardless of what top senior management espouses, the perspective of the first-line leaders—their advocacy for a new idea, their coaching of the reps on how to use it to drive sales performance, and their steadfast enforcement of accountability—determines whether the people will ultimately adopt the change or not. So, it’s key to find out if the first-line managers want to adopt the technology and whether they’re able to instruct others on how to use it. If first-line leaders don’t embrace the new technology, it may not be adopted by enough sales reps to be successful.

DRIVE THE BEST DATA QUALITY CULTURE: Data quality is an essential condition of data based on factors such as accuracy, completeness, consistency, reliability and whether it's up to date. Measuring data quality levels can help organizations identify data errors that need to be resolved and assess whether the data in their IT systems is fit to serve its intended purpose.

The attention on data quality in enterprise systems has increased as data processing has become more complex linked with business operations and organizations increasingly use data analytics to help drive business decisions. Data quality management is a core component of the overall data management process, and data quality improvement efforts are often closely tied to data governance programs that aim to ensure data is formatted and used consistently throughout an organization. Don't forget garbage in, garbage out!

ADDRESS CULTURAL BARRIERS: Inevitably, challenges that are deeply embedded in a company's culture can get in the way of implementing change management and next-generation experiments. For example, a culture with an intense focus on reach-and-frequency tactics may encounter resistance to systems that ask for more creativity in driving the business.

Alternatively, if there’s an underlying distrust of senior management, it can

manifest itself as resistance to a next-generation program. In such situations, the

people involved in driving the next-generation model may just see friction, not the

underlying issue. From my perspective, test and learn is the best way to address cultural barriers.

In the next years, Pharma companies must find out different ways to make the next best action in order to be more appealing in a fast changing complex environment.

Biopharma must achieve the levels of next-generation selling capability that are propelling other industries are relentlessly looking for.

Recently, I have launched a poll to find out which is the primarily action that Pharma Companies should take to implement change management and develop an innovative culture (you can find the outcomes in the exhibit below), with interesting results. Thus, from your perspective, which is your answer?

Please, let me know!

COVID IMPACT ON SALES AND PHARMA ACTIVITIES: ONE YEAR LATER

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 08:54:44 GMT

Basically, across countries, Covid-19 has negatively impacted pharma sales evolution, but positive signals are coming from the overall promotional volume and F2F interactions improved compared to 2020

According to Bloomberg, the biggest vaccination campaign in history is underway. More than 2.71 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 41.7 million doses a day. In the U.S.A. 319 million doses have been given so far. In the last week, an average of 1.05 million doses per day were administered. Enough doses have now been administered to fully vaccinate 17.7% of the global population—but the distribution has been lopsided. Countries and regions with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 30 times faster than those with the lowest incomes.

In the U.S., the latest vaccination rate is 1,048,167 doses per day, on average. At this pace, it will take another 5 months to cover 75% of the population. Israel was first to show that vaccinations were having a nationwide effect. The country has led the world in vaccinations, and by February more than 84% of people ages 70 and older had received two doses. Severe covid cases and deaths declined rapidly. A separate analysis in the U.K. showed similar results.

It’s now a life-and-death contest between vaccine and virus. New strains threaten renewed outbreaks. In the early stages of a campaign, the effect of vaccinations are often outweighed by other factors of transmissibility: virus mutations, seasonality, effectiveness of mask use and social distancing. In time, higher vaccination rates should limit the Covid-19 burden around the world.

FOCUS ON EUROPE

According to the latest IQVIA analysis, a summary of the situation of the G5 is as follows:

- ITALY : Italy changed its vaccination guidelines to prioritize the elderly; Initially Italy prioritized vaccinating health workers followed by nursing home staff, over 80s and people with serious conditions but since Mar 2021, the govt. is prioritizing elderly people over other groups.

- GERMANY : Germany’s vaccine rollout is at slow pace compare to other countries, but they aim to hasten it with flexibility. Highest priority group (80+ age group & health workers) has been vaccinated in most German states; vaccination is ongoing onto second group (70+ age group, people with serious illnesses and primary school teachers).

- SPAIN : Spain’s vaccination strategy has progressed to the mass vaccination phase. The Spanish govt. prioritized vaccinating people based on health condition, essential and high exposure job roles and age, in late March and early April most regions finished vaccinating their 80+ age group and are now proceeding with those in 70s.

- FRANCE : France ramps up its vaccine rollout; currently vaccinating all aged 55+. In the first vaccination phase elderly people and staff in nursing homes, healthcare workers, firefighters, home helpers aged 50+ and 75+ were vaccinated. Anyone over the age 55 is now eligible for vaccination, however few professions are prioritized.

- UK : UK is one of the world’s front runners in terms of vaccine coverage. E veryone over the age of 50 and high-risk categories population received their first vaccine dose before April 15, 2021. Currently the govt. has vaccinated people below the age of 50.

OVERVIEW OF COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON SALES ACROSS US AND G5

Basically, across countries, Covid-19 has negatively impacted pharma sales evolution, but positive signals are coming from the overall promotional volume and F2F interactions improved compared to 2020. Going through a deep analysis country by country, we can see that:

- Italy  Italian hospital market showed a YTD decline of ~21% compared to

2020; Within top 5 classes alimentary tract & metabolism was worse affected, while F2F detailing still holds major share of the market; Overall promotion has improved significantly compared to 2020 but still lower than 2019.

- Germany  German hospital market showed a decline of ~16% in February 2021 compared to the same month last year, while Postal mailing and E-mail holds major share of promotional volume; F2F interactions show growth compared to 2020.

- Spain  Spanish hospital market showed a YTD decline of ~12% compared to the same period last year; Growth in antineoplastic & immunomodulating agents but concerning F2F interactions share has started to improve compared to 2020.

- French  French hospital market showed YTD decline compared to 2020 whereas antiparasitic, insecticides & repellents category showed growth since Jan’21, while F2F interactions has started gaining more share in Promotional volume

- UK  UK hospital market has shown a YTD decline of ~9% compared to the

same period last year; Musculo-skeletal category showed growth in 2021 and the overall promotion shows growth compared to 2020; Email &

Postal Mailing holds major share of promotional volume.

NEXT PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE TO DEFEAT THE PANDEMIC

Healthcare around the world is at a crossroads, with financial pressures undermining the sustainability of health systems. As highlighted by the European Steering Group on Sustainable Healthcare, a sustainable healthcare requires a shift from treatment of established disease to disease prevention and early diagnosis, and it relies on the need to engage citizens to take greater responsibility for their health in order to establish a more participatory healthcare model, instead of a paternalistic one. From my personal perspective, countries, in order to improve their position to defeat the pandemic, should implement 4 different drivers:

1) Expand Telemedicine , reimbursing it at the same rate as in person; permit telemedicine for first time visit, expand approved technologies and audio only visits.

2) Improving Access to Medicine , permitting early refills, expanded Rx size and remove prior authorization; permit home drug deliveries and network of pharmacies, expanded patient assistance programs

3) Expand system capacity , permitting licensed physicians in good standing to work across state borders, allow states to mobilize inactive physicians into workforce, value domestic production for drugs and supplies

4) Improve Access to healthcare , reopening of healthcare exchanges in many states, improve and ease access and care, covered costs of all COVID-19 testing and treatments

To conclude, furthermore, we could identify meaningful areas of acceleration that can boost the recovery post-COVID-19; for instance and from my personal point of view:

investments in the newer technologies for vaccines, remote site monitoring & activation, novel trial design, digital patient engagement and accelerated Real World Evidence.

COVID-19 ONE YEAR ON: PHYSICIANS ATTITUDES AND NEEDS IN EU

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Tue, 04 May 2021 08:25:38 GMT

“In September we will go to back to normal”, nevertheless, few of us know that “normal” is to have the restrictions, constraints and rules embedded in our daily activities. “Covid rules” will be with us for good. The New Normal is Normal

Because of the unprecedented nature and scale of the outbreak, physicians needs and behaviors changed compared to the pre-crisis period. There's no doubt that, since March of the last year the vast majority of HCPs realized the pandemic was about to change their way of working and interacting with patients and pharma companies, at least for a while. Nowadays, Sales Reps working from home has become the norm for those that can, stay-at-home orders are gradually coming down and, eventually, mask mandates have started appearing. They have had to reinvent their jobs, adapting interactions and activities with new situations. Many of them, are thinking: “In September we will go to back to normal”, nevertheless, few of us know that “normal” is to have the restrictions, constraints and rules embedded in our daily activities. “Covid rules” will be with us for good . The New Normal is Normal; let’s analyse it.

One year on, for the healthcare industry much has changed, and some of those alterations may be permanent: channel interactions mix, new contact channels, contents, projects such as “home drug delivery”, telemedicine etc. On the other hand, hospital staff have faced unprecedented levels of stress and burnout, most primary care providers have largely recovered from the pandemic financially, but are increasingly frustrated with a lack of access to coronavirus vaccines to give to their patients, many of whom report worsening chronic medical conditions.

According to leading analysts such as McKinsey and IQVIA, patient remote engagement has increased greatly month by month, now having promoters who were detractors in the past; the same is happening with HCP engagement, with less difference country by country, so let us look at these in order.

HCPs ENGAGEMENT THROUGH G5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK)

Face-to- face interactions with pharma Sales Rep fell by 75% vs. pre-crisis levels, and many physicians expect to not see reps regularly again in the following months. As I mentioned previously, we cannot suppose to return to the previous situation: this is the new way of working and lasts for a while, and then it changes back again.

To respond to the lack of contacts, pharma companies have totally reinvented the way they reach out to customers, fostering remote engagement, which has increased by >2x compared to pre-crisis levels, and yet physicians report a poorer remote experience vs. in-person, stating a lack of personal exchange and technical challenges as the most common drivers for dissatisfaction

Physician feedback points to the great chance to improve engagement in three main areas:

1) Content & Services : only few offerings impress physicians in terms of quality, with some disproportionately under-performing such as scientific collaboration and peer experience sharing

2) Channel mix : many physicians report a mismatch between preferred channel mix and actual channel mix with a significant difference between countries

3) Execution : “Listening” and “Relating” are perceived to be the most important skills of reps and seem to be even more important in remote engagements

Concerning the attitude of the physicians in the G5, the UK followed by Spain and Italy report the strongest shift from in-person to remote patient consultations, while Germany and France remain closer to pre-pandemic practice activity. Looking at primary and secondary care; on average there are a higher share of remote interactions in primary care (~70%) versus secondary care (40-50%), while overall in volume of interactions within the industry, only 15% of them are currently in-person (vs. 58% pre-crisis).

Considering the future, we need to keep in mind some pain points that companies could face, as the fact that few physicians are accepting regular visits from pharma representatives now compared to September 2020 –likely driven by the second COVID-19 wave that emerged in Q4-2020, or up to 20% of physicians may no longer be reachable F2F, and around 50% expect at least another 4-6 months before receiving a sales rep in person.

Adoption of most remote channels for pharma engagement continued to increase across most channels and countries, and following this aspect many pharmaceutical companies have started to invest in customer engagement innovation, especially in high quality content which may contribute to stronger remote engagement.

Nevertheless, remote interactions typically frustrate HCPs owing to the absence of personal interactions, the dedicated time required for it (vs. patient consultations) and the technical issues. Therefore, the New Sales Rep will have to have new skills and competencies to ensure successful interactions (relating and listening above all), to be able to keep high HCP engagement through different channels in different situations, but mostly in a fast-changing competitive environments.

PATIENTS ENGAGEMENT AND CONSULTATION IN G5

While the total volume of physician-patient interactions is pretty much the same to pre-crisis levels and stable since September, almost 50% of consultations are now remote (vs. 15% pre-crisis); generally, physicians declare that they have adjusted their prescribing habits: around 40-60% of them have adjusted their prescribing habits during the last year (exception: France where only 22% of physicians report such prescribing changes).

For those adjusting treatments, the main changes include:

- Self-administered treatments are preferred

- Treatments that require less monitoring of the patient are preferred

Covid-19 issues are impacting on patients that are struggling most with obtaining access to care and especially to isolation, while physicians detect a lack of education and peer exchange opportunities. Furthermore, HCPs (Oncologists) complain that the ability to take care of cancer patients is being negatively impacted and 60% of them said that diagnosis issues and treatment delays adversely affected cancer patient care in pandemic times. Unfortunately, these are the main reasons why cancer patients are more affected by the outbreak:

- cancellation/delays in getting a doctor’s appointment

- Patients experiencing logistical challenge because of the new way of working

- Patients experiencing financial hardship

KEY TAKE-AWAYS

Many of the changes made in pharma environments will be permanent , especially for HCPs engagement and patients’ way of treatment

Remote interactions are and will be protagonists in the coming months , but sometimes they are seen as frustrating by HCPs; so to have successful interactions, Companies’ Representatives will have to relate and listen to the HCPs in the best way

The big pain point is the delay of the diseases diagnoses due to the Covid impact on the patient’s management, who are not able anymore to reach out the HCPs to be visited as once

What do you think about that?

Let me know your feedback!

Overcoming challenges to advance new business models in pharma

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 16:02:42 GMT

Despite all the challenges and pipeline competition, to date new therapies has shown unprecedented efficacy: for instance, consider the impact for the patients. As a result, new therapies with new models will likely remain an important treatment option for end-stage tumor, as well as Covid and SARS vaccines.

Despite the arrival of new exciting therapies, several advances are still needed to expand its application into earlier lines of therapy. Therefore, supply chain and business quality must invest in critical gaps and barriers, expanding treatment models into new healthcare settings, reducing the innovation cycle time to enable success in all the new contexts and transforming manufacturing processes. An interesting Mckinsey article examined some useful points that I share with you.

Optimization of autologous CAR Ts for liquid tumors

Despite all the challenges and pipeline competition (such as from bispecifics), to date new therapies has shown unprecedented efficacy: for instance, consider the impact for the patients, they can have a great hope who patients never had before. As a result, CAR T will likely remain an important treatment option for end-stage-liquid-tumor patients, as well as the Covid and SARS vaccines.

Which kind of technologies and processes will further improve the process, mitigate challenges, and raise the tide for the entire industry:

Advanced gene transfer tools can improve efficiency . The industry faces a well-known viral-vector capacity constraint and a limited number of third-party suppliers, so manufacturers must either invest heavily to build in-house production or lock down contracts with these viral-vector manufacturers.¹² Using advanced gene-transfer tools may also allow testing multiple modifications in a modular fashion, reducing innovation cycle time through faster, less expensive testing.

Innovate the patient journey to collect healthier patient cells earlier in the treatment cycle. Currently, relapsed or refractory patients—those who have exhausted more conventional therapies—demonstrate inconsistent apheresis cell recovery due to multiple rounds of lymphocyte-depleting therapies, such as chemotherapy, prior to CAR T treatment. Collecting and storing healthy lymphocytes from patients earlier in their treatment cycle may therefore serve as a sort of insurance policy for patients who eventually progress to relapsed or refractory stages and need CAR T treatments. If redundant transportation is cut out, healthier and ready-to-use cells for expansion could also reduce vein-to-vein time by about a week. However, today’s storage infrastructure is not in place to ensure the collection and long-term storage of large numbers of patient samples. Given that most earlier-line therapies for liquid tumors are not curative, many more stored samples will be used than were previously, thus raising the bar for storage quality.

Implement harmonized procedures to remove apheresis-capacity constraints . As more candidates enter clinical trials and CAR T achieves commercial success, the apheresis-center capacity bottleneck will remain. This burden is exacerbated by the significant time and resources required to open each apheresis facility—including required training, compliance or legal documentation, and audits, all of which may vary for each company.¹⁴ A centralized organization that standardizes apheresis or manages capacity and distribution among apheresis centers working with manufacturers can streamline procedures, freeing up valuable time and resources to serve patients.

Enable fast turnaround and quality assays. Many simple quality-control assays (regarding sterility or mycoplasma, for example) add significant uncertainty and length—on average a few days, but sometimes up to weeks—to the current process. Some manufacturers have no choice but to insource these routine tests that have significant economies of scale to reduce vein-to-vein time. High-quality assays, process innovations (such as cloud-based data transfer), and tracking and validating each step of manufacturing all help reduce turnaround time.

Adoption of traditional healthcare settings to administer CAR Ts

Nearly all CAR T treatments are provided in inpatient settings at AMCs. While this highly concentrated expertise allows for close monitoring of adverse events, it also is extremely cumbersome for patients who often need to travel multiple times (for diagnosis, apheresis, or transfusion) while with an advanced-stage cancer. If appropriate training, quality collection and administering of therapy, and patient safety are properly ensured, then adoption of the following traditional healthcare settings could significantly improve patient pain points.

Outpatient settings. Compared with inpatient reimbursement, treatment in outpatient facilities can increase number of patients who would benefit from CAR T and improve economics for hospitals. The main challenge will be ensuring closely monitored and addressed patient safety—for example, through tech-enabled monitoring or sufficient training.

Community transplant centers. Community transplant centers provide access to a more diverse patient population, which becomes more important as more CAR T therapies are developed. Because of the low referral rates from the community setting to AMCs (such as for multiple myeloma), expanding channels to community transplant centers could significantly increase the volume of patients who could benefit from CAR T.

Considering the vaccines, in addition to the logistics challenges that have slowed the rollout of the highly effective Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, there is another obstacle that needs to be overcome: the large numbers of people — up to 40% of the U.S. population — who say they won’t get vaccinated. Then what we should do?

- Creating trust . Much of the hesitation to get a Covid-19 vaccine stems from the lack of trust in the health care system, the pharmaceutical companies that brought the vaccines to market in record time, in some vaccination advocates

- Making it simple to sign up . Often the sheer complexity of the health care system prevents people from getting the right care. Once there is interest in getting the vaccine, people need to know when and where to get it

- Acing the vaccination. Getting a shot isn’t pleasant, but there is plenty we can do to make it a good experience. We have the potential to help people feel as comfortable as possible and to be proud of their contribution to keeping us all safe.

- Supporting the recovery. The hardest part of the vaccination process is actually the one to three days after someone has received the shot when a significant proportion of people experience side effects, which range from pain at the injection site to headaches to low-grade fevers.

- Fostering engagement . Unfortunately, getting the shot doesn’t mean people can immediately go back to their pre-2020 ways of living. Immunity to the vaccine takes days to build, a second dose of the vaccine is vital, and we still need to wear masks after getting vaccinated. Herd immunity depends on people understanding this.

- Creating viral effects. Diffusion of innovation is ultimately a social process. As more and more people take the vaccine, getting the last cohort of people who are most resistant to taking the vaccine, the “laggards,” will be a challenge. In addition to the tactics mentioned above to build trust and celebrate people who get the shot, we can borrow from efforts used to get Americans to vote: e.g., “I voted” Facebook picture frames, the use of celebrity influencers, and direct outreach by nonprofit organizations

By thinking of the vaccine as a consumer product, vaccination as a service, and a high NPS as a goal, we can better design the end-to-end vaccination process and bring this pandemic to a close as quickly as possible.

VACCINE, NEW GO TO MARKET MODEL AND FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:09:25 GMT

New and innovative business models are beginning to show promise in delivering better care and generating new interesting insights. The existence of these models and their initial successes are reflective of what we have observed in the market in recent years: leading companies are proactively and fundamentally reshaping how the industry operates and how care is delivered, helping the highest number of patients

The biggest vaccination campaign in history has begun. At time of writing according to data collected by Bloomberg, millions of doses in 43 countries have been administered. Delivering billions more will be one of the greatest logistical challenges ever undertaken! Try to imagine a global vaccination campaign with a supply chain view: how many parameters do you have to apply to guarantee the correct shipment of the doses in many countries at the same time?

So far, countries are managing state allocations of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, as well as Moderna’s shot, with the goal of getting millions more doses distributed by end of January. Both vaccines, and many others, require two doses taken several weeks apart. The second doses are being held in reserve until they’re ready to be administered. To date, there has only been one feasible single dose vaccine, created by Johnson & Johnson (my company), which could ease the process of delivery and tracking. Here below a quick summary of the vaccine available or almost available:

- Pfizer/BioNTech, Trial size 44k, Doses required 2, Storage temperature -70/-80 °C, Efficacy 95%, Distributed and available

- Moderna, Trial size 30k, Doses required 2, Storage temperature 2-8 °C, Efficacy 95%, Distributed and available

- Astra Zeneca/Oxford, Trial size 45k, Doses required 2, Storage temperature 2-8 °C, Efficacy 90%, Distributed in UK, waiting for EMA approval

- Johnson & Johnson, Trial size 70k (separated trial with two dosed included), Doses required 1, Storage temperature 2-8 °C, Efficacy still waiting.

- Novavax, Trial size 45k, Doses required 2, Storage temperature 2-8 °C, Efficacy still waiting.

NEW AND INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODEL

Considering the features of the vaccines, it is needless to say that they have a totally different Go To Market models (GTM) compared the previous drugs, we have to consider different aspects:

· the extremely high need for vaccination speed

· the necessity to track people who must have the same kind of vaccine twice in the time range requested

· the logistics of storing vaccines at low temperatures to retain efficacy

New and innovative business models are beginning to show promise in delivering better care and generating new interesting insights. The existence of these models and their initial successes are reflective of what we have observed in the market in recent years: leading companies in the healthcare industry are not content to simply play in attractive market segments, but instead are proactively and fundamentally reshaping how the industry operates and how care is delivered, helping the highest number of patients. Common among these new business models are greater alignment of incentives typically involving risk bearing, better integration of care, and use of data and advanced analytics.

Nevertheless, as well as vaccines, other business models are coming and may be more disruptive than anything created so far : think about the innovation in CAR-T cell therapies, where everything is focused on the process of the drug ship and delivery. Generally, to maximize a Go To Market model of a classical pharmaceutical product, you follow the same steps:

1) size the market and identify the target customers

2) produce relevant content and set up the best channel mix to reach out customers

3) consider the legislative and governances’ challenges

4) invest time and resources in market access and training the sales field force

With Covid-19 vaccines and gene therapy, we must consider new key challenges facing up the commercialization :

complex manufacturing and supply chain, high touch business model (high-touch refers to the involvement of personal attention and service) and price setting challenges . Moreover, commercialization faces challenges on the patient journey who is completely different. Think about the injection of the vaccines: people cannot have the dose whenever they want; health care departments divide the population in clusters following the risk rate and calling the citizens (not patients, but citizens) who can have the first injection. To date, the majority of the vaccines has a double dose to be delivered exactly 2 or 3 weeks later the first one, then, it is essential having a perfect tracking system to ensure of injecting the same vaccine to the same person (new complexity). Furthermore, considering CAR-T patient journey as our example, we should take care about referrals, ideal eligibility, apheresis, infusion and monitoring (!). From my perspective, new capabilities have to be developed within pharmaceutical companies.

COMPLEX MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

There are 3 main complexities:

- centralized manufacturing, low economies of scale, high cost of goods sold

- complex cold chain required (most of the vaccines and all CAR-T therapies)

- long vein-to-vein time affecting patient eligibility

All CAR T-cell therapies on the market have complex and costly manufacturing and supply chains driven by the one-batch, one-patient paradigm shifts. Manufacturing of autologous CAR Ts today is largely centralized, with limited economies of scale, a model more akin to modular clean rooms and lab-like environments than to manufacturing plants. A shortage of manufacturing slots for either the CAR T cell or requisite viral vector is often cited as a key bottleneck among CAR T centers.

HIGHT-TOUCH COMMERCIAL MODEL

There are 2 main complexities:

- High cost to set up, certify, and scale sites

- Complex center protocols and training requirements

The complexity of vaccines and CAR T care requires cooperation among multiple stakeholders, including the treating physician, nurse practitioner, payors, apheresis lab technician, transplant administrator, and financial coordinator. The challenge for CAR T manufacturers today is providing these stakeholders with high-touch, end-to-end customer service. Such service often involves large support coordinated staff teams, including an account manager dedicated to the site of care, a cell processing facilitator to manage logistics (such as cryopreservation or preparation for shipment), dedicated sales forces and medical field teams, nurse educators and a sufficient number of HCPs.

REIMBURSEMENT CHALLENGES

- Economic uncertainty set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services policies

- Delayed preapproval reimbursement can impact the patient’s CAR T eligibility

In addition to manufacturing and commercial models, particularly CAR T-cell therapies encounter significant market-access challenges in the United States and EU and in other countries around the world. Centers face uncertain economics regarding CAR T under current policies set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Because of the urgency of the situation, vaccines are not meeting commercial return targets.

Despite all the challenges above, several advances are applying to expand the usage of the new drugs with new business model; I will have a deeper dive on that in my next article, because there so many aspects to consider.

TAKE HOME MESSAGES

1) The pipeline of investigative vaccines and CAR T-cell therapies has rapidly expanded, maintaining a high secure profile.

2) New Go To Market model is needed, with new roles, new capabilities and know how.

3) The time and risk management are the core of the process excellence, as well as the quality in the storage and delivery

4) New challenges have to be faced up to, being careful with manufacturing and supply chains, high-touch commercial models and commercial return issues

Never forget to keep in mind these points above, keep me updated on your thoughts and feedback!

In the next chapter I’m going to talk about the enhancements and advances, the pharmaceutical research never stop!

HOW TO FIND A NEW VISION TO COMBAT THE COVID-19 FATIGUE

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:51:23 GMT

Generally people say that vision isn’t a skill that can be trained or developed, and they are right, but what we can do is training and developing the features of the vision, in order to focus on the characteristics that sustain vision so as to make leaders able to influence the future and increase the awareness of their means!

Take a look at most popular search on Google trends and you will continue to be surprised: Covid-19 news is occupying the lower positions of the rankings, compared to the first period of the pandemic when everyone looked for info and updates continually. I guess that today, unfortunately Covid-19 is part of our life and we have learnt to live with it, creating negative consequences everywhere: relational, professional, and emotional.

When you ask people how they are doing and get beyond the usual answers of “I’m fine” or “I’m managing through it,” a deeper level of challenges emerges: “I’m anxious, overwhelmed, and lonely,” “I’m completely burned out,” “I’ve lost my sense of optimism,” “I’m not sure how much longer I can keep going like this.” Personally, I believe that most of us are losing the energy and the adrenaline we had in the past months to respond fast and surprisingly well to unprecedented challenges. Companies which didn’t adapt to the opportunity suffered the consequences of the pandemic, in a nutshell, businesses with no clear vision to combat the outbreak, are eroding the adrenaline and the high-energy sprints that employees had in the previous wave . Thus, people are trying to sprint through what has become a marathon, but an unsustainable pace. This is why we find ourselves in the early stages of a potentially prolonged period of disillusionment, grief, and exhaustion—a period that may get worse before it gets better, a fatigue period.

In my personal experience, I have noticed that successful organizations are experimenting with different approaches, most notably in the pharmaceutical environment where the biggest challenge is the “vaccine”, which is such an important race that we cannot afford to lose. So, how are organizations going to thrive in the future, in particular how do they keep up the energy and spirit of their employees? I said in my last article (follow the link https://simonerebora.com/this-the-time-to-react-we-are-born-to-defeat-covid-19) that we need to:

- Focus on what we can do, rather than what we cannot do

- We must forget what we already known about transformation and change management doesn't matter anymore, because it is no longer applicable in this reality

- Be creative and start to imagine positive outcomes even if they look strange

- Before reacting, imprint in your mind that we can’t thrive on the chaos, but we must thrive in the chaos

Today, I would like to give you another important reflection point to help organizations and employees to defeat the pandemic fatigue and create a brighter future: essentially, we must develop a new vision and a different strategy.

DEVELOPING A VISION AND STRATEGY

I’m often amazed at how many “Leaders” try to transform a Team group or worse an organization using methods that are like authoritarian decree or micromanagement. These approaches have been effective since the industrial revolution, but today, in a complex modern environment where societies work in a matrix, this approach doesn’t work well anymore. Authoritarianism, without monarchical or totalitarian power, is unlikely to break through the forces of resistance; micromanagement tries to get around this issue by specifying what employees should do in detail and the monitoring compliance. We can have the power to break the status quo, encouraging people to overcoming fatigue and disengagement by the sharing of a new vision that empowers rather than disempowers.

In a complex period and difficult process, a good vision serves three important objectives:

1) clarify the general direction of change, which eases goal setting and objectives, as well as the inability to make decisions can disappear

2) motivate people to take action in the right direction, making clear that sacrifices done now will take more benefits in the future

3) coordinate the actions of different people in a remarkably fast and efficient way, helping them to work with an acceptable degree of autonomy and yet not trip over each other

THE POWER OF AN EFFECTIVE VISION

Recently I’ve been reading an interesting book called “Leading Change”, written by John P. Kotter, Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School, in that book there is a chapter on the importance of having an effective vision. He says that without a vision, strategy making can be a much more contentious activity and budgeting can dissolve into a mindless exercise of taking last year’s numbers and changing them 5 % one way or the other. Kotter identified the relationship of vision, strategies, plans and budget dividing into two different areas Leadership and Management:

➢ Leadership creates vision and strategies

➢ Management creates plans and budget

We could consider vision as a sensible and appealing picture of the future, directly connected to strategies, a logic for how the vision can be achieved. Nevertheless, strategies are correlated to plans (specific steps and timetables to implement the strategies) and budget (plans converted into financial projections and goals).

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE VISION

Generally people say that vision isn’t a skill that can be trained or developed, and they are right, but what we can do is training and developing the features of the vision, in order to focus on the characteristics that sustain vision so as to make leaders able to influence the future and increase the awareness of their means. In accordance with Kotter and his thought, vision should be underpinned by:

- Imagination : conveys a frame of what the future will look like

- Desire : appeals to the long-term interests of employees, customers, stockholders, and whoever has a stake in the company

- Feasibility : comprises ambitious, but realistic and attainable goals

- Concentration : is clear enough to provide guidance in decision making

- Flexibility : allow individual initiatives and alternative responses in light of changing conditions

- Communication : is easy to communicate, it should be explained within 5 minutes (a little bit more than an elevator pitch)

Effective visions are always focused enough to lead employees, but not enough to lead them in the best way! After detecting an effective vision, it is crucial share with people how the company can create it; vision creation is almost always a messy, and sometimes emotionally charged exercise. I’ll talk about that in the next article.

Once again, we cannot predict the future, but we can learn and prepare ourselves to influence it!

What do you think about that?

let me know your feedback!

THIS IS THE TIME TO REACT: WE ARE BORN TO DEFEAT COVID-19

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 07:46:47 GMT

Everything we knew, concerning transformation and change management, doesn’t matter anymore! It’s so exciting, but at the same time so hard, to think that we must react forgetting everything we did previously, but stimulating our imagination capacity and creativity to find new disruptive solutions. Whoever will survive to this unprecedent emergency, will be stronger than ever!

“it's not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters”

Epictetus

To put it lightly, these are unprecedented times. People around the world – are working around the clock to reduce the coronavirus spread and care for the sick. This, so we can get back to our regular routines. In the midst of everything, it’s hard to not get overwhelmed by all the uncertainty and unknowns.

It seems like every minute we face nonstop news reports, health statistics and social media posts are constantly updated, we often receive the same news thousands of times in different ways. However, these best intentions can bring worry, undue stress and increase the fatigue by Covid-19. Basically, it’s human nature that we don't look for messages of hope or being positive, but we wait to receive the next unfortunate panic-inducing reports to comment on and polemize. While it’s important that we stay informed, it’s also important to do what we can to personally manage our stress and help our loved ones do the same, as well as fight this weak culture that isn't aligned with the biggest mission that ever existed: we were born to live in this period and defeat Covid-19!

We are dealing with three contagions — the virus itself, the emotions it generates and the inability to react. Emotions aren't negative or positive, their meaning is related to just how you interpret them, so much. Fatigue, fear, and panic undermine our ability to think clearly and creatively, manage our relationships effectively, focus attention on the right priorities, and make smart, informed choices. We need to fight the battle fatigue in our family, organization and reality, but how?

PREPARING FOR THE CHANGE MINDSET: WHO-WHAT-WHY-HOW

As always, before starting any successful transformation, we must begin with the right people in the right place --> firstly WHO! Right people are the core asset of the change, but mostly they are the only ones that can react and lead the employees, thanks to the right mindset which allows them to achieve the challenging goals from those who don’t. Secondly, every company must set out the mission --> WHAT! To successfully led reaction, senior leaders must primarily stimulate themselves to transform their mindset into a super positive mindset and embrace the fact that everyone in the company will be pushed outside the comfort zone. I guess that they need to help people to stop f ocusing on what they cannot do and begin to imagine on what they can do! Thirdly, leaders have to explain the reasons why we have to react and why we are able to do it --> WHY! Basically, in this period, so many people feel powerless and insignificant in the face of the gravity of events, they forget all the accomplishments achieved in the own life and start to complain. Stop complaining, take your destiny in your hands and print in your mind that the only limit to your actions is your imagination and commitment. Fourthly, how leaders should indicate the ways to react to the New Normal, conveying trust and credibility that we are the right people to defeat the pandemic, because no one is able to do it better than us --> HOW! Obviously, leaders must say that we have to react in a totally different way compare to the crises faced in the past: this is the real roadblock, because everything we knew, concerning transformation and change management, doesn’t matter anymore! It’s so exciting, but at the same time so hard, to think that we must react forgetting everything we did previously but stimulating our imagination capacity and creativity to find new disruptive solutions. Whoever will survive to this unprecedent emergency, will be stronger than ever!

From my perspective, I’d identify 4 simple key steps to lead the reaction and help people to grasp opportunities of this period. Consider that the big pharma companies maybe are following most of the points below, because they cannot be defeated by the Covid-19, but they must lead themselves the reaction:

- Gathering intelligence and planning the mission

- Creating cultural experiences that support the mission

- Feed creativity and start imagining something that has yet to exist

- Identifying and celebrating quick wins

Gathering intelligence and planning the mission: Every company has an opened access to an incredible amount of data, thanks to data-collection tools and diagnostic information in the history of business. For instance, pharmaceutical organizations are adapting their strategy and tactics leveraging big and small data to gain the necessary for transformation decision making.

Creating cultural experiences that support the mission:

before beginning any kind of new action, it is essential to align the company’s culture with the mission of thriving in the chaos, compared to the other competitors which have been frightened by the emergency. Leaders know they must adapt the organization to keep up the people engagement. In accordance with the data presented by Brent Gleeson in his best-selling book “Taking Point”, there are 3 types of employees in any organization:

1) Engaged (15% of the workforce); these employees are loyal and emotionally committed to the organization. Leaders should leverage their enthusiasm, dedication to help people and consider that these people will lead the change.

2) Not engaged (67% of the workforce); it is very difficult identifying these employees in an organization, because they are quite happy and satisfied in their role, but they don’t commit themselves to the maximum and don’t invest much time in the company’s mission, vision, value and goals. Leaders should identify this group of people because, if reasonably committed, could be fuel for the action.

3) Actively disengaged (18% of the workforce); they are toxic for the environment that has to be ready to thrive in the crisis, they could absorb too much management time and negatively influence other employees. This part of the workforce must be transformed to become aligned with the mission (fix a reliable time), otherwise they could be removed.

Feed creativity and start imagining something that has yet to exist: the capacity of imagination is something that we cannot allow ourselves to lose. Recently, I read an interesting Harvard Business Review article entitled “We Need Imagination Now More Than Ever” (https://hbr.org/2020/04/we-need-imagination-now-more-than-ever), which said that imagination — the capacity to create, evolve, and exploit mental models of things or situations that don’t yet exist — is the crucial factor in seizing and creating new opportunities, and finding new paths to growth, mostly in crisis period. Everyone knows that creativity and imagination are one of the hardest things to keep alive under pressure, but they help us to better adapt our reaction to the environment and thrive by leveraging on them. Nevertheless, how can we keep alive creativity and imagination? Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller, in their article, identified some interesting pillars that I want to share with you:

- Carve out time for reflection : We need to create the equivalent rhythm of action and reflection in business as we navigate this crisis  take time over lunch, digest and reflect; have a walk without your phone, listen to music

- Ask active, open questions : The most natural questions in a crisis tend to be passive, for example, “What will happen to us?”, but try to change the paradigm and pose active questions where you can take advantage, “What could be our new option?”

- Set up a system for sharing ideas : Imagination doesn’t just happen on an individual level. Ideas evolve and spread by being able to skip between minds. Companies need to facilitate collective imagination. For instance, create an internal Forum, a Teams Group etc..

- Encourage experimentation : Essentially, a culture of experimentation is centered around innovation and implements new ideas throughout companies with no restriction by department. Experimentation needs to be embraced across the entire company and managers, along with executives must have a mindset where they seek out other opinions or ideas.

- Stay hopeful : As a leader, ask yourself whether you are giving people grounds for hope, imagination, and innovation, or whether you are using pessimistic or fatalistic language, which could create a downward spiral in organizational creativity. Dealing with real risks involves taking imaginative risks, which requires hope. Stay hopeful and optimistic!

Identifying and celebrating quick wins : Leaders often forget one of the most important milestones of driving a great Team  keep up the motivation of the employees. They know that without their Team they cannot thrive the company through the challenge, so sometimes concentrate too much on the external environment rather than in their own Team, in which fatigue and tiredness can set in quickly. Basically, in a great Team, it isn’t crucial seeking new motivation, but it’s essential avoiding losing that already have! How? Starting with celebrating early successes! Why?

• Firstly, it would maintain enthusiasm, shutting down detractors.

• Secondly, permit people to stay energized and emotionally connected to the overall purpose.

• Thirdly, early milestones can lay out valuable data about what is working and how the plan could be adjusted

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Everyone knows that we are going through a crazy time and, as already said in my previous articles, we need to catch a glimpse of opportunities in the uncertainty, navigating with flexibility and adaptability. Then, in my opinion, it is necessary to consider a couple of tips:

- Focus on what we can do, rather than what we cannot do

- We must forget what we already known about transformation and change management doesn't matter anymore, because it is no longer applicable in this reality

- Be creative and start to imagine positive outcomes even if they look strange

- Before reacting, imprint in your mind that we can’t thrive on the chaos, but we must thrive in the chaos

We cannot predict the future, especially in this uncertain period, but we must influence and create it.

What do you think about that?

Let me know your feedback!

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"Non è quello che ti succede, ma come reagisci ad esso che conta"

Epitteto

Per dirla con leggerezza, questi sono tempi senza precedenti. Le persone in tutto il mondo, stanno lavorando 24 ore su 24 per ridurre la diffusione del Coronavirus e il numero sempre di malati. Tutto ciò viene fatto con lo scopo di poter tornare alle nostre vecchie abitudini (ci torneremo?). Tuttavia, è difficile non farsi travolgere da incertezze e incognite che di giorno in giorno crescono sempre di più.

Sembra che con il passare dei minuti, ci troviamo di fronte a notizie senza fine: le statistiche e i post dei social media sono costantemente aggiornati, spesso riceviamo le stesse notizie migliaia di volte in modi diversi. Tuttavia, queste migliori intenzioni possono portare preoccupazione, stress eccessivo e aumentare la stanchezza da Covid-19. Fondamentalmente, è nella natura umana limitare il focus sui messaggi di speranza o di positività, ma si aspettano sempre i pessimistici e negativi rapporti che inducono al panico per commentare e polemizzare. Se da un lato è importante rimanere informati, dall'altro è importante fare il possibile per gestire personalmente il nostro stress e aiutare i nostri cari a fare lo stesso, oltre a combattere questa debole cultura che non è allineata con la più grande missione mai esistita: siamo nati per vivere in questo periodo e sconfiggere Covid-19!

Ad oggi, abbiamo a che fare con tre contagi: il virus stesso, le emozioni che genera e l'incapacità di reagire. Le emozioni non sono negative o positive, il loro significato è legato al modo in cui le si interpreta. La stanchezza, la paura e il panico minano la nostra capacità di pensare in modo chiaro e creativo, di gestire le nostre relazioni in modo efficace, di focalizzare l'attenzione sulle giuste priorità e di fare scelte intelligenti e consapevoli. Dobbiamo combattere la fatica della battaglia contro il Covid all'interno della nostra famiglia, nel lavoro e nella realtà, ma come?

PREPARARSI AL CAMBIAMENTO DI MENTALITÀ: WHO-WHAT-WHY-HOW

Come sempre, prima di iniziare qualsiasi trasformazione di successo, dobbiamo iniziare con le persone giuste nel posto giusto --> prima di tutto con WHO! Le persone giuste sono l'asset principale del cambiamento, ma soprattutto sono le uniche che possono reagire e guidare i dipendenti, grazie alla giusta mentalità che permette loro di raggiungere gli obiettivi sfidanti. In secondo luogo, ogni azienda deve definire la missione --> WHAT! Per condurre con successo la reazione, i senior leader devono innanzitutto stimolare se stessi a trasformare la loro mentalità in una mentalità super positiva e accettare il fatto che tutti in azienda dovranno essere spinti a vivere e lavorare al di fuori della zona di comfort. personalmente, credo sia indispensabile che i Leaders aiuino le persone a smettere di concentrarsi su ciò che non possono fare e a cominciare a immaginare ciò che possono fare!

In terzo luogo, i leader devono spiegare le ragioni per cui dobbiamo reagire e perché siamo in grado di farlo --> WHY! In sostanza, in questo periodo, molte persone si sentono impotenti e insignificanti di fronte alla gravità degli eventi, dimenticano tutti i risultati raggiunti nella propria vita e cominciano a lamentarsi. Smettila di lamentarti, prendi il tuo destino nelle tue mani e imprimi nella tua mente che l'unico limite alle tue azioni è la tua immaginazione e il tuo impegno. Quarto, come i leader dovrebbero indicare i modi per reagire alla Nuova Normalità, trasmettendo fiducia e credibilità che siamo le persone giuste per sconfiggere la pandemia, perché nessuno è in grado di farlo meglio di noi --> COME! Ovviamente, i leader devono dire che dobbiamo reagire in modo totalmente diverso rispetto alle crisi affrontate in passato: questo è il vero blocco stradale, perché tutto ciò che sapevamo, riguardo alla trasformazione e alla gestione del cambiamento, non ha più importanza! È così emozionante, ma allo stesso tempo così difficile, pensare che dobbiamo reagire dimenticando tutto quello che abbiamo fatto prima, ma stimolando la nostra capacità di immaginazione e la nostra creatività per trovare nuove soluzioni dirompenti. Chiunque sopravviverà a questa emergenza senza precedenti, sarà più forte che mai!

Dal mio punto di vista, identificherei 5 semplici passi chiave per guidare la reazione e aiutare le persone a cogliere le opportunità di questo periodo. Considerate che le grandi aziende farmaceutiche forse stanno seguendo la maggior parte dei punti qui sotto, perché non possono essere sconfitti dal Covid-19, ma devono guidare loro stesse la reazione:

- Raccogliere informazioni e pianificare la missione

- Creare esperienze culturali a sostegno della missione

- Nutrire la creatività e iniziare a immaginare qualcosa che deve ancora esistere

- Identificare e festeggiare le quick wins

Raccogliere informazioni e pianificare la missione : Ogni azienda ha libero accesso a una quantità incredibile di dati, grazie a strumenti di raccolta dati e informazioni diagnostiche che analizzano tutta la storia del business. Ad esempio, le organizzazioni farmaceutiche stanno adattando la loro strategia e tattica sfruttando big e small data per ottenere insights che daranno raccomandazioni per il processo decisionale di trasformazione.

Creare esperienze culturali che supportino la missione : prima di iniziare qualsiasi tipo di reazione, è essenziale allineare la cultura dell'azienda con la missione di guidare il mercato nel caos, rispetto agli altri concorrenti che sono spaventati dall'emergenza. I leader sanno che devono adattare l'organizzazione per mantenere l'impegno delle persone. Secondo i dati presentati da Brent Gleeson nel suo ultimo libro best seller "Taking Point", ci sono 3 tipi di dipendenti in ogni organizzazione:

1) Ingaggiati (15% della forza lavoro); questi dipendenti sono leali ed emotivamente impegnati nell'organizzazione. I leader dovrebbero fare leva sul loro entusiasmo, sulla loro dedizione per aiutare le persone e pensare che queste persone guideranno la reazione.

2) Non ingaggiati (67% della forza lavoro); è molto difficile identificare questi dipendenti in un'organizzazione, perché sono abbastanza felici e soddisfatti del loro ruolo, ma non si impegnano al massimo e non investono così tanto tempo nella missione, nella visione, nel valore e negli obiettivi dell'azienda. I leader dovrebbero individuare questo gruppo di persone perché, se ragionevolmente impegnati, potrebbero essere un carburante puro per la reazione.

3) Attivamente disimpegnati (18% della forza lavoro); sono tossici per l'ambiente che deve essere pronto a prosperare nella crisi, potrebbero assorbire troppo tempo di gestione e influenzare negativamente gli altri dipendenti. Questa parte della forza lavoro deve essere informata che sarà aiutata ad allinearsi alla missione (condividere un tempo ragionevole), altrimenti potrebbe essere rimossa.

Nutrire la creatività e iniziare a immaginare qualcosa che deve ancora esistere : la capacità di immaginazione è qualcosa che non possiamo permetterci di perdere. Recentemente ho letto un interessante articolo di Harvard Business Review intitolato "We Need Imagination Now More Than Than Ever", in cui si afferma che l'immaginazione - la capacità di creare, evolvere e sfruttare modelli mentali di cose o situazioni che ancora non esistono - è il fattore cruciale per cogliere e creare nuove opportunità, e trovare nuovi percorsi di crescita, soprattutto in periodo di crisi. Tutti sanno che la creatività e l'immaginazione sono una delle cose più difficili da tenere in vita sotto pressione, ma ci aiutano ad adattare meglio la nostra reazione all'ambiente e a prosperare facendo leva su di esse. Tuttavia, come possiamo mantenere vive la creatività e l'immaginazione? Martin Reeves e Jack Fuller, nel loro articolo, hanno individuato alcuni interessanti pilastri che voglio condividere con voi:

- Sfruttare il tempo per riflettere : Dobbiamo mantenere equilibrio tra azione e riflessione durante la nostra giornata lavorativa; mentre navighiamo in questa crisi prendiamo tempo post pranzo, digeriamo e riflettiamo; facciamo una passeggiata senza telefono, ascoltiamo musica

- Fai domande attive e aperte : Le domande più naturali in una crisi tendono ad essere passive, per esempio: "Cosa ci succederà?", ma cercate di cambiare il paradigma e ponetevi delle domande attive dove potete trarre dei vantaggi: "Quali potrebbero essere le nostre nuove opzioni?

- Mettete in atto un sistema di condivisione delle idee : L'immaginazione non avviene solo a livello individuale. Le idee si evolvono e si diffondono grazie alla possibilità di saltare tra le menti. Le aziende devono facilitare l'immaginazione collettiva. Per esempio, creare un forum interno, un gruppo di lavoro, ecc.

- Incoraggiare la sperimentazione : In sostanza, la cultura della sperimentazione è incentrata sull'innovazione e implementa le nuove idee in tutte le aziende senza alcuna restrizione in un solo reparto. La sperimentazione deve essere abbracciata in tutta l'azienda e i manager e i dirigenti devono avere una mentalità in cui cercano opinioni o idee altrui.

- Rimanete fiduciosi : Come leader, chiedetevi se state dando alle persone motivi di speranza, immaginazione e innovazione, o se state usando un linguaggio pessimista o fatalista, che potrebbe creare una spirale verso il basso nella creatività organizzativa. Affrontare i rischi reali comporta l'assunzione di rischi immaginativi, il che richiede speranza. Rimanete fiduciosi e ottimisti!

Identificare e festeggiare le quick wins : I leader spesso dimenticano una delle pietre miliari più importanti per guidare un grande Team --> mantenere la motivazione dei dipendenti. Il Leader sanno che senza il loro Team non possono far prosperare l'azienda attraverso il caos, quindi, a volte sono troppo concentrati sull'ambiente esterno piuttosto che nel proprio Team, in cui la stanchezza e la frustazione possono insorgere rapidamente. In sostanza, in un grande Team, non è fondamentale cercare nuove motivazioni, ma è essenziale evitare di perdere quelle già esistenti! Come? Iniziando con la celebrazione dei primi successi, anche se piccoli non importa! Perchè?

- In primo luogo, permetterebbe di mantenere alto l'entusiasmo, mettendo fuori gioco i detrattori.

- In secondo luogo, permetterebbe di rimanere energici ed emotivamente connessi allo scopo finale.

- In terzo luogo, le prime quick wins possono fornire dati preziosi su ciò che funziona e su come il piano potrebbe essere adattato.

KEY TAKEWAYS

Tutti sanno che stiamo attraversando un periodo folle e, come già detto nei miei precedenti articoli, dobbiamo cogliere le opportunità nell'incertezza, navigando con flessibilità e adattabilità . Poi, a mio avviso, è necessario considerare un paio di spunti:

- Focalizziamoci su cosa possiamo fare, piuttosto che cosa non possiamo fare

- Dobbiamo dimenticare ciò che già sappiamo sulla trasformazione e sulla gestione del cambiamento, perché non è più applicabile in questa realtà

- Cerchiamo di essere creativi e iniziare a immaginare anche solo qualcosa di fuori dall'ordinario

- Prima di reagire, stampiamo nella nostra mente che non possiamo prosperare nel caos, ma dobbiamo prosperare attraverso il caos

Non possiamo prevedere il futuro, soprattutto in questo periodo di incertezza, ma possiamo e dobbiamo influenzarlo e crearlo.

Cosa ne pensi?

Fammi sapere il vostro feedback!

MYSELF, INNOVATION AND AI IN PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 09:36:22 GMT

The tipping point is the understanding that innovation and AI are an opportunity not a threat, because they are going to create new chances for employees, in terms of personal development, and for patients. It only depends on people, as always, if they are able to ride the wave of change, the wave of evolution, which lead our future

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’” Henry Ford

Generally, a crisis presents a choice . This is particularly true today where uncertainty leads our future. Businesses simply cannot operate as they have in the past. What made a company successful historically may no longer be possible during or after the crisis. For example, customers may struggle to pay, channels may have radically shifted to accommodate new needs or work around new constraints, a stable regulatory context may have changed, potentially creating opportunities that never existed before. The assumptions that supported years of stable, predictable growth may no longer be valid.

Recently, I’ve been working with McKinsey in a strategic project team at JnJ and their research leads to the conclusion that the main lessons of the COVID-19 crisis is that competitors and firms from completely different industries can suddenly become allies, or “frenemies”. McKinsey observed this in data from the 15 pharmaceutical companies that agreed to share compound libraries in the search for a coronavirus therapy, and in the public-private partnerships created to help flatten the infection curve and prepare for the reopening of economies. I guess, this is a clear breakthrough! All the biggest pharma companies joined their innovation labs to carry on the challenge against the virus.

Nevertheless, innovation isn’t only research in vaccine or in new drugs; innovation is thinking firstly on “WHO” and after on “WHAT”. Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” said that if we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great. So, first who… then what. Innovation needs talented people! Throw away the stigma that artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), machine learning etc will replace people. In reality, can work only thanks to people who ask the right questions at the right moment. The main point is to first get the right people on the bus before you figure out where to drive it. Surely, people must change and study to use innovation as accelerators to completely revolutionize all business.

Pharma companies are grasping the opportunity, in fact, all of the “Bigs” have either expressly collaborated with or acquired Artificial Intelligence technologies to take advantage of the opportunities AI brings to the table. They have the right people on the bus, asking the right question, that isn’t “What is the role of innovation”, but “How do good to great organizations think differently about innovation?”

PHARMA COMPANIES PLAN TO INNOVATE

The good news is that Artificial Intelligence, alongside Machine Learning and Big Data, has great potential to slice down the costs of new drugs R&D spend, which for the 10 biggest pharma firms is almost $70 billion annually. Nevertheless, AI is already having an impact in healthcare, here below I summarized some detailed examples of existing AI solutions in six core areas where AI has a direct impact on the patient and three areas of the healthcare value chain that could benefit from further scaling of AI.

· Self-care/ prevention wellness

· Diagnosis and diagnostics

· Clinical decision support

· Home delivery

· Chronic care management

The full range of areas where AI can have impact: from apps that help patients handle their care themselves, to online symptom checkers and e-triage AI tools, to virtual agents that can carry out tasks in hospitals, to a bionic pancreas to help patients with diabetes. Some help improve healthcare operations by optimizing scheduling or bed management, others improve population health by predicting the risk of hospital admission or helping detect specific cancers early enabling intervention that can lead to better survival rates; and others even help optimize healthcare R&D and pharmacovigilance.

REBUILD THE COMPANY AND ACCELERATE THE INNOVATION

Generally, before making big efforts to push people in a new era, companies should focus on 4 main points that can allow them to drive employees through the uncertainty of the evolution:

1) Refocus innovation effort for changing customer expectations, align organization to new innovation priorities and launch new digital offerings

2) Use new data and AI to improve business operations , develop next generation datasets and models for optimal business performance

3) Modernize innovation capabilities , set up cloud based data platform and automate software delivery pipeline

4) Increase organizational mindset, upskill the organization for an acceleration to a world where AI can be seen as an ally

If companies follow these tips, they should consider a potential impact on the workforce, which will be much more than jobs lost or gained— the work itself will totally change. From a pharma perspective, at the heart of any change there is the great opportunity to refocus on and improve patient care. AI can help minimize time spent on routine, administrative bureaucracy, which can take up to most of a healthcare practitioner’s time.

Recently, I read a study run by McKinsey that said that a recurring theme in interviews was that this type of AI role would not just be uncontroversial but would top of most people’s wish list and would speed up adoption. AI can go further. It can augment a range of clinical activities and help healthcare practitioners access information that can lead to better patient outcomes and higher quality of care. It can pick up the speed and accuracy in use of diagnostics, give practitioners faster and easier access to more knowledge, and enable remote monitoring and patient empowerment through self-care. This will all require bringing new activities and skills into the sector, and it will change healthcare education, shifting the focus away from memorizing facts and moving to innovation, entrepreneurship, continuous learning, and multidisciplinary working.

The biggest challenge of all will be the need to embed digital and AI skills within healthcare organizations —not only for physicians to change the nature of consultations, but for all frontline staff to integrate AI into their workflow. This is a significant change in organizational culture and capabilities, and one that will necessitate parallel action from practitioners, organizations and systems all working together.

In summary, the big effect on the workforce will be the introduction of new professionals. Multiple roles will emerge at the intersection of medical, sales, marketing and data-science expertise. For example, medical leaders will have to shape clinically meaningful and explainable AI that contains the insights and information to support decisions and deepen healthcare professionals’ understanding of their patients. Clinical engagement will also be required in product leadership, in order to determine the contribution of AI-based decision-support systems within broader clinical protocols. New professionals would take on ‘hybrid’ roles, such as new Sales Rep with high knowledge of the data, new marketers that can use AI to improve the communication, Business Insights Managers with new data tools to predict the market, specialists in genomic medicine, and genomic counsellors. Orchestrating the introduction of new specializations coming from data science and engineering within healthcare delivery will become a critical skill in itself. There will be an urgent need for health systems to attract and retain such scarce and valuable talent, for example, by developing flexible and exciting career paths and clear routes to leadership roles.

In conclusion, the tipping point is the understanding that innovation and AI are an opportunity not a threat, because they are going to create new chances for employees, in terms of personal development, and for patients. It only depends on people, as always, if they are able to ride the wave of change, the wave of evolution, which will lead our future. To do that, employees must acquire new competencies and skills, thus, as written in my previous article, keep in a constant learning mode.

Don’t forget this is a normal human evolution, but only the right people can lead it! Are you one of them?

What do you think about that?

Let me now your feedback!

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"Se avessi chiesto alle persone cosa volevano, avrebbero detto 'cavalli più veloci'" Henry Ford

In genere, una crisi presenta una scelta. Questo è particolarmente vero oggi, dove l'incertezza guida il nostro futuro. Molte aziende semplicemente non possono operare come in passato. Ciò che ha reso storicamente vincente un'azienda può non essere più possibile durante o dopo la crisi. I clienti possono fare fatica a pagare. I canali possono essersi radicalmente spostati per adattarsi a nuove esigenze o lavorare intorno a nuovi vincoli. Un contesto normativo stabile può essere cambiato, creando potenzialmente opportunità che non sono mai esistite prima. I presupposti che hanno sostenuto anni di crescita stabile e prevedibile potrebbero non essere più validi.

Recentemente, ho letto una ricerca di McKinsey che diceva che una delle principali lezioni imparate dalla crisi COVID-19 è che i concorrenti e le aziende di settori completamente diversi possono improvvisamente diventare alleati . Lo hanno visto nelle oltre 15 aziende farmaceutiche che hanno accettato di condividere le proprie libraries per la ricerca di una terapia contro il coronavirus, e nelle partnership pubblico-privato creata per aiutare ad appiattire la curva dell'infezione e preparare la riapertura delle economie. Ritengo che questa sia una svolta importantissima! Tutte le più grandi aziende farmaceutiche hanno unito i loro laboratori di innovazione per portare avanti la sfida contro il virus.

Tuttavia, l'innovazione non è solo ricerca nel campo dei vaccini o dei nuovi farmaci; l'innovazione è pensare prima di tutto al "chi" e poi al "cosa". Jim Collins, nel suo libro "Good to Great" sostiene che se mettiamo le persone giuste "sull'autobus", o meglio le persone giuste al posto giusto, allora solo successivamente capiremo come portare l'azienda dove vorremmo. Quindi, prima chi... poi cosa. Allo stesso modo, l'innovazione ha estremamente bisogno di persone! Dimentichiamo lo stigma che l'intelligenza artificiale, l'internet delle cose, l'apprendimento automatico sostituirà le persone; tutto ciò potrebbe funzionare solo grazie a persone che sanno fare le domande giuste al momento giusto, cose che le macchine non riescono. Il punto principale è sempre e comunque portarsi in azienda le persone giuste al posto giusto prima di capire dove guidarla. Sicuramente, queste persone devono cambiare per far parte di questo mondo, devono studiare per usare l'innovazione come acceleratore e rivoluzionare completamente tutto il business.

In linea di massima, le aziende farmaceutiche stanno cogliendo questa opportunità; infatti, tutti le Big hanno collaborato espressamente o hanno acquisito tecnologie di Intelligenza Artificiale per sfruttare le opportunità che l'AI porta in tavola. Hanno le persone giuste a bordo, che si pongono la domanda giusta prima di iniziare a guidare l'azienda. Dal mio punto di vista, la domanda da porsi prima di partire non è "Qual è il ruolo dell'innovazione", ma " Come le organizzazioni che sono passate da essere "buone" organizzazioni a "grandi" organizzazioni, pensano differentemente al ruolo dell'innovazione?"

LE AZIENDE FARMACEUTICHE PROGETTANO DI INNOVARE

La buona notizia è che l'Intelligenza Artificiale, insieme al Machine Learning e ai Big Data, ha un grande potenziale per tagliare i costi della spesa per la ricerca e lo sviluppo di nuovi farmaci, che per le 10 maggiori aziende farmaceutiche si avvicina ai 70 miliardi di dollari l'anno. Tuttavia, l'AI sta già avendo un impatto nel settore sanitario, qui di seguito ho riassunto alcuni esempi dettagliati di soluzioni di AI esistenti in cinque aree fondamentali:

• Self-care/ prevention wellness

• Diagnosis and diagnostics

• Clinical decision support

• Home delivery

• Chronic care management

L'intera gamma di aree in cui l'AI può avere un impatto è veramente significativa: dalle applicazioni che aiutano i pazienti a gestire da soli la loro cura, ai controllori dei sintomi online e agli strumenti di AI e-triage, agli agenti virtuali che possono svolgere compiti negli ospedali, al pancreas bionico per aiutare i pazienti affetti da diabete. Alcune aiutano a migliorare le operazioni sanitarie ottimizzando la programmazione o la gestione dei letti, altre migliorano la salute della popolazione prevedendo il rischio di ricovero in ospedale o aiutando a individuare precocemente specifici tumori che possono portare a migliori tassi di sopravvivenza; e altre ancora aiutano a ottimizzare la ricerca e sviluppo in campo sanitario e la farmacovigilanza.

RICOSTRUIRE L'AZIENDA E ACCELERARE L'INNOVAZIONE

In generale, prima di creare uno sforzo estremo per spingere le persone in una nuova era, le aziende dovrebbero concentrarsi su 4 punti principali che possono permettere loro di guidare i dipendenti attraverso l'incertezza dell'evoluzione:

1) riorientare lo sforzo di innovazione per cambiare le aspettative dei clienti , allineare l'organizzazione alle nuove priorità di innovazione e lanciare nuove offerte digitali

2) Utilizzare i nuovi dati e l'AI per migliorare le operazioni di business , sviluppare set di dati e modelli di nuova generazione per una performance di business ottimale

3) Modernizzare le capacità di innovazione , impostare la piattaforma dati basata su cloud e automatizzare la pipeline di distribuzione del software

4) Migliorare il mindset aziendale e le competenze dell'organizzazione per un'accelerazione verso un mondo in cui l'AI può essere vista come un alleato

Se le aziende seguissero questi punti, dovrebbero considerare un potenziale impatto sulla forza lavoro, che sarà molto di più dei posti di lavoro persi o guadagnati - il lavoro stesso cambierà totalmente. Dal punto di vista farmaceutico, al centro di ogni cambiamento c'è la grande opportunità di concentrarsi nuovamente sull'assistenza ai pazienti e di migliorarla. L'AI può aiutare a ridurre al minimo il tempo dedicato alla routine e alla burocrazia amministrativa, che può richiedere la maggior parte del tempo di un operatore sanitario.

Recentemente, ho letto uno studio condotto da McKinsey che diceva che un tema ricorrente nelle interviste fatte su diverse popolazioni aziendali era che questo tipo di ruolo dell'AI non solo sarebbe stato incontrovertibile, ma sarebbe stato in cima alla lista dei desideri della maggior parte delle persone e avrebbe accelerato l'adozione stessa. L'AI può andare oltre. Può aumentare una serie di attività cliniche e aiutare gli operatori sanitari ad accedere a informazioni che possono portare a risultati migliori per i pazienti e a una maggiore qualità delle cure. Può aumentare la velocità e l'accuratezza nell'uso della diagnostica, dare agli operatori sanitari un accesso più rapido e facile a maggiori conoscenze e consentire il monitoraggio a distanza e l'empowerment del paziente attraverso l'auto-cura. Tutto questo richiederà l'introduzione di nuove attività e competenze nel settore e cambierà l'educazione sanitaria, spostando l'attenzione dalla memorizzazione dei fatti all'innovazione, all'imprenditorialità, all'apprendimento continuo e al lavoro multidisciplinare.

La sfida più grande di tutte sarà la necessità di incorporare le competenze digitali e di IA all'interno delle organizzazioni che si occupano di healthcare , non solo per i medici per cambiare la natura dei consulti, ma per tutto il personale in prima linea per integrare l'AI nel loro flusso di lavoro. Si tratta di un cambiamento significativo nella cultura e nelle capacità organizzative, che richiederà un'azione parallela da parte di medici, organizzazioni e sistemi che lavorano tutti insieme.

In sintesi, l'effetto finale sulla forza lavoro sarà l'introduzione di nuovi professionisti. Diversi ruoli emergeranno all'intersezione di competenze mediche, commerciali, di marketing e di data-science. Ad esempio, i medical leaders dovranno plasmare un'intelligenza artificiale clinicamente significativa e facile da usare che contenga gli insights e le informazioni a sostegno delle decisioni e approfondisca la comprensione dei pazienti. Sarà inoltre necessario un impegno clinico comune per arrivare a nuovi prodotti, al fine di determinare il contributo dei sistemi di supporto alle decisioni basati sull'AI all'interno di protocolli clinici più ampi. I nuovi professionisti, che nasceranno da questa rivoluzione, abbracceranno ruoli "ibridi": i nuovi Sales Rep dovranno avere un'elevata conoscenza dei dati, i nuovi marketers potranno utilizzare l'AI per migliorare la comunicazione, i Business Insights Manager avranno nuovi strumenti di dati per prevedere il mercato.

Organizzare l'introduzione di nuove specializzazioni provenienti dalla scienza e dall'ingegneria dei dati nell'ambito della fornitura di servizi sanitari diventerà di per sé una competenza critica. Ci sarà un'urgente necessità per i sistemi sanitari di attrarre e trattenere questi talenti così rari e preziosi, ad esempio, sviluppando percorsi di carriera flessibili ed entusiasmanti e percorsi chiari per raggiungere ruoli di leadership.

In conclusione, il vero punto di svolta è la comprensione che l'innovazione e l'AI sono un'opportunità e non una minaccia, perché creeranno nuove possibilità per i dipendenti , in termini di sviluppo personale, e per i pazienti stessi. Tutto ciò, dipenderà solo dalle persone, come al solito, se saranno in grado di cavalcare l'onda del cambiamento, l'onda dell'evoluzione, che guida il nostro futuro. Per fare questo, i dipendenti devono acquisire nuove competenze e abilità da subito, quindi, come scritto nel mio precedente articolo, devono mantenere una modalità di apprendimento costante (leggere libri, ascoltare podcast, TED, articoli ecc..).

Non dimenticate che tutto ciò fa parte di una normale evoluzione umana, ma solo le persone giuste possono guidarla! Sei uno di loro?

Cosa ne pensi?

Fammi sapere il tuo feedback!

COVID-19: RESHAPE YOURSELF TO FACE UP TO THE NEW NORMAL

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 06:55:10 GMT

Foster learning get you out of your comfort zone of a fixed mindset and push you into the growth mindset. A growth mindset suggests that you can grow, expand, evolve, and modify. Intelligence and capability are not fixed points but instead traits you cultivate and encourage

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it. While the rate of infections begins to increase again in some hard-hit areas of Europe, due to inconsiderate behaviour by some people, early signs of recovery are appearing. Some towns, cities and states are starting to slowly reopen businesses, public areas and more.

September has arrived, we are in the “new normal”, full of unanswered questions and uncertainty about the future: What will the “new normal” mean for you? When will the COVID-19 pandemic be over? What guidelines should you have about reopening? John Hopkins Medicine tries to give some guidelines on the previous questions and discusses issues to consider, possible next steps and how you can continue to keep yourself healthy (here the link to the article: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-new-normal).

From my perspective, in reality there is too much volatility to give clear guidelines, we need to understand that uncertainty will be part of our life and has to be viewed as an opportunity , because business and our lives will not be the same. The really hot topic is to prepare to face up to the new challenges, especially reshaping our skills and mindset. The World Economic Forum recently declared a reskilling emergency as the world faces more than one billion jobs transformed by technology. Even before COVID-19 emerged, the world of stable lifetime employment was fading, replaced by the expectation that both executives and employees should continually refresh their skills. The pandemic has accelerated the urgency of doubling down on skill building, particularly to keep up with the speed of change now underway or to manage new job situations.

BUILDING YOUR LEARNING MACHINE

The concept of becoming a Learning Machine was made popular by Charlie Munger, one of the titans behind the investments firm Berkshire Hathaway; he said that without Warren Buffet being a Learning Machine, a continuous Learning Machine, the record achieved that year would have been absolutely impossible. The keynote speaker, author Ryan Hawk, in his best seller "Welcome to Management", highlighted the importance of capturing two concepts, strongly related to being a learning machine: thoughtfulness and intentionality. If you are the kind of person who own this mindset, you must seek new information with the goal of becoming better and wiser day by day, you have to build yourself and reshape your actual skills and competences to be in constant learning mode , at least evolving at the same pace of your market. For instance, pharmaceutical companies never stopped even during the worst period of the outbreak, because on one hand they needed to ensure the drugs for the current treatments, and on the other hand, many of them were involved in the vaccine race. Did you know that we will have several vaccines available for the population in record time? All of this is possible thanks to the relentless research of knowing new potential drugs to defeat diseases that afflict patients around the world.

THE SEQUENCE OF LEARNING: CREATE YOUR FRAMEWORK

Last week I followed the super interesting 5 live sessions "Build Your Brand Challenge" organized by Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi and Russell Brunson, which had the purpose of helping you build your own personal brand and dominate the knowledge of the industry. Russell is an American entrepreneur, digital marketing expert, philanthropist and sales funnel king. He is best known as the co-founder of ClickFunnels, but what impressed me was the emphasis on highlighting strategic aspects of frameworks are what keeps you in line… He said that it makes sure that what you’re saying follows a process that other people can follow as well. So it’s important to realize that and create those frameworks as you’re teaching, as you’re sharing, as you’re giving. Thus, I thought of creating a specific framework to the Learning Machine People, because before driving, it is essential to design and project the machine.

1) LEARN: ingestion of knowledge. Every beginning of any learning process starts with the intake of information, which can be acquired from 3 different types of people: mentors, virtual mentors and coaches.

Mentors are people who have pursued of the career path that you want to have; generally, they give you an overview of the situation and provide a specific guidance about how is the best way to move forward.

Virtual mentors are people you might never meet, but teach you through books, TED talks, pod cast, conferences. So far, the information intake is one of the easiest things to acquire, so it's important to be selective about the source and the knowledge you want to take in.

Coaches are focused on developing of your knowledge and skills, will assign you tasks and assignments with the specific purposes to facilitate a skill growth program. They operates at tactical levels.

2) TEST: assess what you have assimilated. I n every single one of my articles, I’ve stressed not wasting time to think an infinity of times about the same thing, but act right now, with no regrets. Todd Herman said "The answers are never waiting for you while you're sitting at your desk trying to plan it out perfectly. Your answers lie on the field of play by getting out there and taking action".

Furthermore, the practice must be followed by a feedback mechanism involving an expert who helps you make improvements.

3) REFLECT: examine results and make adaptations . After taking action, you should set aside time to analyze your implementation attempts and ask yourself if it worked, why and why not. Reflection is a key component of the learning process, it is considered as a habit to develop, particularly because we learn not from our experience, but from reflecting on the experience.

4) SHARE: reinforce learning through sharing.

There is something amazing about the ability of sharing to others what you have learned.

FOSTER LEARNING AND ADAPTING TO A GROWTH MINDSET

All of the previous points have been designed to do one thing: to get you out of your comfort zone of a fixed mindset and push you into the growth mindset. A growth mindset suggests that you can grow, expand, evolve, and modify . Intelligence and capability are not fixed points but instead traits you cultivate and encourage. A growth mindset releases you from the expectation of being perfect. Failures and mistakes are not indicative of the limits of your intellect but rather tools that inform how you develop. A growth mindset is liberating, allowing you to find value, joy, and success in the process, regardless of the outcome.

In conclusion, I want to focus on the role of the curiosity, our real engine of intentional learning that can be cultivated, even in those who don’t consider themselves naturally curious. Curiosity is awareness, an openness to ideas, and the power to make connections between different concepts. Curiosity is essential for three fundamental reasons. Firstly, inspiration is highly correlated with an inner desire to learn. Curiosity is linked to inspiration. You acquire knowledge more and more frequently because you are curious. Secondly, curiosity starts a virtuous cycle that feeds your capacity as a self-directed learner.

Finally, curiosity doesn’t decrease with age, so it can provide for you at any point in your career. Although your learning formula will change over time, curiosity will keep the spark of motivation alive.

Don’t forget to feed your curiosity and never stop learning!

What do you think?

Let me know your feedback!

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La pandemia COVID-19 ha cambiato la vita come la conosciamo. Mentre il tasso di infezioni comincia ad aumentare di nuovo in alcune zone dell'Europa già duramente colpite, a causa del comportamento sconsiderato di alcune persone, si stanno manifestando i primi segnali di ripresa. Alcune città e paesi cominciano a riaprire lentamente le attività commerciali, le aree pubbliche e altro ancora.

Settembre è arrivato, siamo nella "nuova normalità", piena di domande senza risposta e di incertezze sul futuro: Cosa significa "nuova normalità"? Quando finirà la pandemia di COVID-19? Quali linee guida vorreste avere per la riapertura? La John Hopkins Medicine cerca di dare alcune linee guida sulle domande precedenti e discute questioni da considerare: possibili next steps e come continuare a mantenersi in salute (qui il link all'articolo: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-new-normal).

Dal mio punto di vista, in realtà c'è troppa volatilità per dare delle linee guida chiare, dobbiamo capire che l'incertezza sarà parte della nostra vita e deve essere vista come un'opportunità, perché il business e la nostra quotidinaità non saranno più gli stessi. Il tema davvero delicato è quello di prepararsi ad affrontare le nuove sfide, soprattutto rimodellando le nostre competenze e la nostra mentalità .

Il World Economic Forum ha recentemente dichiarato un'emergenza di "reskilling" o rimodellare le competenze, poiché il mondo si troverà ad affrontare più di un miliardo di posti di lavoro che verranno gestititi dalla tecnologia. Anche prima che COVID-19 emergesse, l'idea del posto fisso stava svanendo, sostituito dall'aspettativa che sia i dirigenti che i dipendenti dovessero continuamente aggiornare le loro competenze, cambiando ruolo e/o lavoro. La pandemia ha accelerato l'urgenza di raddoppiare le competenze, in particolare per tenere il passo con la velocità del cambiamento in corso o per gestire nuove situazioni lavorative.

COSTRUIRE LA PROPRIA "LEARNING MACHINE"

Il concetto di diventare una "macchina per l'apprendimento" è stato reso popolare da Charlie Munger, uno dei titani della società di investimenti Berkshire Hathaway. Munger ha detto che senza Warren Buffet (una vera macchina di apprendimento continuo), il record raggiunto quell'anno sarebbe stato assolutamente impossibile. Il Ted talker e autore Ryan Hawk sottolinea nel suo best seller "Welcome to Management" l'importanza di catturare due concetti fortemente legati all'essere una "macchina per l'apprendimento": la sollecitudine e l'intenzionalità. Se sei il tipo di persona che possiede questa mentalità, devi cercare nuove informazioni con l'obiettivo di diventare migliore e più saggio giorno dopo giorno, devi costruire te stesso e rimodellare le tue reali capacità e competenze per essere in costante apprendimento, evolvendo almeno allo stesso ritmo del tuo mercato. Per esempio, le aziende farmaceutiche non si sono mai fermate nemmeno durante il periodo peggiore dell'epidemia, perché da un lato avevano bisogno di garantire i farmaci per i trattamenti in corso e dall'altro, molti di loro erano coinvolti nella corsa al vaccino. Sapete che avremo diversi vaccini disponibili per la popolazione in tempi record? Tutto questo è possibile grazie all'incessante ricerca di nuovi potenziali farmaci per sconfiggere le malattie che affliggono i pazienti di tutto il mondo.

LA SEQUENZA DI APPRENDIMENTO: CREA IL TUO QUADRO DI RIFERIMENTO

La scorsa settimana ho seguito le 5 interessantissime sessioni live "Build Your Brand Challenge" organizzate da Tony Robbins, Dean Graziosi e Russell Brunson, che avevano lo scopo di aiutare a costruire il proprio brand personale e dominare la conoscenza del settore. Russell è un imprenditore americano, esperto di marketing digitale, filantropo ed esperto delle vendite. È meglio conosciuto come il co-fondatore di ClickFunnels. Ciò che mi ha colpito maggiormente è stata l'enfasi posta sull'evidenziare gli aspetti strategici dei framework: secondo Russel l'obiettivo è ciò che segue un processo che anche altre persone possano seguire. E' importante rendersene conto, creando quei framework mentre si insegna e mentre si condivide. Così, ho pensato di creare un framework specifico per le Learning Machine People, perché prima di guidare, è essenziale progettare e disegnare la "macchina".

1) IMPARARE: l'ingestione della conoscenza. Ogni starting point di qualsiasi processo di apprendimento inizia con l'assunzione di informazioni, che possono essere acquisite da 3 diversi tipi di persone: mentors, virtual mentors e coaches.

I mentors sono persone che hanno perseguito il percorso di carriera che si desidera avere; in generale, essi forniscono una visione d'insieme della situazione e forniscono una guida specifica su come è il modo migliore per andare avanti.

I mentors virtuali sono persone che potreste non incontrare mai, ma che vi insegnano attraverso libri, conferenze TED, pod cast, conferenze. Finora, l'assunzione di informazioni è una delle cose più facili da acquisire, quindi è importante essere selettivi sulla fonte e sulle conoscenze che si vogliono acquisire.

I coaches sono concentrati sullo sviluppo delle vostre conoscenze e competenze, vi assegneranno compiti e incarichi con gli scopi specifici per facilitare un programma di crescita delle competenze. Essi operano a livello tattico.

2) TESTARE: valutare ciò che si è assimilato. In ogni mio articolo ho sottolineato di non perdere tempo a pensare un'infinità di volte alla stessa cosa, ma di agire subito, senza rimpianti. Todd Herman ha detto: "Le risposte non ti aspettano mai mentre sei seduto alla tua scrivania a cercare di pianificare tutto alla perfezione. Le tue risposte si trovano sul campo di gioco, andando là fuori e agendo".

Inoltre, la pratica deve essere seguita da un meccanismo di feedback che coinvolga un esperto che ti aiuti a migliorare.

3) RIFLESSIONE: esaminare i risultati e fare degli adattamenti. Dopo aver agito, si dovrebbe riservare del tempo per analizzare i tentativi di implementazione e chiedersi se hanno funzionato, perché sì e perché no. La riflessione è una componente chiave del processo di apprendimento, è considerata un'abitudine da sviluppare, soprattutto perché non impariamo dalla nostra esperienza, ma dalla riflessione sull'esperienza.

4) CONDIVIDERE: rafforzare l'apprendimento attraverso la condivisione. C'è qualcosa di sorprendente nella capacità di condividere con gli altri ciò che si è appreso.

FAVORIRE L'APPRENDIMENTO E L'ADATTAMENTO AD UNA MENTALITÀ DI CRESCITA

Tutti i punti precedenti sono stati ideati per fare una cosa: farvi uscire dalla vostra zona di comfort di una mentalità fissa o bloccata e spingervi verso la mentalità di crescita. Una mentalità di crescita suggerisce che si può crescere, espandersi, evolvere e modificare . L'intelligenza e la capacità non sono punti fissi, ma piuttosto tratti che si coltivano e si incoraggiano. Una mentalità di crescita vi libera dall'aspettativa di essere perfetti . Fallimenti ed errori non sono indicativi dei limiti del vostro intelletto, ma piuttosto strumenti che informano il vostro sviluppo. Una mentalità di crescita è liberatoria, che vi permette di trovare valore, gioia e successo nel processo, indipendentemente dal risultato.

In conclusione, voglio concentrarmi sul ruolo della curiosità, il nostro vero motore di apprendimento intenzionale che può essere coltivato, anche in coloro che non si considerano naturalmente curiosi. La curiosità è consapevolezza, apertura alle idee, e il potere di creare connessioni tra concetti diversi.

La curiosità è essenziale per tre motivi fondamentali. In primo luogo, l'ispirazione è fortemente correlata con il desiderio interiore di imparare. La curiosità è legata all'ispirazione. Si acquisisce sempre più spesso la conoscenza perché si è curiosi. In secondo luogo, la curiosità innesca un circolo virtuoso che alimenta la vostra capacità di autodidatta.

Infine, la curiosità non diminuisce con l'età, quindi può arrivare in qualsiasi momento della tua carriera. Anche se la tua formula di apprendimento cambierà nel tempo, la curiosità manterrà viva la scintilla della motivazione.

Non dimenticate di nutrire la vostra curiosità e non smettete mai di imparare!

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THE POWER OF RESILIENCE DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 06:36:19 GMT

Resilient leaders use crises to change organizational mindsets, address uncertainties and invest in building trust to develop a recovery program that will serve as a solid foundation for the post-COVID future.

In the business world, particularly during Covid-19 pandemic, the concept of organizational resilience has emerged as a relatively new trend and has often been used to refer to (a) the ability of an organisation to absorb effort and to preserve (or improve) how it functions despite adversity or (b) the ability of the organisation to recover and react from unpleasant events. We should note the overlap with the concept of “organisational agility” that Sharifi and Zhang (1999) defined as the ability to address different challenges to survive unprecedented threats to the business environment and to benefit from change as an opportunity.

Generally, resilience begins with a huge number of bad emotions, almost a sort of unpredictable flow of negative news increasing day-by-day. The only way to use this bucket of emotions and empathize with the sense of resilience is to understand that they all serve you and you can learn from them, realizing that you could feel them as a guideline and a support system. Management guru Tony Robbins, in his book "Awaken the Giant Within", says that instead of calling them negative emotions, let's call them Action Signals , in which the purpose is to use your bad feeling not as your enemy, but as your ally.

From my perspective, Action Signals must be sized and weighted in order to ease the action right now, not tomorrow, during the difficult period. Recently, I have read interesting articles which talked about resilience and how apply it in a company: curiously, resilience in an organization can be meant as capacity to absorb stress, recover critical functionality, and thrive in challenging circumstances. In a nutshell, being a high performer under extreme pressure . Nevertheless, isn’t it difficult circumstances that can increase anxiety and insecurity? Then, it is essential to implement series of rules that can help everyone to recover after failing and become stronger than before, especially learning from previous experiences.

MAXIMIZING RESILIENCE IN COMPANIES

Valuable insights come from one of the last article published in Harvard Business Review entitled “ A Guide to Building a More Resilient Business” where they identified 6 imperatives with which companies can structure their assets and decision-making processes, making the most of resilience. For me, I think that 3 of the points in particular, when combined with some of the points from McKinsey’s “Five actions to boost your sales organization’s resilience”, together create a reliable guide for how to maximise resilience. Here below my 6 personal tips to enhance organisational resilience:

1. Adaptability is the ability to evolve through trial and error.

2. Prudence involves operating on the precautionary principle that if something could plausibly happen, it eventually will.

3. Integration is the alignment of a company’s goals and activities with those of broader systems.

4. Flexibility resets and adjusts expectations around scenarios; COVID-19 has had a significant impact on organizations.

5. Investment in training employees to increase their capabilities for the recovery.

6. Vision provides leadership the capacity to anticipate events and assess potential threats of the company

In addition, companies can increase their resilience through collaboration with other players. Business ecosystems, such as digital platforms, can increase their collective resilience through access to new capabilities, through greater flexibility and by reducing the fixed cost of entry into companies where assets can now be shared. Shared platforms essentially create "real" insurance against the unexpected through investment in shared execution, adaptation and innovation mechanisms.

THE VALUE OF RESILIENCE

When comparing two companies of differing tolerance to stress, the company that applies resilience imperatives has multiple advantages that play out sequentially, as can be seen by this great illustration from the Harvard Business Review (see below the illustration):

- First step is an anticipation benefit, which is the ability to recognize and anticipate threats faster. No further positive performance is achieved at this stage.

- Second step is an impact benefit, that is the capacity to stand out to the big shock.

- Third step is a recovery trend, which could have a positive rebound from the initial shock

- Fourth step is the outcome benefit that represents the better company health after the first negative impact

The recovery gap that you can see in the chart generates a meaningful difference in value between companies that apply resilience rules and those that do not. It will be curious to see how different sectors and companies could react in a recovery phase and with which different speed.

BUILDING UP A RESILIENT COMPANY

Before shaping a resilient company, it’s essential (as always) to convey this feeling to all stakeholders that work and try to tackle challenges and opportunities. I’ve identify 6 key takeaways that, in my opinion, everyone should try to apply in its company.

1) Keep up relationship , especially when you work remotely

2) Delegate and increase autonomy , transmit trust to your team

3) Manage communication to avoid any kind of misunderstanding

4) Set rules and objectives that are measurable in a timeframe

5) Enhance your credibility helping colleagues and stakeholders

6) Solve problems when they are small and almost insignificant: kill the monster while it’s little

PRACTICE POSITIVE THINKING

It's human nature to think negatively in a challenging situation, especially an unpredictable one. The research is clear that positive thinking and self-talk are not only better for our overall health, but they can influence our overall outlook on life. Here's some of the positive thinking reactions you can practice immediately in the face of adversity:

- Think step by step in a short-term . By acknowledging that negative events are temporary, changeable, and associated only with the situation, you're adapting to a more resilient outlook. Keep your perspective tight and focus on the here-and-now without allowing yourself to believe that the circumstances will extend into the long-term.

- Focus close to home (on yourself). What I mean by this is to focus only on yourself and what you can do to change the situation. Comparing yourself to others and their circumstances will only create negative feelings, especially if their situations are not as difficult as yours. And this perspective will not result in any productive outcomes.

- Keep the situation in perspective . Ask yourself what the worst-case outcome of this setback could be. It's not an uncommon tendency for people to blow things out of proportion. Depending on the severity of the setback, this often makes things worse.

- Talk positive and select effective words. The words you use, internally and externally, can influence your mindset; realize the power that your words command if you simply choose them wisely. Change your habitual vocabulary and try to replace “irritated --> stimulated”, “failure --> temporary defeat”, “failure --> learning”, “depressed --> not on top of it”, “terrible --> different”.

Positive self-talk and perspective are directly related to positive emotions. If you prefer to write your language down, replay it in your head, or speak it out loud with close friends, keep it all optimistic.

What do you think?

Let me know your feedback!

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Nel mondo del business, in particolare durante la pandemia di Covid-19, il concetto di resilienza organizzativa è emerso come una tendenza relativamente nuova ed è stato spesso utilizzato per riferirsi:

(a) alla capacità di un'organizzazione di assorbire gli sforzi e di preservare (o migliorare) il suo funzionamento nonostante le avversità

(b) alla capacità dell'organizzazione di recuperare e reagire a eventi spiacevoli. Dovremmo notare la sovrapposizione con il concetto di "agilità organizzativa" che Sharifi e Zhang (1999) hanno definito come la capacità di affrontare diverse sfide per sopravvivere a minacce senza precedenti per l'ambiente aziendale e per beneficiare del cambiamento come opportunità.

In generale, la resilienza inizia con un numero enorme di emozioni "cattive", quasi una sorta di flusso imprevedibile di notizie negative che aumentano giorno dopo giorno. L'unico modo per usare questo bucket di emozioni ed entrare in empatia con il senso di resilienza è capire che tutte queste sensazioni servono e puoi imparare da loro, realizzando che puoi sentirle come una linea guida e un sistema di supporto. Il guru del management Tony Robbins, nel suo libro "Awaken the Giant Within", dice che invece di chiamarle emozioni negative, le puoi chiamare Segnali d'Azione , in cui lo scopo è quello di usare le vostre sensazioni negative non come nemiche, ma come vostre alleate.

Dal mio punto di vista, i Segnali d'Azione devono essere dimensionati e ponderati per facilitare l'azione immediata, non domani, ma subito. Recentemente, ho letto interessanti articoli che parlavano della resilienza e di come applicarla in un'azienda: curiosamente, la resilienza in un'organizzazione può essere intesa come capacità di assorbire lo stress, recuperare le funzionalità critiche e prosperare in circostanze difficili. In poche parole, essere un high performer sotto estrema pressione. Tra l'altro, non sono le circostanze difficili che possono aumentare l'ansia e l'insicurezza? Allora, è essenziale implementare una serie di regole che possano aiutare tutti a recuperare dopo aver fallito e diventare più forti di prima, soprattutto imparando dalle esperienze precedenti.

MASSIMIZZARE LA RESILIENZA NELLE AZIENDE

Preziosi insights provengono da uno degli ultimi articoli pubblicati su Harvard Business Review intitolato "A Guide to Building a More Resilient Business", in cui si individuano 6 pillars con cui le aziende possono strutturare i propri asset e i processi decisionali, sfruttando al meglio la resilienza. Dal mio punto di vista, ho analizzato 3 punti che io ritengo fondantali, i quali uniti altri 3 di un articolo di McKinsey "Five actions to boost your sales organization's resilience" creano una guida affidabile su come massimizzare la resilienza. Qui sotto i miei 6 consigli personali per migliorare la resilienza dell'organizzazione:

1. L'adattabilità è la capacità di evolvere per tentativi ed errori.

2. La prudenza implica operare in base al principio di precauzione che se qualcosa potrebbe plausibilmente accadere, alla fine accadrà.

3. L'integrazione è l'allineamento degli obiettivi e delle attività di un'azienda con quelli di sistemi più ampi.

4. La flessibilità azzera e regola le aspettative intorno agli scenari; COVID-19 ha avuto un impatto significativo sulle organizzazioni.

5. Investimento nella formazione dei dipendenti per aumentare le loro capacità di recupero.

6. La visione fornisce alla leadership la capacità di anticipare gli eventi e di valutare le potenziali minacce dell'azienda.

Inoltre, le aziende possono aumentare la loro resilienza attraverso la collaborazione con altri settori. Gli ecosistemi aziendali, come le piattaforme digitali, possono aumentare la resilienza collettiva attraverso l'accesso a nuove capacità, attraverso una maggiore flessibilità e riducendo il costo fisso di ingresso nelle aziende dove gli asset possono ora essere condivisi. Le piattaforme condivise creano essenzialmente una "vera" assicurazione contro l'imprevisto attraverso l'investimento in meccanismi di esecuzione condivisa, adattamento e innovazione.

IL VALORE DELLA RESILIENZA

Quando si confrontano due aziende che reagiscono in maniera diversa allo stress, l'azienda che applica gli imperativi di resilienza ha molteplici vantaggi che si svolgono in sequenza, come si può vedere dalla chart della Harvard Business Review qui sotto:

- Il primo step è un vantaggio di anticipazione, ovvero la capacità di riconoscere e anticipare le minacce più velocemente. In questa fase non si ottengono ulteriori risultati positivi.

- Il secondo step è un beneficio di impatto, ovvero la capacità di distinguersi dal grande shock.

- Il terzo step è un trend di recupero, che potrebbe avere un rimbalzo positivo dallo shock iniziale

- Il quarto step è il beneficio di risultato che rappresenta il miglioramento della salute dell'azienda dopo il primo impatto negativo

Il gap di recupero che si può vedere nel grafico genera una significativa differenza di valore tra le aziende che applicano le regole di resilienza e quelle che non le applicano. Sarà curioso vedere come diversi settori e aziende potrebbero reagire in una fase di recupero e con quale diversa velocità.

COSTRUIRE UN'AZIENDA RESILIENTE

Prima di dare forma a un'azienda resiliente, è essenziale (come sempre) trasmettere questa sensazione a tutti gli stakeholder che lavorano e cercano di affrontare sfide e opportunità. Ho individuato 6 punti chiave che, a mio avviso, tutti dovrebbero cercare di applicare nella propria azienda.

1) Mantenere le relazioni , soprattutto quando si lavora a distanza

2) Delegare e aumentare l'autonomia , trasmettere fiducia al vostro team

3) Gestire la comunicazione per evitare qualsiasi tipo di malinteso

4) Fissare regole e obiettivi misurabili in un arco di tempo

5) Aumentare la vostra credibilità aiutando i colleghi e gli stakeholder

6) Risolvere i problemi quando sono piccoli e quasi insignificanti: uccidere il mostro finché è piccolo

ALLENA IL PENSIERO POSITIVO

È nella natura umana pensare negativamente in una situazione difficile, soprattutto se imprevedibile. La ricerca è chiara: il pensiero positivo e l'autoconsiderazione non solo sono migliori per la nostra salute generale, ma possono influenzare la nostra visione complessiva della vita. Ecco alcune delle reazioni di pensiero positivo che si possono praticare immediatamente di fronte alle avversità:

- Pensare step by step in un breve periodo . Riconoscendo che gli eventi negativi sono temporanei, mutevoli e associati solo alla situazione, ti stai adattando a una prospettiva più elastica. Mantenete la vostra prospettiva e concentratevi sul qui e ora, senza permettervi di credere che le circostanze si estenderanno a lungo termine.

- Concentratevi su voi stessi . Con questo intendo dire che dovete concentrarvi solo su voi stessi e su ciò che potete fare per cambiare la situazione. Confrontarsi con gli altri e le loro circostanze creerà solo sentimenti negativi, soprattutto se le loro situazioni non sono difficili come la vostra. E questa prospettiva non porterà ad alcun risultato produttivo.

- Mantenete la situazione in prospettiva. Chiedetevi quale potrebbe essere l'esito peggiore di questa battuta d'arresto. Non è una tendenza insolita per le persone gonfiare le cose a dismisura. A seconda della gravità della battuta d'arresto, questo spesso peggiora le cose.

- Parlate in modo positivo e scegliete parole efficaci . Le parole che usate, internamente ed esternamente, possono influenzare la vostra mentalità; ragionate sul potere che le vostre parole hanno e sceglietele semplicemente con saggezza. Cambiate il vostro vocabolario abituale e cercate di sostituire ad esempio "irritato --> stimolato", "fallimento --> sconfitta temporaneo", "fallimento --> apprendimento", "depresso --> non al massimo", "terribile --> diverso".

Un positivo self-talk e la propria prospettiva sono direttamente collegate alle emozioni positive. Prima di affrontare qualsiasi situazione, scrivetevi il discorso, riascoltatelo nella vostra testa, o ripetetelo ad alta voce con gli amici più cari, ma soprattutto mantenetelo sempre ottimistico.

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AVOID WFH BURNOUT AND OPTIMIZE YOUR REMOTE WORK

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 07:11:43 GMT

When you went to the office every day you had a clear distinction between your work life and your personal life. But now that you know when you start, but not when you finish and your office could be your bedroom, you can end up working all the time if you're not careful. How can you optimize your time?

Millions of people around the world have made a sudden transition to long-distance work in the middle of the Covid-19 outbreak. Consequently, some employers are worried about maintaining employee productivity. From my perspective, they should really concern about in this out of ordinary situation is a long-term risk: employee burnout .

The risk is really very high. The boundaries between work and relaxation are blurring in new and unusual ways, and many employees working at home for the first time are struggling to keep the boundaries between their professional and personal lives healthy. At this point comes the desire to show loyalty, dedication and productivity, so as to facilitate non-stop work.

Recently, I have been reviewing the latest research from the leading universities such as Harvard and London Business School . In summary, they suggested 3 important tips to avoid burnout and 3 ways maintain happiness, even in the middle of pandemic. It’s nice to see how easily we can fall into burnout, forgetting positive emotions and focusing on anxiety and depression: we must work at home with efficiency and happiness, possibly increasing our well being.

FOCUS ON YOUR BREAKTHROUGHS AND KEEP YOUR PHYSICAL/DIGITAL BOUNDARIES

As you adapt to your new routine, are you making daily improvements along the way ? Consider what new objectives you have created that you are making progress on. Wear your work clothes every morning and consider replacing your car commute with a walk in a park, or healthy exercise, before sitting down to work. Some workers have already devised creative and original ways to maintain their usual work routine. also, create a space dedicated exclusively for work, where you only sit down when you are working

TAKE SOME TIME OFF AND KEEP TIME AND SPACE BOUNDARIES

Most of the happiness of your job is to give you time, space and activities to rest and relax. This is truer than ever right now. When you feel anxious, tired, and unable to concentrate on your job, the main reaction may be to try to overcome the anxiety and ignore it by continuing to work. I am convinced that if you continue like this, it will probably make you very inefficien t - and it may bring out strong negative feelings that will affect your long-term well-being and productivity. Create spaces where you can also take some time to recover and enjoy some happiness by spending time outdoors, with family or friends. Don't read emails, don't bring your work phone, free your mind and have fun, you will be more efficient and productive when you get back to work. Put slots in your diary where you and your team can spend time. Leaders need to help employees structure, coordinate and manage the pace of work. It may be helpful to create virtual check-ins, virtual coffee breaks or quick meetings dedicated to wondering how life is going. It is essential to maintain a sense of normality.

PRIORITIZE YOUR WORK AND DEDICATE TIME TO HUMAN CONNECTION

It is more important than ever to maintain relationships with colleagues, friends and family, especially when the technology allows it. This is particularly important for work because, when we work remotely, we tend to reach people only for functional reasons (like when we need them to do something for us, or vice versa). For example, when we teleconference, connecting virtually rather than face-to-face, we are more likely to stick to tasks alone and interact personally in the way that we would do face-to-face. It is essential that we leave time and space for those informal, relaxing chats to connect with people on a human and personal level. Working non-stop, even on the most important tasks, is not the answer.

According to some estimates, a worker is productive on average only three hours a day, and these hours should be free of interruptions or distractions. Even before Covid-19, employees found it difficult to carve out three continuous hours to focus on their core tasks. With the elimination of the boundaries between work and family, employees' time has never been so fragmented. Employees who always feel "on" are more at risk of burnout (concerning this topic, I found this meaningful article entitled " Things to Watch Out for While Working Remotely ", follow the link: https://www.toptal.com/remote/remote-work-burnout-a-cautionary-tale) when they work from home than when they go to the office. I n the long term, we never disconnect, always answer emails, whatsapp or telephone - it is not only counterproductive, but also detrimental to our well-being.

Do you think answering an email at midnight is different than answering at 9am the next morning?

I guess these tips aren’t easy to implement, but we should try in order to improve our life balance and manage the new way of interaction that we are going to encounter during in the following months. Do you think that we will have the same relationships? In order to improve our job life,

we should consider changing some habits that we have and adapt virtual meetings to the unmet needs.

Recently I attended to a compelling virtual conference organized by IQVIA, an American multinational company of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services, which discussed remote engagement and how to maximize it. In the world’s largest countries during May 2020 vs May 2019 there was a big drop of F2F interaction between pharma companies and stakeholders, while a huge increase of remote activity. So, I suppose that we have to be prepared to lead a remote interaction, don’t we?

We should start from the selection of attendees for every event, to be sure that they are interested in the topic. In addition, it’s essential a meaningful promotion of the event and a follow up to request feedback. Generally, the trend of a virtual event, specifically for HCPs, must keep in mind 3 important aspects:

1) On average 63% of the members attend the meeting

2) 50 minutes is the average viewing time during live presentations

3) 34 minutes is the average viewing time of on demand content

Consider that the series events are more successful than a single event because generate opportunities to refine messaging and frequency, minimize the time spent “out of the field” and it is more likely it’ll differentiate from competitors. Remember to focus on looking into the camera, not the screen; maintain a strong voice; engage attendees with direct questions calling him/her by name; organize final Q&A interactive sessions using virtual tool like Mentimeeter or Google survey.

In conclusion, the coming months are likely to be similar to the past few, with remote working and social distances, so we need to:

- Find the right balance between job and private life

- Respect ourselves, familiars and colleagues

- Be efficient and productive in virtual interactions

Our next challenge and opportunity are to be strong remote leaders, respecting wellbeing and familiar space of all our people.

Please, have a look at my "Avoid WFH burn out framework" at the bottom of my article :-)

What do you think?

Let me know your feedback!

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Milioni di persone in tutto il mondo hanno cambiato radicalmente il proprio modo di lavorare, proprio nel bel mezzo dell'epidemia di Covid-19. Molto spesso, alcuni datori di lavoro sono preoccupati di mantenere la produttività dei dipendenti, anche se, dal mio punto di vista, dovrebbero principalmente preoccuparsi di un'altra situazione che potrebbe essere vista come un rischio a lungo termine: il burnout dei dipendenti .

Il rischio è davvero molto alto. I confini tra lavoro e relax stanno sfumando in modi nuovi e inusuali e molti dipendenti che lavorano a casa per la prima volta stanno cercando di mantenere vivi i confini tra la loro vita professionale e quella personale. Per di più si attiva il desiderio di dimostrare lealtà, dedizione e produttività all'azienda, cosa che non fa altro che facilitare il lavoro non-stop.

Recentemente, ho passato in rassegna le ultime ricerche delle principali università come Harvard e la London Business School. In sintesi, ho catturato 3 consigli importanti per evitare il burnout e 3 modi per mantenere la felicità, anche nel bel mezzo di una pandemia. È strano vedere con quanta facilità possiamo cadere nel burnout, dimenticando le emozioni positive e concentrandoci su ansia e depressione: d obbiamo lavorare a casa con efficienza e felicità, possibilmente aumentando il nostro benessere.

CONCENTRATEVI SULLE VOSTRE SCOPERTE E MANTENETE I VOSTRI CONFINI FISICI/DIGITALI

Mentre vi adattate alla vostra nuova routine, state migliorando di volta in volta? Considerate quali sono i nuovi obiettivi che avete settato e su cui state facendo progressi. Vestitetvi come se doveste andare a lavoro ogni mattina e considerate la possibilità di sostituire il viaggio in auto con una passeggiata nel parco, o con un sano esercizio fisico, prima di sedervi al lavoro. Alcuni lavoratori hanno già escogitato modi creativi e originali per mantenere la loro nuova routine, creando uno spazio dedicato esclusivamente al lavoro, nel quale sedersi solo ed esclusivamente quando si lavora.

PRENDETEVI UN PO' DI TEMPO LIBERO E MANTENETE I CONFINI DEL TEMPO E DELLO SPAZIO

La maggior parte della felicità del vostro lavoro consiste nel darvi tempo, spazio e attività per riposare e rilassarvi. Questo è più vero che mai in questo momento. Quando vi sentite ansiosi, stanchi e incapaci di concentrarvi sul vostro lavoro, la reazione principale è quella di cercare di superare l'ansia ignorandola, continuando a lavorare. Sono convinto che se continuate così, probabilmente questo vi renderà molto inefficienti - e potrebbe far emergere forti sentimenti negativi che influenzeranno il vostro benessere e la vostra produttività a lungo termine. Create degli spazi in cui potete anche prendervi un po' di tempo per recuperare e godervi un po' di felicità passando del tempo all'aperto, con la famiglia o con gli amici. Non leggete le e-mail, non portate il telefono del lavoro, liberate la mente e divertitevi, sarete più efficienti e produttivi quando tornerete al lavoro. Mettete degli spazi nella vostra agenda dove voi e il vostro team potete trascorrere del tempo insieme. I leader devono aiutare i dipendenti a strutturare, coordinare e gestire il ritmo di lavoro. Può essere utile creare check-in virtuali, pause caffè virtuali o riunioni veloci dedicate a chiedersi come va la vita. È essenziale mantenere un senso di normalità.

DATE PRIORITÀ AL VOSTRO LAVORO E DEDICATE TEMPO AL CONTATTO UMANO

È più importante che mai mantenere i rapporti con colleghi, amici e familiari, soprattutto quando la tecnologia lo permette. Questo è particolarmente importante per il lavoro perché, quando lavoriamo a distanza, tendiamo a raggiungere le persone solo per motivi funzionali (come quando qualcuno ti contatta solo se ha bisogno, o viceversa). Ad esempio, quando ci colleghiamo nelle virtual call è molto probabile che andremo dritto al sodo, senza coltivare un minimo di "greetings". È essenziale lasciare tempo e spazio a quelle chiacchierate informali e rilassanti per connettersi con le persone a livello umano e personale. Lavorare senza sosta, anche sui compiti più importanti, non è la risposta.

Secondo alcune stime, un lavoratore è produttivo in media solo tre ore al giorno, e queste ore dovrebbero essere prive di interruzioni o distrazioni. Anche prima del Covid-19, i dipendenti trovavano difficile ritagliarsi tre ore continue per concentrarsi sui loro compiti principali. Con l'eliminazione dei confini tra lavoro e famiglia, il tempo dei dipendenti non è mai stato così frammentato. I dipendenti che si sentono sempre "on" sono più a rischio di burnout quando lavorano da casa che quando vanno in ufficio. A lungo termine, non ci disconnettiamo mai, rispondere sempre alle e-mail, ai messaggi di posta elettronica o al telefono: non solo è controproducente, ma anche dannoso per il nostro benessere.

Pensi che rispondere a un'e-mail a mezzanotte sia diverso dal rispondere alle 9 del mattino dopo?

Immagino che questi consigli non siano facili da implementare, ma dovremmo cercare di migliorare il nostro equilibrio di vita, gestendo il nuovo modo di interagire tra noi che prenderà sempre più piede nei mesi a venire. Pensate che avremo gli stessi rapporti interpersonali della fase pre Covid? Per migliorare la nostra vita lavorativa, dovremmo considerare di cambiare alcune abitudini che abbiamo e far sì che i virtual meeting diventino un mezzo per rispondere alle nostre esigenze.

Recentemente ho partecipato ad una interessante conferenza virtuale organizzata da IQVIA, nata dalla fusione tra IMS Health e Quintiles; IQVIA è un provider globale di informazioni, tecnologie innovative e servizi di ricerca clinica in grado di supportare le aziende del settore Life Sciences nel ripensare l’approccio alla ricerca e alla commercializzazione. Durante la conferenza l'hot topic è stato la discussione su come poter massimizzare l'ingaggio e le interazioni a distanza con i propri customers. Nei Paesi con il maggior mercato farmaceutico, nel corso di maggio 2020 rispetto a maggio 2019 c'è stato un forte calo dell'interazione F2F tra le aziende farmaceutiche e i stakeholders, mentre vi è stato un enorme aumento dell'attività a distanza. Quindi, suppongo che dobbiamo essere pronti a condurre e gestire una web call (per esempio) cercando di mantenere sempre alta l'attenzione e l'interazione, vero?

Per prima cosa, dovremmo partire dalla selezione dei partecipanti per ogni evento, per essere sicuri che siano interessati all'argomento. Inoltre, è essenziale una promozione significativa dell'evento e un follow-up per richiedere un feedback. In generale, l'andamento di un evento virtuale, specifico per i professionisti della sanità, deve tenere conto di 3 aspetti importanti:

1) In media il 63% degli iscritti partecipa all'evento

2) 50 minuti è il tempo medio in cui viene seguita una presentazione

3) 34 minuti è il tempo medio di visione dei contenuti on demand

Fondamentale tenere a mente che gli eventi in serie hanno più successo di un singolo evento:

generano opportunità per affinare i key messages e la loro frequenza, riducono al minimo il tempo trascorso fuori dagli ospedali ed è più probabile che si differenzino dalla concorrenza. Ricordatevi di concentrarvi sull'obiettivo della telecamera, non sullo schermo; mantenete una voce forte; coinvolgete i partecipanti con domande dirette chiamandoli per nome; organizzate sessioni interattive di domande e risposte finali utilizzando strumenti virtuali come Mentimeeter o il Google survey.

In conclusione, i prossimi mesi saranno probabilmente simili a quelli passati, con tanto smart working e distanziamento sociale, quindi dal mio punto di vista dovremmo:

- Trovare il giusto equilibrio tra lavoro e vita privata

- Rispettare noi stessi, i familiari e i colleghi

- Essere efficienti e produttivi nelle interazioni virtuali

La nostra prossima sfida e quindi opportunità è quella di essere grandi leader a distanza ed in virtuale, rispettando il benessere e la sfera familiare di tutto il nostro Team.

Date un'occhiata al mio framework "Avoid WHF burnout" in fondo al mio articolo :-)

Cosa ne pensate?

Fatemi avere un vostro feedback!

HOW TO ADAPT YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE TO DEFEAT COVID-19

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 25 May 2020 06:23:50 GMT

Leaders are navigating in the New Era, urgently protecting employees and business, as well as building resilience. Not only organizations should adapt models and approaches to face down new future challenges, but firstly Leaders ought to redesign own style to lead Team out of the emergency

The global pandemic is testing all of us to tackle new challenges and changes as never before, particularly physical, mental and social aspects, with a more rapid pace than previous crisis. For example, 11th September 2001 in New York and Lehman Brothers in 2008. The colossal magnitude of the Covid-19 outbreak increases uncertainty and volatility in financial markets, forcing many factories to close temporarily or permanently. The United States situation is critical: a few days ago, New York Times said that many jobs may vanish forever as layoffs mount, with over 38 million U.S. unemployment claims in 9 weeks, prompting one economist to warn that the situation is “grimmer than we thought.” So how can we manage the crisis in order to support people, providing them opportunities of growth in this unpredictable future?

In my quest to understand how we should combat the disease I have researched literature from business experts from leading institutions such as London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, London Business School, Egon Zehnder and Oxford University, and as a result I want to share the 3 most interesting articles that I’ve discovered, all very interesting and packed full of insights, because they deal the delicate topic of how to change own leadership style to grasp opportunities and lead teams through the uncertainty of different scenarios. I hope you have a chance to read (peruse) all of them and maybe discuss the main points together.

In my last article (you can find the link here https://simonerebora.com/covid-19-is-the-most-powerful-change-accelerator-of-all-time), I said that it is necessary to switch from traditional leadership to smart leadership, which involves sharing and co-creating objectives, encouraging gratitude and filtering stress to convey boldness. I strongly believe in all these concepts, but I’d like to add some ingredients that link all the articles. The first one is emotional mastering . It is essential to manage anger and fear, to avoid extreme pressure and anxiety on people, but at the same time it is also important to show vulnerability and share your own weaknesses, because no one is invincible.

This is not the time to be a robot or a superhuman, a leader must show care and identify which emotions are empowering, which are disempowering, and mostly how to use both kinds to his/her best advantage. For a leader, emotions have to help them to achieve the highest potential, which should help their team raise standards to the best of their ability. From a leader’s perspective, I think that one of the most challenging things to achieve is to find the right balance between rational and emotional; how to manage both in the same situations or in different situations? Sometimes, it’s not so bad to try to bring out the positive and negative feelings, to unload all the stress and tensions accumulated during this period. It is essential to find the right person who will accept your emotional state, listen to you and calm you down, because leaders are humans and humans are made of emotions.

Furthermore, a leader should stimulate people to learn more and connect actions to purpose. I like to consider this topic in “learn by doing” . By definition, a leader “leads”, guides”, “conducts “, “pilots” people out of a crisis, because his/her natural reaction is to appear as if we are in control, wanting to learn more, collecting data, filling agendas, but I guess that this approach doesn’t really help anyone. In times of emergency like this, everyone waits for directives and rules to apply, follow and criticize (!): “What do I have to do boss?”, “Who Do I have to contact?”, “I did nothing because I waited for your feedback”. How many times have we heard these apologies? Followed by a lot of disapprovals, but, you know, it’s easier to criticize someone than try to do something, and the cause of this is the lack of accountability. It’s strange, but it seems that Covid-19 has mutated many of those who wanted to be called “managers” or “leaders” into executors who criticize the instructions they were waiting for, doesn’t it?

My point of view is to push people to build their own way out of the crisis, not wait for someone else to build it for them. Why don’t you give a white paper to employees with one and only one objective: find a way out of the crisis; no suggestion, insight or plan of action, just a strict timeline and some touch points to update the leader. In this critical situation, people are forced to study, learn, implement, act, discuss and waste their time in something useless, but combined with reflections and feedback, provides a real growth environment which will help to create the leaders of future. Last but not least, Leaders must encourage and support team members with empathy and right communication, increasing the possibility to learn and to fail, helping them to see a failure as a “temporary defeat” from which everyone can benefit for the future. Those who do nothing are never wrong.

My third and last point, it is the role of leaders to manage people and help them perform better. What does she/he really have to do with individuals in the team? Inspire, guide, communicate, be transparent with them? Of course, and it is quite obvious, but the real added value that a leader can convey to team members is to be only a single step ahead of them, not to emphasize that she/he is better than the others. The real upgrade is to be the attractor of the individuals, to push them “out of the blue”.

Please take a moment and think about when your manager or leader positions himself behind you, what does he do? He pushes people to the goal, but after pushing, he will be tired and without strength; afterwards, he will find himself forced to reward those people who know that their leader has pushed and led them to the goal and next time it will probably be the same.

So, from my point of view, the real Leader, instead of pushing, should attract others to himself and when the team reaches him, take a direct step forward and, once again, start attracting the team, until one member overtakes his Leader and creates a new path. At that point, the Leader will have created another Leader and will have to let him go his own way.

Here below, you can find link to the articles:

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/supporting-teams-in-our-current-environment/

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/how-leaders-at-all-levels-are-taking-on-change-management/

https://www.egonzehnder.com/what-we-do/leadership-solutions/insights/to-leaders-a-message-from-jill-ader-chairwoman-of-egon-zehnder

Additionally, starting from this article I want to introduce the Key Takeaways section, in order to summarize the hot topics and hopefully help someone take the messages home.

At the bottom of the article, you can find the Smart Leader Triangle , my personal vision of what every Smart Leader should do to successfully lead people out of any kind of emergency.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

➢ Transmit vulnerability rather than invincibility: we need emotions

➢ Stimulate individuals to create from himself the way to come out of the crisis

➢ Be a power attractor for your team members in order to shape new Leaders

What do you think?

Let me know your feedback!

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La pandemia globale sta mettendo tutti noi alla prova mettedonci davanti a nuove sfide e cambiamenti come mai prima d'ora. In particolare risultano stressati gli aspetti fisici, mentali e sociali, con un'intensità più elevata rispetto a tutte le crisi vissute in precedenza, come ad esempio, l'11 settembre 2001 a New York e Lehman Brothers nel 2008. La colossale portata dell'epidemia di Covid-19 aumenta l'incertezza e la volatilità dei mercati finanziari, costringendo molte fabbriche a chiudere temporaneamente o definitivamente. La situazione negli Stati Uniti è critica: pochi giorni fa il New York Times ha detto che molti posti di lavoro potrebbero scomparire per sempre con l'aumento dei licenziamenti, con oltre 38 milioni di richieste di disoccupazione negli U.S. in 9 settimane, spingendo un economista ad avvertire che la situazione è "più grigia di quanto pensassimo". Quindi, come potremo gestire la crisi per sostenere le persone , offrendo loro opportunità di crescita in questo futuro imprevedibile?

Nella mia continua ricerca (o mission) per capire come dobbiamo combattere la pandemia, ho studiato la letteratura di esperti di business che lavorano nelle principali istituzioni leaders del settore, come la London School of Economics, Harvard Business School, la London Business School, Egon Zehnder e l'Università di Oxford. Come risultato voglio condividere i 3 articoli più interessanti che ho scoperto: tutti molto interessanti e pieni di insights, perché trattano il delicato tema di come cambiare il proprio stile di leadership per cogliere le opportunità e guidare i team attraverso l'incertezza dei diversi scenari. Spero che abbiate la possibilità di leggerli e magari discutere insieme i punti principali.

Durante il mio ultimo articolo (potete trovare il link qui https://www.simonerebora.com/covid-19-is-the-most-powerful-change-accelerator-of-all-time) ho detto che è necessario passare dalla leadership tradizionale alla smart leadership, che comporta la condivisione e la co-creazione di obiettivi, incoraggiando la gratitudine e filtrando lo stress per trasmettere audacia; credo fortemente in tutti questi concetti, ma vorrei aggiungere alcuni ingredienti che collegano tutti gli articoli qui sotto. Il primo è la padronanza emotiva . È essenziale gestire la rabbia e la paura, per evitare pressioni e ansie eccessive sulle persone, ma allo stesso modo è molto importante mostrare vulnerabilità e condividere le proprie debolezze, perché nessuno è invincibile. Questo non è il momento di essere un robot o un superumano; un leader deve mostrare attenzione e identificare quali sono le emozioni che danno sensazioni forti, quali sono quelle che danno sensazioni meno forti, e soprattutto come usare entrambi i tipi di emozioni a proprio vantaggio. Per un leader, le emozioni devono aiutare se stesso a raggiungere il massimo potenziale, che dovrebbe essere al servizio del Team per far elevare gli standard il più possibile. Dal punto di vista del leader, credo che una delle azioni più difficili da realizzare sia trovare il giusto equilibrio tra il lato razionale e quello emotivo; come gestirle entrambe nelle stesse situazioni? O in situazioni diverse? A volte non è poi così male cercare di far emergere le sensazioni positive e negative, solo per scaricare tutto lo stress e le tensioni accumulate in questo periodo. È fondamentale trovare la persona giusta che accetti il vostro sfogo, vi ascolti e vi tranquillizzi, perché i Leader sono umani e gli umani sono fatti di emozioni.

Inoltre, un leader dovrebbe stimolare le persone ad imparare e studiare di più, favorendo una pianificazione in cui sia previsto uno slot da dedicare al "learning". Mi piace riassumere questo approccio in "learning by doing".

Pensiamo ad un leader che per definizione "guida", "conduce", "pilota" persone fuori da una crisi: in questi casi, la sua reazione naturale è quella di apparire come se avesse il controllo, imparando di più, raccogliendo dati, riempiendo le agende, ecc.. Tuttavia , credo che questo approccio non sia di aiuto a nessuno, ma trasformi i i membri del Team in esecutori e non in futuri leader. In un tipico momento di emergenza come questo, tutti aspettano le direttive e le regole, così che possano venire applicate, seguite e anche criticate (!): "Cosa devo fare capo?", "Chi devo contattare?", "Non ho fatto niente perché ho aspettato il tuo feedback". Quante volte abbiamo sentito queste scuse? Seguite magari da molte lamentele, ma, sapete, è sempre facile criticare qualcuno che cerca di fare qualcosa e soprattutto cerca di assumersi la responsabilità (penso che la mancanza di assunzione di responsabilità sia un tema molto profondo e da affrontare in futuro). È strano, ma sembra che il Covid-19 abbia cambiato l'atteggiamento di coloro che volevano essere chiamati "manager" o "leader", ma che in realtà sono degli ottimi esecutori che, tra l'altro, si permettono di criticare le istruzioni che loro stessi stavano aspettando, non è vero? Quindi, il mio punto di vista è quello di spingere le persone a costruire la propria strada per uscire dalla crisi, senza aspettare che qualcun altro la costruisca per loro. Io darei loro un foglio bianco con un solo e unico obiettivo: trovare una via d'uscita dalla crisi; nessun suggerimento, insights o piano d'azione, solo una tempistica rigorosa e alcuni momenti di condivisione per aggiornare il Leader.

In questa situazione critica, le persone sono costrette a studiare, imparare, implementare, agire, discutere e anche a sprecare il loro tempo in qualcosa di inutile, ma tutto ciò, combinato con riflessioni e feedback, favorisce un vero e proprio ambiente di crescita che contribuirà a creare i Leader del futuro. Infine, ma non meno importante, i Leader devono incoraggiare e sostenere i membri del Team con empatia e giusta comunicazione, aumentando la possibilità di imparare e di fallire, aiutandoli a vedere un fallimento come una "sconfitta temporanea" da cui tutti possono trarre beneficio per il futuro. Chi non fa nulla non sbaglia mai.

Il mio terzo e ultimo punto non lo troverete negli articoli proposti, perché è il mio personale pensiero, quasi un punto fisso che mi è rimasto in testa da tutta la vita: il vero scopo di un Leader con il suo Team. Che cosa deve veramente fare con le proprie persone? Ispirare, guidare, comunicare, essere trasparente con loro? Certo, ed è abbastanza ovvio, ma il vero valore aggiunto che un Leader può trasmettere ai membri del team è quello di essere sempre un solo passo avanti a loro, non per far vedere che è migliore degli altri, ma solo per attrarli. Il vero valore aggiunto è quello di essere l' attrattore degli individui per spingerli oltre i propri limiti.

Per favore, prendetevi un attimo di tempo e pensate a quando il vostro manager o leader si posiziona dietro di voi, che cosa fa? Spinge le persone facendole arrivare all'obiettivo, ma lui, dopo aver spinto, sarà stanco e senza forze; successivamente, si troverà obbligato a premiare quelle persone che sanno che il proprio leader le ha spinte e condotte all'obiettivo e la prossima volta sarà probabilmente lo stesso.

Quindi, dal mio punto di vista, il vero Leader, invece che spingere, dovrebbe attrarre gli altri verso sé stesso e quando il Team lo raggiunge, fare direttamente un passo avanti e, ancora una volta, ricominciare ad attirare la squadra, fino a quando un membro non supera il proprio Leader e crea un nuovo percorso. A quel punto il Leader avrà creato un altro Leader e dovrà lasciarlo andare per la sua strada.

Qui di seguito potrete trovare i link agli articoli:

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/supporting-teams-in-our-current-environment/

https://www.harvardbusiness.org/how-leaders-at-all-levels-are-taking-on-change-management/

https://www.egonzehnder.com/what-we-do/leadership-solutions/insights/to-leaders-a-message-from-jill-ader-chairwoman-of-egon-zehnder

Inoltre, a partire da questo articolo voglio introdurre la sezione Key Takeaways , per riassumere gli argomenti principali e, si spera, aiutare a portare a casa i messaggi chiave trattati.

In fondo all'articolo, potete trovare il lo Smart Leader Triangle , ovvero la mia visione personale di ciò che ogni Smart Leader dovrebbe fare per guidare le persone fuori da ogni tipo di emergenza.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

➢ Trasmettere la sensazione di essere vulnerabili piuttosto che invincibili: abbiamo bisogno di emozioni

➢ Stimolare gli individui a creare da sé il modo di uscire dalla crisi, tracciando la propria strada dal nulla

➢ Essere un potente attrattore per i membri del tuo team al fine di formare nuovi Leader

Cosa ne pensi?

Fatemi sapere il vostro feedback!

COVID-19 IS THE BIGGEST GAME CHANGER OF ALL TIME

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 11 May 2020 06:58:48 GMT

The time is over: stop talking about different types of recoveries, we have to think, share and act quickly and immediately; we have to see the Covid-19 as the accelerator that will allow us to implement those changes that are essential to face the New Normal.

After two months of lockdown and multiple of articles texted and read, statements of slow or fast recoveries declared by President Giuseppe Conte, Emmanuel Macron or Angela Merkel, my perspective is that we should consider COVID-19 like an accelerator of fundamental and structural changes that we should have implemented in the coming 2-4 years. Oddly, we must consider these changes not in years, but months, otherwise all will be lost due to the pace of rapid change. For example, several eminent scientist in the UK advised their government to shut down just two weeks before they actually did. This apparent delay has resulted in the highest death rate in Europe. As a result, Vittorio Colao, leader of the task force of experts put together by the Italian government to bring the country out of the Covid19 crisis, proposed the recovery plan in only ten days after his appointment.

To beat Covid-19 speed is everything, time is over .

During my last article “Prepare to leap into the New Normal”, (here the link https://simonerebora.com/prepare-to-leap-into-the-new-normal ) I said that it is essential to try to adapt companies to jump into the “new normal” in the best possible way, but to make it feasible it is also crucial to act! When? Now! Well, let’s try to shape a framework of suggestions which could help us to accelerate our projects.

In my opinion, we should consider using four strategic steps that everyone of us can keep in mind to enjoy the acceleration required. In addition, at the bottom of the article, there is a chart summarizing my thoughts.

FIND THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, NOT THE RIGHT ANSWERS AND BUILD UP YOUR PLAN

Before beginning a project or something else, the major question that you have to ask to ourselves is: What do you want to do? Set your goal and objective, you need to decide what you desire, because this is the only way you can expect to get it. Furthermore, considering that there are no limits to what you can do, you have only to ask the right questions, in the intelligent and precise way as best as possible. I know that particularly in this period, we can see everything under a negative aspect, but please remember that nothing is good or bad in our life, except in the way we represent it to ourselves; so it is sufficient reframe a negative statement into a positive one changing the perception of the experience. The first step is to find the objective of the changes that could help my activity: we need to look for the desire that turn on the vital light inside us. Everyone has one inside him/herself, it’s enough think and follow simple steps; let me give an example of five rules which help to find your goal:

1. Think about your purpose in a positive way

2. be practical and go into details

3. create a plan of action to achieve it, clear, simple and achievable in a correct time period

4. your objective has to be under your control, it must depend on your actions

5. be sure that it will bring benefit to you and others

SWITCH FROM TRADITIONAL LEADERSHIP TO SMART LEADERSHIP

During the Covid-19 period I see a profound change in terms of leadership, which is moving from traditional leadership to smart leadership that will greatly help those who want to innovate and differentiate their business. Leaders used to assign tasks, wait for results, judge them and give feedback to help people improve themselves, stimulating them to improve for the next time. To date, in the Covid-19 period, all this no longer works, it would be a further obstacle to the acceleration that the Virus is asking of everyone and would reduce the pace of recovery. Smart leadership shares and co-creates objectives and goals, encourages collaboration between functions, connects points and people, leads employees to convince themselves that they are key players in implementing the company's mission, as well as making people proud of what they do every day. Leadership is not a competence; leadership is a progressive training that is acquiring new skills to keep the pace of this "revolution". For example, who knew Mr. Burioni or Mr. Galli? Mrs. Capua? Not many people. Now, we are followers of them, probably because we see in them knowledge and trust, which will help us out of the crisis. Moreover, intelligent leadership requires the innate ability to filter stress and tension to convey boldness, encouragement and gratitude for what you are doing, so that your people recognize that you are not just doing your job, but that you care about their... what a great message! Lastly, I believe that to accelerate the moves in order to begin the recovery in less than 6 months, for the company it is strategic to…

SHIFT FROM CENTRAL COMMAND TO CENTRAL ORCHESTRATION

Obviously, phase 1 of the crisis required some kind of top-down leadership to provide clear guidance and information, but phase 2 may require a different approach to enable and encourage decentralised decision-making. It may be necessary to form small, trustworthy and agile multidisciplinary task forces to guide efforts in Phase 2 and facilitate rapid adaptation to change. It is essential to have a timely escalation process so that the other team members are able to make decisions based on agreed responsibilities without wasting time. In this phase of recovery during the COVID-19 outbreak, leaders will need to move from central command to central orchestration , supporting collaboration across functions, maximising decision making and guiding people into a matrix. I firmly believe that to accelerate and support companies it is strategic to mix multiple skills so that people can be helped to think and act 360°, enhancing their background. Innovation will have to be promoted at the right time and will have to be linked to reality: there are too many things to consider when you have to change something complex in a short time, so keep in mind the need to work nimbly, making decisions and strengthening them even if the whole functional cross functional team is not 100% aligned. You can adapt the framework from time to time, the sore point is to proceed too slowly, so if that happens, remember that time is over .

SHARING OF IDEAS

What follows are my personal reflections on how to facilitate acceleration in companies with a different rate of propensity to change and, from my point of view, could help someone to open their eyes and why not, to implement them. I would like to know what your impressions are, if they are applicable and what are the different approaches, we could have to accelerate the process.

Here are your possible insights:

1) Reshape customer segmentation and targeting.

2) design the new customer journey; to date, customers will have different and unsatisfied needs than before and some previous needs may be obsolete.

3) create a new service to support the new F2F/digital interactions balance; we will interact in a different way and we may have support on how to compensate interactions.

4) be the first to move. I would not add anything else, because it is essential to move first and be remembered as the accelerators. About what? Everything.

5) Reshaping the workers' journey because it will never be the same as before and employees need to be reassured that their company knows what will change for them to carry out their activities (support at home, smart work, more flexibility).

6) communication plan that informs customers that the company will bring innovation to be ready to face the new post-Covid-19 challenges. Reassuring customers that something will change just to facilitate their experience.

I know these points could be questioned, but I would like to know WHY to inform my thoughts . It's too easy to blame someone who proposes something different, I would love to have your ideas and feedback! As I always say: sharing is the basis of continuous improvement!

Finally, my belief is that few of us spend the time necessary to think about how to interpret situations, trying to anticipate moves that will help development and innovation.

Let's face it, something is happening to us.

Time is over! Let's speed it up!

What do you think?

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Dopo due mesi di lockdown e molteplici articoli scritti e letti, dichiarazioni da parte del Presidente Giuseppe Conte, da Emmanuel Macron o da Angela Merkel su fasi 1-2-3, la mia prospettiva è che dovremmo considerare COVID-19 come un acceleratore di cambiamenti fondamentali e strutturali che avremmo dovuto attuare nei prossimi 2-4 anni. In particolare, dobbiamo considerare l'applicazione di questi cambiamenti non in anni, ma in pochi mesi, altrimenti tutto andrà perduto: il ritmo del cambiamento è rapidissimo. Per esempio, diversi eminenti scienziati del Regno Unito hanno consigliato al loro governo di chiudere tutto appena due settimane prima che lo facessero veramente. Questo apparente ritardo ha portato al più alto tasso di mortalità in Europa. Di conseguenza, Vittorio Colao, leader della task force di esperti creata dal governo italiano per far uscire il Paese dalla crisi Covid19 , ha proposto il piano di ripresa a soli dieci giorni dalla sua nomina.

Per battere il Covid-19 la velocità di azione è fondamentale, il tempo è finito .

Nel mio ultimo articolo "Preparatevi a fare il salto nella nuova normalità", (qui il link https://simonerebora.com/prepare-to-leap-into-the-new-normal ) ho detto che è fondamentale cercare di adattare le aziende per affrontare la "nuova normalità" nel miglior modo possibile, ma per renderlo fattibile è anche fondamentale agire! Quando? Adesso! Bene, cerchiamo di dare un framework di suggerimenti che possano aiutarci ad accelerare i nostri progetti.

A mio parere, dovremmo prendere in considerazione quattro step strategici, indicati a seguire, che ognuno di noi può tenere a mente per sfruttare la massima accelerazione . Per sintetizzare il mio modello, in fondo all'articolo, ho creato un grafico che riassumesse il mio framework.

1- TROVA LE DOMANDE GIUSTE, NON LE RISPOSTE GIUSTE E POI COSTRUISCI IL TUO ACTION PLAN

Prima di iniziare un progetto o qualsiasi altra cosa, la domanda principale che ci si deve porre è la seguente: Che cosa voglio fare? Stabilisci prima di tutto il tuo obiettivo e la tua meta, devi decidere cosa desideri, perché solo così puoi aspettarti di ottenerlo. Inoltre, ricorda semore che non ci sono limiti a ciò che si può fare, bisogna solo porsi le domande giuste, nel modo più intelligente e preciso possibile. So che, soprattutto in questo periodo, possiamo vedere tutto sotto un aspetto negativo, ma ricordiamo che nulla è buono o cattivo nella nostra vita, se non nel modo in cui lo rappresentiamo a noi stessi, quindi è sufficiente rielaborare un'affermazione negativa in una positiva cambiando la percezione dell'esperienza. Il primo passo è trovare l'obiettivo dei cambiamenti che potrebbero aiutare la nostra attività: dobbiamo cercare il desiderio che alimenta la fiamma che è dentro di noi. Ognuno di noi ne ha uno dentro di sé, basta ragionare e seguire semplici passi; permettetemi di fare un esempio di cinque regole che possono aiutare a trovare il proprio obiettivo:

1. pensa al tuo obiettivo in modo positivo

2. sii pratico ed entra nei dettagli

3. crea un piano d'azione per raggiungerlo: chiaro, semplice e realizzabile in un periodo di tempo idoneo

4. il tuo obiettivo deve essere sotto il tuo controllo, deve dipendere dalle tue azioni

5. sii sicuro che porterà benefici a te e agli altri

2- PASSA DALLA LEADERSHIP TRADIZIONALE ALLA LEADERSHIP INTELLIGENTE

Durante il periodo Covid-19, percepisco un profondo cambiamento in termini di leadership, che sta passando da una leadership tradizionale a una leadership intelligente o smart che aiuterà molto chi vuole innovare e differenziare il proprio business. I leader sono abituati ad assegnare compiti, aspettare i risultati, giudicarli e dare un feedback per aiutare le persone a migliorare loro stesse, stimolandole a fare meglio o di più la prossima volta. Ad oggi, nel periodo Covid-19, tutto questo non funziona più, sarebbe un ulteriore ostacolo all'accelerazione che l'attuale situazione chiede a tutti di fare e ridurrebbe il ritmo della ripresa. La leadership intelligente condivide e co-crea obiettivi e traguardi, incoraggia la collaborazione tra le funzioni, mette in contatto punti e persone, porta i dipendenti a convincersi di essere attori chiave nella realizzazione della missione aziendale, oltre a rendere le persone orgogliose di ciò che fanno ogni giorno. La leadership non è una competenza; la leadership è una formazione progressiva che sta acquisendo nuove competenze per tenere il ritmo di questa "rivoluzione". Ad esempio, chi conosceva il Dr Burioni o il Dr Galli? La Dr.ssa Capua? Non molte persone. Ora, noi ne siamo seguaci, probabilmente perché vediamo in loro la conoscenza e la fiducia che ci aiuterà ad uscire dalla crisi. Inoltre, un leader intelligente dovrebbe avere l'innata capacità di filtrare lo stress e la tensione per trasmettere forza, incoraggiamento e gratitudine per quello che si sta facendo, in modo che la sua gente riconosca che non sta solo facendo il proprio lavoro, ma che si preoccupa del loro... che bel messaggio!

3- PASSA DALLA CENTRALITA' DI COMANDO AL COORDINAMENTO CONDIVISO

Ovviamente, la fase 1 della crisi ha richiesto un'impronta di leadership top-down per fornire sia una guida che un'informazione chiara, ma la fase 2 può richiedere un approccio diverso per consentire e incoraggiare il processo decisionale decentrato. Potrebbe essere necessario formare piccole task force multidisciplinari, affidabili e agili, per coordinare gli sforzi nella fase 2 e facilitare un rapido adattamento al cambiamento. È essenziale avere un processo di escalation tempestivo, in modo che tutti i membri del team siano in grado di prendere decisioni basate su responsabilità concordate, senza perdere tempo. In questa fase di recovery, durante l'epidemia di COVID-19, i leader dovranno passare dal comando centrale al coordinamento condiviso , sostenendo la collaborazione tra le varie funzioni, massimizzando il processo decisionale e guidando le persone a lavorare a matrice. Credo fermamente che per accelerare e sostenere le aziende, sia strategico mixare più competenze in modo che le persone possano essere aiutate a pensare e ad agire a 360°, migliorando il loro background. L'innovazione dovrà essere promossa al momento giusto e dovrà essere legata alla realtà: ci sono troppe cose da considerare quando si deve cambiare qualcosa di complesso in breve tempo, quindi tenete presente la necessità di lavorare agilmente, prendendo decisioni che possano essere difese, anche se l'intero team cross funzionale non è allineato al 100%. È possibile adattare il framework di volta in volta, dato che il punto dolente è la lentezza d'azione di molte aziende, quindi se ciò dovesse accadere, ricordate che il tempo è finito.

4- CONDIVIDI LE IDEE

Condivido con voi alcune idee personali su come poter facilitare l'accelerazione in aziende con un diverso tasso di propensione al cambiamento; spero che possano aiutare qualcuno ad aprire gli occhi e perché no, anche ad attuarle. Mi farebbe piacere sapere quali sono le vostre impressioni, se secondo voi queste idee sono applicabili e quali possono essere i diversi approcci, dato che potremmo dover accelerare il processo.

Ecco qualche spunto:

1) rimodellare la segmentazione e il targeting dei clienti.

2) progettare il nuovo customer journey; ad oggi, i clienti avranno esigenze diverse e insoddisfatte rispetto a prima e alcune esigenze precedenti potrebbero essere obsolete.

3) creare un nuovo servizio a supporto dell'equilibrio che si verrà a creare tra interazioni F2F e digitali; interagiremo in modo diverso e potremo avere un servizio che ci suggerisca come trovare il nuovo equilibrio tra le interazioni.

4) essere i first mover. Non aggiungerei altro, perché è essenziale muoversi per primi ed essere ricordati come gli acceleratori. Di cosa? Tutto

5) rimodellare il workers journey perché non sarà più lo stesso di prima e i dipendenti dovranno essere rassicurati che la loro azienda sa cosa cambierà per loro nello svolgimento delle loro attività (supporto a casa, smart working, maggiore flessibilità).

6) un piano di comunicazione che informi i clienti che l'azienda porterà innovazione per essere pronta ad affrontare le nuove sfide post-Covid-19. Ciò aiuterebbe a rassicurare i clienti che tutto ciò che cambierà, sarà solo per facilitare la loro esperienza

So che questi punti potrebbero essere discussi, ma vorrei sapere PERCHÉ . Spesso si critica qualcuno che propone qualcosa di diverso, senza però proporre nulla, quindi mi farebbe veramente piacere avere le vostre idee e il vostro feedback! Come dico sempre: la condivisione è alla base del miglioramento continuo!

Concludo nel dire che, dal mio punto di vista pochissimi di noi passano il tempo necessario a pensare a come interpretare le situazioni, cercando di prevedere mosse che aiuteranno lo sviluppo e l'innovazione; forse è arrivato il momento di dedicarci più tempo.

Rendiamoci contro che ci sta succedendo qualcosa. Il tempo è finito! Acceleriamo!

Cosa ne pensi??

PREPARE TO LEAP INTO THE NEW NORMAL

rebora.simone@gmail.com (Simone Rebora) — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 06:34:43 GMT

There is no doubt that the Covid-19 has swept away our normality and nothing will be the same as before, but it is time to think and organize ourselves on how acting to enter into the "new normal", an exciting new era full of challenges that we just have to be able to grasp

Two months after the start of the global crisis, it is fascinating to see how countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, France and the United States are closing down, creating lockdowns and reducing our freedoms. It appeared that the experience of China and South Korea failed to convey the aggressiveness, contagion rate and death toll of Covid-19 to other countries; some brilliant leaders and scientists said that the arrogance and power of money would have no effect against the virus, probably against humanity, but not against Covid-19 which spreads silently among the people. In this critical period of the crisis, individuals are facing important choices in terms of work, family organization, health and life in general, but how are they organizing their return to the “new normal”. Firstly, we need to know the key considerations for the progression of the disease and what we need to do to combat the epidemic. Secondly, we need to understand how companies should prepare the organization for the leap into this “new normal”, with my focus naturally being on the pharmaceutical sector.

WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT FROM THE DISEASE

Without doubt, there are many more infected than we know of. A Study of Imperial College of London estimates that in Italy at the end of March, the number of people infected may have been 9.8% of the entire population (5.9 million people), while Walter Ricciardi, OMS Board member, assumes it could have been around 20% of the Italian population. Therefore, the prevalence is significantly higher than we can calculate, and the asymptomatic cases are playing a very important role regarding the transmission of the disease. Anthony Fauci, American immunologist, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, who was requested by President Trump to be a lead member of the US Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, said that “Unless we get this globally under control, there is a very good chance that it’ll assume a seasonal nature” because it is unlikely to be contained around the world this year. Some evidence highlights that there is a low correlation between temperature/humidity and Covid-19 transmission, however, climate and seasonality probably are not going to stop transmission. China and Asian countries have recommenced economic activities, reducing local transmission, whilst being wary regarding travel and in-person gatherings, which has allowed a slight increase of new cases, have put in place restrictions that minimize the Covid-19 growth rate.

PILLARS FOR A SUCCESSFUL RETURN

Returning to “business as usual” every company has to create a detailed plan, based on building blocks which should be adapted to the sectors and local situation. A company should be focused on:

1) Restart supply chains in order to guarantee resources and materials to the industry.

2) Identification of regions that could reopen before others

3) Transparency. Always communicate clearly on next steps and on the status of infections amongst the population

4) Organizational changes to optimize and ease the transition to the “new normal”

5) Avoid complaints and ascertain disruptive actions that could create new career opportunities

6) Invest time in people training and projects which can keep up the morale of employees and stakeholders

During this period, one of the hardest tasks is thinking in a different way, in a nutshell: think outside the box. This way of thinking is often seen as a dangerous approach, because it goes outside borders created in our mind during stable periods, when little changes, and normal habits dominate daily life. From my perspective, what makes a manager a great leader is being able to catch a glimpse of where the world is going to go after the crisis, build up a strategy and promptly act! It is strategic questioning of him or herself of what will change for the customer, besides how health regulations may be impacted and make an holistic evaluation, thinking of different simulations to assess the company sustainability.

Finally, a leader must adapt the workforce structure and act promptly, even with new methodologies and business models. I am a strong believer of the “learn by doing”: action is what teaches us how to succeed. Author and business coach Tony Robbins, in his best selling book “Unlimited Power”, says that “ Action is what produces results and knowledge is only potential power until it comes into the hands of someone who knows how to get himself to take effective action”. In fact, the English definition of the word “power” is “the ability to act”. The ability to act takes huge responsibilities for the leaders that must limit mistakes in these delicate situations.

COMPANIES MISTAKES

In general, companies make mistakes when faced with earthquakes of this kind that affect habits and bring to the surface weaknesses never encountered before. One of the main risks is not having managers and leaders able to manage the fear of the future that can spread within employees, so it becomes strategically important to help people become flexible to changing roles and reporting structures. Another mistake that companies often apply in times of crisis is the low and slow quality of decisions : it depends on the skill of managers that lead organizations; quality is fundamental and can influence the way a company can enter the “new normal”.

Another aspect to study in depth can be the lack of audacity to break down the pillars and guidelines in which the company relies on its business and be able to create new milestones that can lead employees and managers to the new reality. From my point of view, we should consider an important topic: the ability to prioritize activities , which all seem to become urgent, forgetting any kind of project plan and increasing burnout. How many times have we realized that several exercises just completed have been totally useless? This leads to a waste of time and work, which can negatively affect employee performance and quality of life.

NEW HORIZONS FOR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

Pharmaceutical companies can seize the opportunities and prepare for the “new normal”, because patients will change the way they see their doctors, just as sales reps cannot visit doctors as usual; non-essential appointments could be postponed or remotely organised and medical staff probably need to be trained on how to manage patients under the Covid-19 crisis. Several market researchers report that doctors want to have the support from pharmaceutical companies, obviously in different ways, but what is important for companies is to be able to hear the voice of customers and consider their views at all times. Specifically, what actions can pharmaceutical companies consider? Here is a brief overview in a few points:

· Increase the possibility of drug home delivery

· Improve the power of telemedicine

· Provide services for patients that suffer of different disease

· Change segmentation and targeting of the customers

Personally, I anticipate that the roles of sales representative and digital managers are indispensable to manage change and help doctors, but only if they have been properly trained and convinced that their previous job will no longer exist. From a structural point of view, hospitals will never be the same as before because they will probably have entrances for Covid-19 patients and entrances for patients with different diseases; sales representatives will be able to organize their contacts outside hospitals or in spaces dedicated to scientific information, this is not certainly going to be the case, but I suspect that it will be something like this.

Furthermore, scientific meetings could be composed of large groups of doctors who could decide to make appointments for medical information, so that sales reps will have to develop new skills and abilities to maintain the interest of more doctors and manage an audience. Will they have to develop public speaking skills I wonder?

In addition, why don't business representatives and district leaders examine the group of doctors they should visit? By improving quality and focusing on the best customers to invest their time face-to-face. For other customers who can be seen a few times in a year or who do not want to be visited, why not apply a digital strategy to inform them about the new evidence and guidelines? And who can take this opportunity? Sales representatives, of course, who know the market and the customer's needs. So, from my point of view, the field sales force of the future will have digital, marketing and management skills that they probably never had before.

I am very excited about what the future may hold for us, my only fear is that only someone can understand the potential of the coming months and that too many people will suffer this blindness. It's nice to see flash mobs from balconies or people turn on phones in the dark every day, but I don't think it's enough to face the changes and challenges that a situation we've never faced before, will bring us.

As I said in my previous article, primarily, we have to think about people's health; then, secondly, respecting the rules, it is essential to try to adapt companies to jump into the “new normal” in the best possible way, but to make it feasible it is also crucial to act! When? Now!

We owe it to all those who have suffered or lost their loved ones to ensure that life goes on and that we are not defeated by the virus.

What do you think?

Contact me and let me know your feedback!

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A due mesi dall'inizio della crisi globale, è interessante vedere come paesi quali Italia, Germania, Spagna, Regno Unito, Francia e Stati Uniti abbiano chiuso, istituendo lockdown e riducendo la libertà delle persone. Sembrava che l'esperienza della Cina e della Corea del Sud non riuscissero a trasmettere ad altri Paesi l'aggressività, il tasso di contagio e il numero di morti di Covid-19; alcuni brillanti leader e scienziati hanno affermato che l'arroganza e il potere del denaro non avrebbero avuto alcun effetto contro il virus, probabilmente contro l'umanità, ma non contro Covid-19 che si è diffuso silenziosamente tra la gente. In questo periodo critico di crisi, gli individui si trovano ad affrontare scelte importanti in termini di lavoro, organizzazione familiare, salute e vita in generale, ma come stanno organizzando il loro ritorno alla Nuova Normalità? Prima di tutto, dobbiamo conoscere le considerazioni chiave per la progressione della malattia e cosa dobbiamo fare per combattere l'epidemia. Poi, dobbiamo capire come le aziende devono preparare l'organizzazione al salto nella " nuova normalità" , con particolare attenzione al settore farmaceutico.

COSA ABBIAMO IMPARATO DALLA MALATTIA

Sicuramente, ci sono molti più infetti di quanto pensiamo. Uno studio dell'Imperial College di Londra stima che in Italia, alla fine di marzo, il numero di persone infette avrebbe potuto essere il 9,8% dell'intera popolazione (5,9 ML), mentre Walter Ricciardi, membro del Consiglio di Amministrazione dell'OMS, ipotizza che potrebbe essere stato circa il 20% della popolazione italiana. La prevalenza è quindi significativamente più alta di quanto si possa stimare e i casi asintomatici giocano un ruolo molto importante per quanto riguarda la trasmissione della malattia. Anthony Fauci, immunologo americano, direttore dell'Istituto Nazionale delle Allergie e Malattie Infettive dal 1984, voluto dal Presidente Trump come uno dei membri principali della Task Force Coronavirus della Casa Bianca ha dichiarato che "Se non riusciamo a tenere la situazione sotto controllo a livello globale, ci sono ottime probabilità che assuma carattere stagionale" perché è improbabile che quest'anno venga contenuta in tutto il mondo. Alcune prove evidenziano che c'è una bassa correlazione tra temperatura/umidità e trasmissione di Covid-19, tuttavia, il clima e la stagionalità probabilmente non fermeranno la trasmissione. La Cina e i Paesi asiatici hanno ripreso l'economia e le attività , riducendo la trasmissione locale, ma essendo consapevoli che la ripresa dei viaggi ha permesso un leggero aumento dei nuovi casi, hanno messo in atto restrizioni che riducono al minimo il tasso di crescita di Covid-19.

PILASTRI PER UN RITORNO DI SUCCESSO

Per tornare al "business as usual" ogni azienda deve creare un piano dettagliato, basato su building blocks che devono essere adattati ai settori e alla situazione locale. Un'azienda dovrebbe essere focalizzata su:

1) Trasparenza, avere sempre una comunicazione chiara sulle azioni successive e sullo stato della popolazione infetta

2) Identificazione di potenziali regioni che possono riaprire prima di altre

3) Riavvio della supply chain per garantire risorse e materiali all'industria

4) Cambiamenti organizzativi che possano ottimizzare e facilitare il passaggio alla Nuova Normalità

5) Evitare ogni tipo di lamentela ed incoraggiare azioni disruptive che potrebbero creare nuove opportunità di carriera

6) Investire tempo nella formazione delle persone e in progetti che possano tenere alto il morale dei dipendenti

In questo periodo, una delle cose più difficili da fare è cercare di pensare in modo diverso, in poche parole: pensare fuori dagli schemi. Questo modo di pensare è spesso visto come un approccio pericoloso, perché esce dai confini creati dalla nostra mente durante i periodi di stabilità, quando non succede nulla, e le abitudini lavorative dominano la scena. Dal mio punto di vista, ciò che rende un manager un grande leader è la capacità di intravedere dove andrà il mondo dopo una crisi, di costruire una strategia e di agire tempestivamente! Immagino che sia strategico chiedersi cosa cambierà per il cliente, oltre a come la salute e la regolamentazione possono essere impattate e fare una valutazione aziendale, mettendo in atto diverse simulazioni per valutare la sostenibilità dell'azienda. Infine, un leader deve adattare la forza lavoro e agire il prima possibile, anche con nuove metodologie e modelli di business. Sono un forte sostenitore dell’ "imparare facendo": l'azione è ciò che accomuna ogni grande successo. Tony Robbins, nel suo Best seller "Unlimited Power", afferma che l'azione è ciò che produce risultati e la conoscenza è solo un potere potenziale, fino a quando non arriva nelle mani di qualcuno che sa come fare per ottenere un'azione efficace. Infatti, la definizione letterale della parola "potere" è "la capacità di agire". La capacità di agire comporta enormi responsabilità per i leader che devono limitare gli errori in queste situazioni delicate.

ERRORI DELLE AZIENDE

In generale, le aziende commettono errori di fronte a terremoti di questo tipo che influenzano le abitudini e portano in superficie debolezze mai affrontate prima. Uno dei rischi principali è quello di non avere manager e leader in grado di gestire la paura del futuro che può diffondersi tra i dipendenti, per cui diventa strategico rendere le persone flessibili a cambiare ruoli e capi nei periodi precedenti a queste crisi. Un altro errore che le aziende possono commettere in tempi di crisi è la bassa e lenta qualità delle decisioni : dipende dalle competenze dei manager che guidano un'organizzazione; la qualità è fondamentale e può influenzare il modo in cui un'azienda può entrare nella nuova normalità. Un altro aspetto da approfondire può essere la mancanza di coraggio nel bypassare i pilastri e le linee guida in cui l'azienda ha affidato il proprio business per anni ed essere in grado di creare nuove pietre miliari che possano condurre i dipendenti e i manager verso la nuova realtà. Dal mio punto di vista, dovremmo considerare un ulteriore punto importante: la capacità di dare priorità alle attività , che sembrano diventare tutte urgenti, dimenticando qualsiasi tipo di project plan e aumentando la sindrome da burnout. Quante volte ci siamo resi conto che diversi esercizi appena fatti sono stati totalmente inutili? Questo porta ad una perdita di tempo e di lavoro, che può influire negativamente sulle prestazioni dei dipendenti e sulla qualità della vita.

NUOVI ORIZZONTI PER LE AZIENDE FARMACEUTICHE

Le aziende farmaceutiche dovranno cogliere le opportunità e prepararsi alla nuova normalità, perché i pazienti cambieranno il modo di vedere i loro medici, così come gli Informatori Scientifici del Farmaco non potranno visitare i medici come al solito; le visite non essenziali potrebbero essere rinviate o organizzate a distanza e il personale medico deve probabilmente essere formato su come gestire i pazienti sotto la crisi Covid-19. Diverse ricerche di mercato riferiscono che i medici vogliono avere il supporto delle aziende farmaceutiche, ovviamente in modi diversi, ma ciò che è importante per le aziende è riuscire a sentire la voce dei clienti per applicare tutti i cambiamenti in questo momento. Nello specifico, quali azioni possono prendere in considerazione le aziende farmaceutiche? Ecco una breve panoramica in alcuni punti:

- Aumentare la possibilità di consegnare il farmaco a domicilio

- Migliorare la potenza della telemedicina

- Fornire servizi per i pazienti che soffrono di diverse malattie

- Cambiamento della segmentazione e targeting dei medici

Personalmente, prevedo che i ruoli di Informatore e Digital Manager saranno indispensabili per gestire il cambiamento e aiutare i medici, ma solo se sono stati adeguatamente formati e convinti che il loro precedente lavoro non esisterà più. Da un punto di vista strutturale, gli ospedali non saranno mai più gli stessi di prima perché probabilmente avranno ingressi per i pazienti Covid-19 e ingressi per i pazienti con diverse patologie; gli ISF potranno organizzare i loro contatti al di fuori degli ospedali o in spazi dedicati all'informazione scientifica, non so, questa è solo la mia opinione personale. Gli incontri scientifici potrebbero essere composti da grandi gruppi di medici che potrebbero decidere di fissare appuntamenti per l'informazione medica, quindi gli Informatori dovranno sviluppare nuove competenze e capacità per mantenere l'interesse di più medici e gestire un pubblico. Dovranno sviluppare competenze di public speaking?

Inoltre, gli Informatori e i loro Area Managers rivedranno lo schedario dei medici che dovranno visitare? Questo porterebbe ad un possibile miglioramento della qualità e ad una maggiore concentrazione sui medici che necessitano un investimento di tempo focalizzato. Ad altri medici che possono essere visti qualche volta in un anno o che non vogliono essere visitati, perché non applicare una strategia digitale per informarli su nuove indicazioni e linee guida? E chi può cogliere questa opportunità? Gli ISF, naturalmente, che conoscono il mercato e le esigenze del cliente. Quindi, dal mio punto di vista, la Field Force del futuro avrà competenze digitali, di marketing e di gestione che probabilmente non ha mai avuto prima.

Sono molto entusiasta di ciò che il futuro potrebbe riservarci, il mio unico timore è che solo qualcuno possa carpire il potenziale dei prossimi mesi e che troppe persone soffrano di questa cecità. È bello vedere i flash mob dai balconi o le persone che accendono la torcia del telefono al buio, ma non credo sia sufficiente per affrontare i cambiamenti e le sfide che una situazione a noi nuova ci potrà riservare.

Come ho detto nel mio precedente articolo, prima di tutto bisogna pensare alla salute delle persone; poi, in secondo luogo, rispettando le regole, è fondamentale cercare di adattare le aziende per entrare nel Nuovo Normale nel miglior modo possibile, ma per renderlo fattibile è anche fondamentale agire ! Quando? Adesso !

Lo dobbiamo a tutti coloro che hanno sofferto o perso i loro cari, affinché la vita continui e non venga sconfitti dal virus.

Cosa ne pensi?

Contattami e fammi sapere il tuo feedback!

THE FUTURE AFTER COVID-19

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 07:05:37 GMT

What's happening in coming months is the key question that everyone is asking. The purpose of my last article is to analyse the data that we have and try to have a forecast on when we will come back to the "new normality"

On 20th February 2020 most of the world was carrying on business as usual, The World Bank said India Needs Additional $100-Plus Billion for Safer Roads, Chelsea were preparing to play against Tottenham in the English Premier League and life was carrying on as normal. Then, in what seemed like an instant, everything changed.

The previous month, the Covid-19 pandemic was silently spreading into Europe. First, Italy was hit, then Spain, then France, Germany, the UK and after that the USA was hit by what President Trump called “the Chinese Virus”, because the virus is believed to have started in a food market in Wuhan, China. As the virus swept across America, the US Government quickly discovered how foolish it was to label a virus that knows no borders, as “Chinese”.

One-by-one counties across the world went into lockdown. What does this mean for companies and individuals? Previously unthinkable changes in terms of habits, day-to-day life, work and even basic survival.

The change has occurred so fast that it is hard to understand what is happening today, need mind the future. But somehow, we have to make sense of what is happening and try to move on.

Let’s try to understand what could happen in the future in terms of impact upon workers and companies. I don't own a crystal ball to predict the future, I can only guess what the best way forward might be:

· Analyze the current situation with sectors more affected than others

· Figure out what companies should do to address Covid-19 and continue the business

· Identifying the pillars to overcome the crisis

· Estimate a time frame to return to the pre-crisis level

CURRENT SITUATION

As you can see from the image at the bottom of the article, that was recently published by leading consultancy McKinsey, most sectors are suffering enormous impact from Covid-19, but clearly some sectors more impacted than others. The first industries that paid a heavy price due to Covid-19 were Tourism (including restaurants) and hospitality. How many of you cancelled your skiing/ week end outdoors or summer holidays? Tourism is closely linked to airlines that have suffered from companies’ decisions to freeze all business travel until the further notice, and secondly cancellations made by private families who had planned their holidays. As a result, the price of oil and gas has fallen due to reduced demand and short-term supply jumps, such as automotive uses, which is exposing its vulnerabilities due to trade tensions and decline in Chinese demand.

However, there are opposing impacts for other sectors that could benefit from the situation in terms of increased demand, such as consumer products, food and beverage packaging, TV entertainment and pharmaceuticals. I want to discuss the pharmaceutical sector in more detail, because this is my area of expertise, but we should also consider experiences within other sectors as everything is connected. Therefore, we can divide companies’ businesses into two macro areas:

1) The Corporate business based on the retail market.

2) The Corporate business based on the professional healthcare market such as hospitals

As far as the first group, perhaps the impact appears more relevant than the second group, although the early weeks of the lockdown registered a good trend due to a race to supply pharmacies and various points of sales. Drugs delivered in hospitals for respiratory, anti-viral and life-threatening diseases will persist less than others, such as drugs for chronic disease which are moderately impacted, because these patients must take pills constantly, Covid or not Covid.

What could change? Maybe the uptake of new patients and the launches of new drugs. Regarding the uptake, we have to consider the fact the new patients have not be able to go to hospitals due to restrictions and ambulatory closures, for new product launches, physician time restrictions that will have to be invested in testing new products, etc. Probably they will prefer use what is already known. We are going to discuss the economic impact later.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR DURING COVID-19 CRISIS

In theory this should be easy to communicate, understand and implement. The execution must be crystal clear, organised in few points and easy to remember, thus, from my perspective, every company should consider the health of the workers, the strength of the business, financial aspects and execution.

· Workers health : drastic reduction of transmission risks fosters as much as possible smart working, ensuring suitable technologies which support work from home. For those who must go to the office, plant or factory, companies should provide mask and wipes, check the body temperature every day, communicate good hygiene practices. Managers who have direct reports have to boost the morale of the employees, organising specific sessions and calls to answer questions and update them regarding the latest situation. If anyone is infected or may be infected, immediate self-quarantine, remote connection and daily situational monitoring.

· Reinforce the business protecting core activities , understand the change of the customer’s need, create a dedicated team who monitors market trends and sales implications, but especially, never abandoning the customers. It is always easy stay close in the good times, it is harder in bad moments, but it’s in these situations that a company can make a difference. Mostly in the pharmaceutical market, are we asking what do physicians need? Are their needs are equal across the country or do we have to identify different needs region by region? From my perspective, the supply of scientific material on Covid-19, the referral of patients during the crisis or information about a drug home delivery service can be nice news in this period. Finally, prioritisation of activities that can ensure the business operations, and exploring new opportunities which will optimise resources, for instance, all digital and remote activities.

· Project financial simulations of best , base and worst scenarios, revising targets and objective setting and developing a consequent action plan. Once again the risk mitigation and the stress tests have to be implemented as soon as possible to identify any weaknesses and threats, preparing the company to increase flexibility.

· Be clear on execution , coordinating an emergency team who can engage the entire organization through multiple channels, suggesting if anyone would like to be involved in some projects, they have to contact the relevant person or office. Be clear and have a concrete action plan organised day by day, sharing the results and steps forward in order to keep high moral among employees. Be clear in the empowerment of the company, avoiding confusion and miscommunication, as well as organisational paralysis.

PILLARS TO OVERCOME THE CRISIS

The first pillar must be human health . The first objective is to reduce the contagion, safeguarding the lives of the citizens of the entire world, using resources, tools, know how, whatever it takes (how many times are we using it?) to protect human life. We have to eliminate the virus as soon as possible; increase treatment and test capacity and, obviously, find a vaccine not later than 12 months. The second pillar must be the protection of livelihoods , underpinning people and businesses hit by lockdown as fast as possible; preparing a gradual get back to work in a safe way and mentally prepare ourselves to face a long road to recovery. I guess that we could make the difference on the path to recovery only with a highly effective intervention, both as control of virus spread and policy interventions.

PLAN FOR A RETURN TO PRE-CRISIS LEVEL

At this stage the time frame is hard to say, but before trying to forecast (I merely predict a possible development in the pharmaceutical market), I strongly believe that the leaders of the companies must ask the right questions and identify a strategy to successfully overcome this period:

A. How long could the difficult period last? They should monitor the trend of the contagion, the fatalities, occupation rates of the intensive care, hospital bed utilisation, and government policy decisions

B. What trend could the recovery have? They should monitor the results of the public policies, the time to the reopening of activities, disease characteristics, and the market need

C. How serious is the demand reduction? They should monitor number of new cases, the geographical distribution of the outbreak (region by region), the time to re-opening of key infrastructure and time to back to business as usual for customers.

Then, if companies leaders will apply the stages above, we can consider a speedy and safe recovery of activities. If I were to guess a time frame to return to the pre-crisis level, I would firstly split Italy in two different areas: Lombardy (red zone) and rest of Italy. I would then identify best, base and worst-case scenarios.

In China the public health emergency took 7-8 weeks to battle Covid-19, reducing to below 100 of new domestic cases. The red zone was Hubei, composed by 180,000 square km and 57 million people, quite similar to Italy that has a population of 60.8 million people, though over 300,000 square km (less people concentration), but, especially in the first week, with much less respect of the restrictions. So, I have detected these cases below:

➢ Best case: outside Lombardy, hospital access to patients back to normal at 100% early May; in Lombardy early June around 80% thanks to the Covid-19 delivery to the specialised site of cares which can help other centers to return to their activities. Gradual recovery of the production in May (fashion, automotive). Restaurants and bar opened (8-18) early June.

➢ Base case: outside Lombardy, hospital access to patients back to normal at 100% early June; in Lombardy early July. Gradual recovery of the production in the second part of May and people come back to office and factories in June. Workers who have to go to hospitals (except doctors, nurses etc.) for instance sales reps, outside Lombardy they could have access after 2nd June, in Lombardy at 1st July.

➢ Worst case : outside Lombardy, hospital access to patients back to normal at 100% early September; in Lombardy early November. Services and transports stopped, as well as food shops and supermarket, national army distributes basic necessities till end of July, after that gradual reopening of activities (September).

The eventual outcome will depend on strict observance of the restrictions by citizens; regarding the impact on pharmaceutical companies depends on the business model (retail or hospital), the kind of the disease in which the company is most involved (chronic or acute) and the drugs that operate in the therapeutic areas low/mid/high impacted by the crisis.

In any case, considering all the above, I would say a negative impact on the pharma revenue in a range of -2.5%/-7% due to low enrollment of new patients in the period March-April, slightly recovered in the last quarter of the year.

Examining 2021, if we can stay in the base case, I estimate that the impact should be limited because of a positive rebound that will start at the end of 2020 and carry on to the entire year until it stabilises and the return of growth will be from 2022.

Anyway, Companies don’t have to change business or close the gates, but must change the business model quickly. Only those who adapt their nature could survive and improve future performance. As always, only those who see opportunities in difficult moments can make the difference in the future.

What do you think?

Let me know your feedback!

Simone

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Il 20 febbraio 2020 la maggior parte del mondo stava portanto avanti il proprio business come al solito, la World Bank diceva che l'India aveva bisogno di altri 100 miliardi di dollari per costruire strade più sicure, il Chelsea si stava preparando a giocare contro il Tottenham nella Premier League inglese e la vita stava continuando come al solito. Poi, in quello che è stato un semplice istante, tutto è cambiato.

Nel mese precedente, la pandemia di Covid-19 si stava diffondendo silenziosamente in Europa. La prima ad essere colpita è stata l'Italia, poi la Spagna, poi la Francia, la Germania, la Gran Bretagna e poi gli Stati Uniti sono stati colpiti da quello che il presidente Trump ha chiamato "il virus cinese", perché si ritiene che il virus sia iniziato in un mercato alimentare a Wuhan, in Cina. Mentre il virus si diffondeva in tutta l'America, il governo americano scoprì rapidamente quanto fosse inutile etichettare come "cinese" un virus che non conosce confini.

Uno dopo l'altro, tutti i paesi del mondo sono andatai in isolamento. Cosa può comportare l'isolamento per le aziende e i singoli individui? Numerosi cambiamenti prima impensabili in termini di abitudini, vita quotidiana, lavoro e persino sopravvivenza di base.

Il cambiamento è avvenuto così velocemente che è difficile capire cosa stia succedendo oggi, c'è bisogno di pensare sì al futuro, ma in qualche modo, è molto importante dare un senso a ciò che sta accadendo per cercare di andare avanti.

Cerchiamo di capire cosa potrebbe accadere in futuro in termini di impatto sui lavoratori e sulle aziende. Tuttavia, non avendo una sfera di cristallo presumo che il migliore dei modi sia:

- Analizzare la situazione attuale di settori più colpiti di altri

- Capire cosa devono fare le aziende per affrontare Covid-19 e continuare l'attività

- Identificare i pilastri per superare la crisi

- Stimare quando si potrebbe tornare al livello pre-crisi

SITUAZIONE ATTUALE

Come si può vedere dall'immagine in calce all'articolo, che è stata recentemente pubblicato dalla società leader in consulenza McKinsey, la maggior parte dei settori sta subendo un enorme impatto da Covid-19, ma chiaramente alcuni di essi hanno avuto un impatto maggiore di altri. I primi settori che hanno pagato un prezzo pesante a causa di Covid-19 sono stati il turismo (compresi i ristoranti) e l'alberghiero. Quanti di voi hanno cancellato la settimana bianca/week end o le vacanze estive? Il turismo è strettamente legato alle compagnie aeree che hanno sofferto per la decisione delle aziende di congelare tutti i viaggi di business fino a data da destinarsi, e in secondo luogo per le cancellazioni effettuate dalle famiglie che avevano pianificato le loro vacanze. Di conseguenza, il prezzo del petrolio e del gas è sceso a causa della riduzione della domanda, come nel caso dell' automotive, che sta rivelando le sue vulnerabilità a causa delle tensioni commerciali e del calo della domanda cinese.

Tuttavia, vi possono essere impatti opposti per altri settori che potrebbero beneficiare della situazione in termini di aumento della domanda, come i prodotti di consumo, il packaging alimentare e delle bevande, l'intrattenimento televisivo ed alcuni prodotti farmaceutici. Vorrei discutere più in dettaglio del settore farmaceutico, perché questa è la mia area di competenza, ma mi piacerebbe considerare anche le esperienze all'interno di altri settori, dato che tutto ormai è collegato.

Ritornando al farmaceutico, possiamo dividere il business delle aziende in due macro aree:

1) Il business aziendale basato sul mercato delle farmacie aperte al pubblico.

2) Il business aziendale basato sul mercato ospedaliero.

Per quanto riguarda il primo gruppo, forse l'impatto appare più rilevante rispetto al secondo, anche se le prime settimane di lockdown hanno registrato un buon trend grazie "alla corsa al rifornimento" visto in molte farmacie e vari punti vendita.

Discorso opposto per i farmaci somministrati negli ospedali, soprattutto per quelli dedicati alle malattie respiratorie, antivirali e i cosiddetti "salva vita"; questi, subiranno un impatto molto limitato, così come i farmaci per le malattie croniche, in quanto i pazienti devono assumere costantemente pillole, Covid o non Covid.

Quali potrebbero essere invece i farmaci e gli aspetti più impattati? Forse nei primi mesi ci potrebbe essere un rallentamento dell'uptake di nuovi pazienti, così come il lancio di nuovi farmaci potrebbe subire un rallentamento. Sul primo punto, dobbiamo considerare il fatto che molti pazienti avranno difficoltà ad andare in ospedale a causa delle restrizioni e delle chiusure ambulatoriali; sul secondo punto invece, bisognerebbe capire quanto tempo avranno i medici per dedicarsi alle nuove terapie, piuttosto che preferire quelle già conosciute, dedicandosi così ad altri pazienti.

IL COMPORTAMENTO DELL'AZIENDA DURANTE LA CRISI COVID-19

Dovrebbe essere facile da comunicare, comprendere ed implementare. L'execution deve essere chiara, organizzata in pochi punti e facile da ricordare.

Ergo, dal mio punto di vista, ogni azienda dovrebbe impostare il proprio programma in primis sulla salute dei lavoratori, poi sui propri punti di forza, in seguito sugli aspetti finanziari ed infine sull'esecuzione.

- La salute dei lavoratori : drastica riduzione dei rischi di trasmissione favorendo la possibilità di lavorare in smartworking, garantendo tecnologie adeguate che possano supportare il lavoro da casa. Per chi deve recarsi negli uffici, negli stabilimenti o nelle fabbriche, le aziende devono fornire maschere e salviette, controllare ogni giorno la temperatura corporea, comunicare le buone pratiche per l'igiene. I manager che hanno rapporti diretti devono tenere alto il morale dei dipendenti, organizzando sessioni specifiche e call per rispondere alle loro domande, aggiornandoli sulla situazione. Se c'è stato o potesse esserci qualche infetto, autoquarantena immediata, collegamento a distanza e monitoraggio quotidiano della situazione.

- Rafforzamento del business : proteggere le attività principali, comprendere il cambiamento delle esigenze del cliente, creare un team dedicato che monitori l'andamento del mercato e le implicazioni di vendita, ma soprattutto, non abbandonare mai i clienti. È sempre facile stare vicino nei momenti felici, è più difficile nei momenti complessi, ma è in queste situazioni che un'azienda può fare la differenza. Soprattutto nel mercato farmaceutico, ci chiediamo di cosa hanno bisogno i medici? Le loro esigenze sono uguali in tutto il territorio nazionale o dobbiamo individuare esigenze diverse regione per regione? Dal mio punto di vista, gli aspetti più rilevanti sono la fornitura di materiale scientifico su Covid-19, dove inviare i pazienti durante la crisi o informazioni su un servizio di consegna a domicilio di farmaci. Un altro punto, è la prioritizzazione delle attività che possono garantire il business, esplorando nuove opportunità che ottimizzeranno le risorse, per esempio, tutte le attività digitali e remote.

- Protezione asset finanziario: simulare gli scenari migliori, quelli base e i peggiori, rivedendo il target e gli obiettivi fissati, sviluppando il conseguente piano d'azione. Anche in questo caso, la mitigazione del rischio e gli stress test devono essere implementati al più presto per identificare eventuali debolezze e minacce, preparando l'azienda ad aumentare la flessibilità.

- Esecuzione chiara: coordinazione di un Team di emergenza che possa coinvolgere tutta l'organizzazione a seguire le regole, attraverso molteplici canali, suggerendo che se qualcuno ne volesse entrare a far parte, deve contattare questa persona o ufficio. Essere chiari in un piano d'azione coerente e concreto organizzato giorno per giorno, condividendo i risultati e i passi avanti per mantenere alto il morale dei dipendenti. Essere chiari nell'empowerment dell'azienda evitando la confusione e le incomprensioni, così come la paralisi organizzativa.

PILASTRI PER SUPERARE LA CRISI

Il primo pilastro deve essere, e sottolineo deve essere , la salute delle persone . Il primo obiettivo è quello di ridurre il contagio, salvaguardando la vita dei cittadini di tutto il mondo, utilizzando risorse, strumenti, know how, tutto ciò che serve per proteggere l'essere umano. Dobbiamo eliminare il virus il prima possibile, aumentare la capacità di trattamento e di test e, ovviamente, trovare un vaccino non più tardi di 12 mesi.

Il secondo pilastro deve essere la protezione dei mezzi di sussistenza, sostenendo le persone e le imprese colpiti il più velocemente possibile, preparando un graduale ritorno al lavoro in modo sicuro e immaginandosi ad affrontare un lungo cammino verso una nuova normalità.

Presumo che potremmo intraprendere la strada della ripresa solo con interventi altamente efficaci che arrivano dal mondo della politica e della scienza.

STIMA DI QUANTO TEMPO OCCORRE PER TORNARE AL LIVELLO PRE-CRISI

Difficile dirlo, ma prima di tentare di prevederlo (mi limito a prevedere un possibile sviluppo del mercato farmaceutico), credo fermamente che i leader delle aziende debbano porsi le domande giuste e dopo, individuare una strategia per superare con successo questo periodo:

A. Quanto potrebbe durare questo delicato periodo? Dovrebbero monitorare l'andamento dei contagi, la mortalità, il tasso di occupazione delle terapie intensive, i letti occupati negli ospedali, le decisioni del governo

B. Quale potrebbe essere l'andamento della ripresa? Dovrebbero monitorare i risultati delle politiche pubbliche, i tempi di riapertura delle attività, le caratteristiche della malattia, le esigenze del mercato

C. Quanto è grave la riduzione della domanda? Dovrebbero monitorare il numero di nuovi casi, la distribuzione geografica del focolaio (regione per regione), i tempi di riapertura delle infrastrutture e i tempi di ritorno al business as usual per i clienti.

Poi, se e solo se i leader delle aziende applicheranno le fasi di cui sopra, possiamo considerare una velocità e un recupero sicuro delle attività. Se ipotizzassi un lasso di tempo per tornare al livello pre-crisi, per prima cosa dividerei l'Italia in due aree diverse: Lombardia (zona rossa) e resto dell'Italia, individuando il best, base and worst scenario.

In Cina l'emergenza sanitaria pubblica ha richiesto 7-8 settimane per combattere Covid-19, riducendo sotto il 100 i nuovi casi interni. La zona rossa è stata Hubei, composta da 180.000 km quadrati e 57 ML di persone, molto simile all'Italia che ha 60,8 ML di abitanti ma in 300.000 km quadrati (meno concentrazione di persone), ma, purtroppo nella prima fase, con molto meno rispetto delle restrizioni. Quindi, ho rilevato questi casi qui di seguito:

➢ Best Case : fuori dalla Lombardia, l'accesso ospedaliero ai pazienti torna alla normalità al 100% a metà maggio, mentre in Lombardia circa l'80% a metà giugno. Rimangono attivi e aperti i centri specializzati Covid-19 che aiuteranno altri centri a riprendere la loro attività. Graduale ripresa della produzione nel mese di maggio (moda, automotive). Ristoranti e bar aperti solo dalle 8 alle 18 ai primi di giugno.

➢ Base Case : fuori dalla Lombardia, l'accesso ai pazienti in ospedale torna alla normalità al 100% all'inizio di giugno; in Lombardia all'inizio di luglio. Graduale ripresa della produzione a metà di maggio e ritorno in ufficio e nelle fabbriche nella seconda parte di giugno. I lavoratori che devono recarsi in ospedale (tranne medici, infermieri ecc.) ad esempio gli Informatori Scientifici del Farmaco, fuori dalla Lombardia potrebbero avere accesso dopo il 2 giugno, in Lombardia il 1° luglio.

➢ Worst Case : fuori dalla Lombardia, l'accesso ai pazienti in ospedale torna alla normalità al 100% all'inizio di settembre; in Lombardia all'inizio di novembre. Fermati i servizi e i trasporti, così come i negozi di alimentari e i supermercati, l'esercito nazionale distribuisce i generi di prima necessità fino a fine luglio, dopo graduale riapertura delle attività (Settembre).

L'esito finale dipenderà dal rigoroso rispetto delle restrizioni da parte dei cittadini; per quanto riguarda l'impatto sulle aziende farmaceutiche dipende dal modello di business (retail o ospedaliero), dal tipo di malattia in cui l'azienda è maggiormente impegnata (cronica o acuta) e dai farmaci che operano nelle aree terapeutiche a basso/medio/alto impatto della crisi.

In ogni caso, considerando tutto ciò, direi che ci potrebbe essere un impatto negativo sui ricavi delle aziende pharma in un range di -2,5%/-7% a causa del basso numero di nuovi pazienti nel periodo marzo-aprile, in leggera ripresa nell'ultimo trimestre dell'anno.

Esaminando il 2021, se riuscissimo a rimanere nello scenario di base, stimo che l'impatto possa essere limitato a causa di un rimbalzo positivo che inizierà alla fine del 2020 e proseguirà per tutto l'anno 2021 fino a quando non si stabilizzerà e il ritorno della crescita sarà a partire dal 2022.

In ogni caso, le aziende non devono cambiare business o chiudere battenti, ma devono cambiare rapidamente il modello di business. Solo chi si adatta può sopravvivere e migliorare la performance future. Come sempre, solo chi vede le opportunità nei momenti difficili può fare la differenza in futuro.

Cosa ne pensi?

Non vedo l'ora di sentire il tuo parere!

Simone

COVID-19: LET'S TAKE STOCK OF THE SITUATION

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 10:27:57 GMT

Probably the most impactful global event since II World War

On Saturday, January 11, 2020, the first victim of Covid-19 was declared in Wuhan, China; two days after the first death in a foreign country, Thailand. On January 30, the WHO declared the global emergency and pandemic of March 11, 2020. So far, how many things have happened, how many restrictions have been applied and how our lives have changed. A lot.

Probably, the first questions that everyone is asking now are related to the end of the epidemic and how long it will take to get the vaccine. To the first, it is difficult to answer, but it depends on strict compliance with the restrictions that each citizen must follow every day; to the second, starting in February, I believe no less than 12-18 months, because we must consider the time needed to develop solid and consistent clinical trials, which can last for months. After that, there is the question of production capacity, but, let us proceed step by step.

TIME TO OBTAIN A VACCINE

After they have been created in the laboratory and tested on animal models, the vaccines must be tested on humans to verify first their safety and then their efficacy on a correct number of people under controlled conditions; at best it could last for months. As you can see below, there is a pre-clinical phase in the laboratory, after which there are three phases on humans. In general, this process takes years, but similar vaccines have worked safely in trials for several diseases, so it could be reduced in order to make the vaccine available to the whole population. Later, when the vaccine is ready, there will be another challenge: mass production.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY

Production capacity will certainly play an important role after the vaccine is approved, because it has to be produced in large quantities, so only a few companies can have the power to increase their production facilities. In fact, the real future problems could be the guarantee of the vaccine to all those who need it and the limitation of the supply chain: some countries have said that they will give priority to health workers and caregivers. The reason for this is to give priority to people living in or coming into contact with Covid-19 patients and then to those who have no contact with Covid-19 patients. From my point of view, this will be a crucial step to continue the fight against the virus, and it could probably be a complicated political issue: what could happen if a country with a reasonable production capacity decided to use its vaccine production mainly to defend the health of its citizens and, after securing it, to export the vaccine? Do you think this could be an impossible scenario? I hope so.

THE POWER OF FAKE NEWS

Have you ever thought about how easy it is to access information? A simple message, a click, a post, something like that. Everything allows us to share and disseminate information, whether it's true or false, it doesn't matter, just share and publish it! I suppose it is one of the most dangerous aspects of our society, because it makes the delicate balance of the community vulnerable, made up of people who believe in everything that is published. To avoid publishing and believing in false news, it is highly recommended to look for information in official and certified sources, such as the WHO, because a lot of false news circulates and can lead to the assumption of dangerous behavior, ineffective to prevent the contagion of Covid-19.

Here are the most frequent false reports:

1) Paracetamol treats Covid-19 infection.

2) Garlic prevents Covid-19 infection

3) Drinking a lot of water washes the virus out of the respiratory tract and pushes it into the stomach where it is destroyed by acid.

4) Vitamin C has a protective action against Covid-19

5) Antibiotics prevent Covid-19 infection

They're all FALSE!

What do you think?

Let me know and keep in touch!

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

Sabato 11 gennaio 2020 la prima vittima di Covid-19 è stata dichiarata a Wuhan, in Cina; due giorni dopo la prima morte in un Paese straniero, la Thailandia. Il 30 gennaio l'OMS ha dichiarato l'emergenza globale e la pandemia dell'11 marzo 2020. Finora, quante cose sono successe, quante restrizioni sono state applicate e come è cambiata la nostra vita. Molto.

Probabilmente, le prime domande che tutti si pongono ora sono legate alla fine dell'epidemia e quanto tempo occorrerà per avere il vaccino. Alla prima, è difficile rispondere, ma dipende dalla stretta osservanza delle restrizioni che ogni cittadino deve seguire ogni giorno; alla seconda, a partire da febbraio, credo non meno di 12-18 mesi, perché dobbiamo considerare il tempo necessario per sviluppare sperimentazioni cliniche solide e coerenti, che possono durare mesi. Dopo di che, c'è la questione della capacità produttiva, ma, procediamo passo dopo passo.

TEMPO PER OTTENERE UN VACCINO

Dopo essere stati creati in laboratorio e testati su modelli animali, i vaccini devono essere provati sull'uomo per verificarne prima di tutto la sicurezza e poi l'efficacia su un numero corretto di persone in condizioni controllate; nella migliore delle ipotesi potrebbe durare mesi. Come si può vedere qui sotto, c'è una fase preclinica in laboratorio, dopo di che tre fasi sull'essere umano. In generale, questo processo richiede anni, ma vaccini simili hanno funzionato in modo sicuro in prove per diverse malattie, quindi, potrebbe essere ridotto al fine di rendere il vaccino disponibile a tutta la popolazione. Più tardi, quando il vaccino sarà pronto, ci sarà un'altra sfida da affrontare: la produzione massiccia.

CAPACITÀ DI PRODUZIONE

La capacità produttiva avrà certamente un ruolo importante dopo l'approvazione del vaccino, perché deve essere prodotto in grandi quantità, quindi solo poche aziende possono avere il potere di aumentare i loro impianti di produzione. Infatti, i veri problemi futuri potrebbero essere la garanzia del vaccino a tutti coloro che ne hanno bisogno e la limitazione della supply chain: alcuni Paesi hanno detto che daranno la priorità agli operatori sanitari e ai caregiver. La ragione di questa scelta è di dare priorità alle persone che vivono o entrano in contatto con i pazienti Covid-19 e successivamente a quelli che non hanno contatti con i pazienti Covid-19. Dal mio punto di vista, questo sarà un passo cruciale per continuare la lotta contro il virus, e probabilmente potrebbe essere una questione politica complicata: cosa potrebbe accadere se un Paese con una ragionevole capacità di produttiva decidesse di utilizzare la propria produzione di vaccini principalmente per difendere la salute dei propri cittadini e dopo averla assicurata, esportare il vaccino? Pensate che potrebbe essere uno scenario impossibile? Lo spero.

IL POTERE DELLE FAKE NEWS

Avete mai pensato a come sia facile accedere alle informazioni? Un semplice messaggio, un click, un post, qualcosa del genere. Tutto ci permette di condividere e diffondere informazioni, vere o false che siano, non importa, basta condividerle e pubblicarle! Suppongo che sia uno degli aspetti più pericolosi della nostra società, perché rende vulnerabile il delicato equilibrio della comunità, fatta di persone che credono in tutto ciò che viene pubblicato. Per evitare di pubblicare e credere in notizie false, si consiglia vivamente di cercare informazioni in fonti ufficiali e certificate, come l'OMS, perché molte notizie false circolano e possono far presumere comportamenti pericolosi, inefficaci per prevenire il contagio del Covid-19.

Qui ci sono le notizie false più frequenti:

1) Il paracetamolo tratta l'infezione da Covid-19

2) L'aglio previene l'infezione da Covid-19

3) Bere molta acqua lava il virus fuori dalle vie respiratorie e lo spinge nello stomaco dove viene distrutto dall'acido.

4) la vitamina C ha un'azione protettiva contro Covid-19

5) Gli antibiotici prevengono l'infezione da Covid-19

Sono tutti FALSE!

Cosa ne pensi?

fammi sapere e teniamoci in contatto!