Translational Skills

1. Translational Skills Jim Collins Good to Great First Who, Then What “When research began, the thinking was to first set strategy and vision and then align people behind the new direction. We found something quite the opposite. The executives that made the transformation from Good to Great did not first figure out where to drive the bus and then get people to take it there. No, they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and right people in the right seats. Then and only then, they figured out where to drive it. The Good to Great leaders understood three simple truths. 1)    If you begin with Who rather than What, you can more easily adapt to a changing world. If people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, it is easier to change direction. 2)    If you have the right people on the bus the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. 3.) If you have the wrong people, it doesn't matter whether you find the right direction you still won't have a great company. “Great vision without great people is irrelevant “

2. Translational Skills • Catch a rising star (Urban Meyer) • Broad skills versus niche • Look at the background “infrastructure” • Tell me about a time… (War Story) • Skills translation (English to French is OK) • Why is this better than what you have now (Beware of the “Perfect Fit”)? • How are you measured?

3. Translational Skills • Motivations: Unemployed vs. Employed • For Entrepreneur: Person’s risk tolerance! • Red Flag: Job Movement! Well, maybe… • Put achievements in context (Sales example) • Any skeletons in the closet? Tell me now! • Non-competes • Running to versus running away

4. Translational Skills Common Reasons People Leave • Lack of career growth opportunity • Lack of open communication • More money (*actually, not as much anymore) • Add another dimension to their background • Lack of leadership • Company doesn’t listen to employee ideas

5. Translational Skills Predictions for the next decade • “Virtualization” of the workforce • 10.3M more jobs than people by 2010 • Major companies go out of business • Trends • The competency issue • Desire for quality day care • Terrorism limits immigration • End of Warm Chair Attrition (people that won’t quit but take up space).

6. Translational Skills Introducing Our Panel of Experts… • Dr. Craig Herman, PharmD, Project Manager, GlaxoSmithKline • Dr. Jim Price, PhD, Director Development Team Ops.,Pfizer • Josh Davis, MPH, Director of Project Management, King Pharma • Dr. Stephen Richardson, PhD/PMP, Product Dev (*bioMérieux) • Jonathan Koch, MBA, VP Operations, Charles River Clinical Svcs • Tim Albury, MS/CPA, CFO, KBI Biopharma • Peyton Anderson, CEO, Affinergy • Dr. John Didsbury, PhD, CEO, (*Nuada) • Bill Duval, BA, VP Global Ops, Quintiles Strategic Services Opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the individuals and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of their respective employers.

7. Translational Skills Introducing Our Questions… • What skill sets are transferable from other sectors to Pharma? • Extra value if one has successfully traversed more than one sector? • Do PM skills transfer more/less easily than other roles in Pharma? • Fewer obstacles in clinical trials versus pre-clinical? • What other attributes bring value to your team/organization? • Is Project Management treated as billable, overhead, paid by R&D, etc. and how is it “viewed” in your organization? • How does training and/or formal education weigh into the picture? • Are there other pathways available to enter the industry?

8. Translational Skills What skill sets are transferable from other sectors? • Core administrative functions (Finance/HR/IT/Operations). • Some background in health sciences desirable (*industry jargon). • Alternate fields include informatics, patient recruitment, HC IT. • Willing to take on a more junior role (e.g. project analyst)? • Transfer at “middle ground” is difficult, higher/lower level is better. • Traditional metrics don’t apply... PM in Pharma is more abstract! • Type of company, no experience = no virtual company! • Understanding another regulated environment. • Can PM offer up other skills to support business?

9. Translational Skills Extra value to traverse more than one sector? • Demonstrates ability to learn, understand complexity, desirable. • In clinical drug development, no. Pre-clinical, some benefits to someone who has been in say, a production environment. • CRO is sale of project team to client so while possible to intersperse skill sets for project, must have core competencies for hire by client! • Some value but you have to understand the industry to some degree. If you don’t know what questions to ask, you will fail. • Not for purely technical roles and as a buyer’s market, holding out longer for what I want.

10. Translational Skills Do PM skills transfer more/less easily than other roles in Pharma? • Middle of the road to yes was consensus. • Closer to corporate versus functional level (e.g. understand budget). • Domain experience can be learned. • If you have great leadership skills, you can ultimately, project manage anything.

11. Translational Skills Fewer obstacles in clinical trials versus pre-clin? • An across the board, yes! • Would need to know operations side of clinical. • Far more barriers in multi-disciplinary science. Clinical is medical. • Pre-clinical more academic, scientifically rigorous environment. • More defined. After Phase 1 you lose “intellectual freedom”. • You aren’t changing dose in Phase III.

12. Translational Skills What other attributes bring value to team/org? • Someone I already know (*proven work ethic). • Interpersonal skills. • Leveraging relationships through the “matrix”. • Client and customer relations skills in that the use of tools (*i.e. e-mail) pre-empts traditional contact methods. • Think on feet? Show signs of confidence? Are they consistent? • Good sleuth, knows how to tap resources. • Staying in the “trenches”, not sitting behind a desk all the time. • Good writing skills (e.g. SBIR grant, customer proposals). • Common sense business skills.

13. Translational Skills Is PM billable, etc. and how is it “viewed”? • Pharma is expensed under R&D generally, could fall under clinical operations. • Pharma = not attributed to product. Cost of headcount developing a compound. • CRO is billable. • In CRO, viewed as “critical”. “Most highly visible position after exec function”. “Traffic cop within company and champion to the client”. • In Pharma, PM is critical. Desirable role. Leadership function! • In Pharma, focused around product, phase and therapeutic area. • Evolution in Pharma. Earlier seen as “overhead support”. With growth of outsourcing, now seen as critical to supplier relations.

14. Translational Skills How does training/formal education weigh in? • PhD gets you more advanced equity. • PMP is not a measure of success. PMBOK is helpful “framework” but not specific to Pharma. • 60-70% “been there, done that”. 30% “other”.

15. Translational Skills Other pathways available to enter the industry? • Clinical monitoring, clinical settings such as physicians offices. • Diagnostics, academic environments, research, engineering. • Attend DIA, Barnett, etc. training courses.

16. Translational Skills Summary • Consider company type needs (large, specialty, virtual, CRO, etc.). • Consider working in existing function within Pharma first (e.g. IT or manufacturing candidate working in same role in Pharma) • Consider “entry point”, will you take a step down? • Educate yourself on processes and terminology. • Bring additional skill sets to the table.