Why You Need to Build Your Network, Part 2

At the upcoming SPBT (Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers) Conference, I’ll be delivering a workshop on Building Your Own Professional Network.

In Part 1 of this brief series, we looked at the fact that personal/professional networks outlast your role in any particular company.

Here’s a second reason for you to invest focused time on getting to know new people: networks have a massive multiplying factor.

As of this writing, I am connected to 1,338 people on LinkedIn (many inside the pharma industry, and many in a vast array of other industries). Each one of those people knows 10, or 30, or 50, or 100 quality folks who are not just names on a list – they are collaborators and friends.

If I have a need for a recommendation, or am helping someone find a new job, I can not only touch those directly connected to me – they potentially allow me to touch a multitude of others. And the closer the ties you build with your own “inner circle,” the more likely it is that you will be introduced into other peoples’ inner circles.

While large networks have a powerful place as far as overall reach, it’s the smaller, high-quality networks where a lot of the referring and helping gets done. As you build human and helpful ties with others over time, you will find that every person who becomes a collaborator actually brings along a host of others. And one of those, most likely, holds the key to your next job.

The mathematicians may disagree with me, but addition=multiplication when it comes to having a great network. Do the math and let’s build together!

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

Why You Need to Build Your Network, Part 1

At the upcoming SPBT (Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers) Conference, I’ll be delivering a workshop on Building Your Own Professional Network.

Why is this topic – this practice, this lifestyle – so important?

Here’s one reason – a network is more enduring than a company or a job.

We’d all like to believe that our current employer will be around forever, on a perpetual growth vector, and that unlimited opportunities will always be before us on the climb up the ladder.

I have two words for that: Santa Claus.

If I’ve seen nothing else over the last 25 years, it’s that companies rise and fall, jobs appear and disappear, and industries are disrupted at an accelerated pace. When a market dries up or a pink slip appears, who do you have to turn to?

Your network.

Many people wait until they are in trouble before suddenly scrambling to build connections (we’ve all seen that pattern on LinkedIn, right?). But that’s the wrong time. The right time to build your professional network is 5 years ago, and the second best time is right now. You want to have an opportunity network of great quality people in place long before you need them.

You need to build your network because you cannot rely on companies or markets to take care of you. People help people they know and like. And those relationships develop with conscious, pro-active effort over time. Seek out, meet with, take an interest in other people. Help them achieve their goals. You don’t even have to be an extrovert to network effectively (I’m not – my native tendency is definitely toward introversion). You just have to be intentional.

There is no Santa Claus. But you have a wide open opportunity to build rewarding, long-term relationships with people. Don’t pass it up in favor of putting milk and cookies by the fireplace.

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

Fresh Pharma Jobs for Mid-April

A bunch of positions for pharma sales trainers have come on the market here in mid-April, 2012! Here are some links for you:

Manager, Cardiovascular Training – Sanofi, Bridgewater, NJ

Manager, Diabetes Training – Sanofi, Bridgewater, NJ

Manager, Managed Markets Sales Training and Dev – Princeton, NJ

Associate Director, Training – Quintiles, Parsippany, NJ

Training and Development Manager – VWR, Wayne, PA

Sr. Sales Training Manager, Gastroenterology – J&J, Horsham, PA

Director, Sales Effectiveness & Training – Teva Pharmaceuticals, Frazer, PA

Sales Training Manager – Merial (Animal Health), Atlanta, GA

Associate Director, Drug Safety Compliance & Training – South SF, CA

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

What Do I Want To Do When I Grow Up?

In one form or another, I’ve heard this question a lot in the past few years. And, in fact, I’ve continually asked it of myself.

Seems heretical to ask it; but in fact, for people in their 30′s and 40′s – even 50′s – it’s a very common thought.

By now, we’ve been in our career for quite some time, and we’re supposed to be on the “right” track heading in the foreordained destination that leads to our personal fulfillment.

Yeah, right. Actually, it is only after some years in the work force that we finally begin to ask fundamental questions about our own strengths, desires, and professional direction. You’d be surprised at how many of those around you put up the brave front (as you do), but are feeling very unclear about who they are and where they are going in their career.

I’ve sat down and talked with countless professionals who are in the midst of re-thinking their career. And I’ve discovered that such consultation is almost exactly parallel to what I do with brands and companies when they are trying to figure out their identity and strategy. We need to get to 20/20 vision, we need to understand our professional DNA, but so much seems cloudy and unclear from where we sit.

I can help. I call this form of consulting Clarity Therapy <==(that’s a new website that describes this business practice). I started doing this with Impactiviti partner companies who were struggling with their identity and message. But now, I’ve decided to go beyond consulting for companies, to include the many individuals who are in the midst of re-thinking their career. I call it my “accidental” business, because it began to just happen organically over time without any design on my part.

Clarity Therapy can occur in person or over videoconference (video Skype, which is free, is a great platform for this!), and the session is 2-3 hours of intensive one-on-one discovery of your professional DNA and future direction. At times, we all need an outside perspective to help us see ourselves more clearly. That’s what I do as a clarity therapist – and what others have done for me also at times.

If you’re interested in Clarity Therapy, for you or someone you know, here are some Testimonials of others who have been through this helpful process.

There’s no shame in asking the question, “What do I want to do when I grow up?” What we really need is a safe and experienced outside voice to help us see through the fog.

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

The Myth of Corporate Job Security

Today is another one of those “Ugggh!” days, when one of my pharma clients is announcing a major new round of layoffs. I’ve seen a lot of these in the past few years, and every time, good people are forced to re-think their career direction.

Re-thinking is hard. And in a time when constant marketplace change is the new normal, it’s unavoidable. Permanent employment with ever-stable companies – that’s a thing of the past.

Our only security is network security – building a high-quality network of great people, interconnected with other great people. That’s where new opportunities and open doors will appear. Jobs may be eliminated, companies may falter – but your best professional move is to grow a network of people. That’s one reason why I’ve built the Impactiviti network.

And, if you’re downsized, some of those very people may be the ones who best recognize what you could/should be doing next. Sometimes, disruption forces us to re-consider and re-calibrate.

I was sitting in front of the fire with a friend last night who is probably best described as under-employed. As we talked about his skills and successes, an underlying theme became clear – he actually had a set of skills that just about any worthwhile company would need (and pay handsomely for). It just came down to recognizing it, defining it, and (our next step) “packaging” him for a new phase of his career.

I have no doubt that many of my displaced pharma friends are loaded with marketable skills. A layoff can be a very isolating experience, and can cause us to question our worth, but the best course to take is to pro-actively network with others. Initiate a LinkedIn contact. Invite someone you barely know for coffee. Share war stories and contacts. It’s your future, and your security – build it!

For those in pharma who would like to plug into some networking groups with other industry colleagues, I have set up a couple LinkedIn networking groups, as has the SPBT (Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers):

>>Join SPBT networking group (client-side and vendors allowed)

>>Join Impact Life Sciences sales-training-marketing networking group (current employees of pharma/biotech/device companies; no vendors)

>>Join Impactiviti Pharma Talent networking group (job seekers from pharma/biotech/device companies, sales-training-marketing; no vendors)

You can join any or all that apply.

For those displaced, we’ve also set up a Job Board here; you can also use a meta-job-search engine like Indeed.com and Juju.com.

Don’t lose heart – instead, build something for you.

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.

One Pharma Network You Need to Plug Into

Way back when the worlds of social media and pharma barely intersected – Impactiviti was there (5+ years ago!).

Since then we’ve built quite an extensive network of pharma professionals – including best-in-class service providers for your pharma sales/marketing/training needs! (Impactiviti is a trusted referral network, connecting life sciences clients with hand-selected vendor/partners)

And, its free to be part of the Impactiviti network. Here’s how:

- Sign up for the Impactiviti Connection pharma e-newsletter, loaded with news and resources for our industry (twice monthly)

- Check out the @Impactiviti Twitter feed, your daily source for news, links, and job openings. And, feel free to subscribe to the Impactiviti blog (recent post: Mining for Gold: Pharma Social Media)

- Join the Impact LinkedIn networking group (vendor-free): over 450 members devoted to commercial pharma

And, for all your marketing/training/technology needs, speed-dial Steve Woodruff, who will help you find the optimal vendors for your needs (yes, that service is free too – here’s how it works). We look forward to serving you!

PLUS: Impactiviti facilitates high-value workshops for training departments on Vendor and Project Management – contact us for details!

(btw, the @Impactiviti Twitter feed is mainly read-only – you can interact with Steve at his main @swoodruff account!)

Mining for Gold, and Pharma Social Media

Over the past several years, the pharmaceutical industry as a whole has been wrestling with the whole complex issue of what to do about social media.

Is it a blessing or a threat? Get involved or stay on the sidelines? What is allowed or what is not?

Let’s step back for a moment and ask a far more fundamental question: Why should we even care? Do we need to become a social business? (the term “social business” is now on the ascendancy, to describe a company that embraces the use of connected people networks on every level to evolve the business).

Here’s why: the idea of social media in business is founded on a very important premise: The Gold is Everywhere.

Gold (valuable information, resources, connections, insight, new opportunities) is in our customers (patients and HCPs). Gold is in all of our employees. Gold is in our partners and distribution chains. Gold is spread out all over the marketplace. And in order to mine that gold, we need a technology-fueled approach to connectedness that will enable us to listen, learn, speak, and evolve. Highly recommended: this brief by SideraWorks on Social Business (be sure to download the .pdf).

We have some very valuable gold in our pipelines and patents and products – true. But when there is a field full of scattered gold all around us, is it wise to put on the blinders and impoverish ourselves? Particularly when all those people across the marketplace are shaping the future of healthcare?

So, let’s return to the premise: Gold is everywhere.

Does your pharmaceutical company leadership actually believe this? Is this perspective settling into the DNA of the organization? Because if it is not, then social media is just one more channel for us to push our message, and advance our agenda.

We have the gold (products), and we want your gold (money, loyal usage) in return. The commercial transaction mentality will only see social networks as a short-term means to an end. Sales.

Of course, we’re all in business to make money, and no company survives long without making profitable commercial transactions. But for pharmaceutical companies to begin to evolve into true social businesses – that is, to compete in the “new normal” world – there is a core perspective that needs to be embraced at the highest level (and this entire principle extends way beyond pharma, to every type of business).

Social media is predicated on the notion that more connections with more people communicating with less friction will create more value – because the rich ore is distributed, not centralized.

The gold is scattered out there everywhere, not just within our labs and corner offices. And the company that has the humility, wisdom, and foresight to build a people-network approach to communication and growth will mine more of it than others that cling to the past.

_________

Impactiviti is the Pharmaceutical Connection Agency. As the eHarmony of sales/training/marketing, we help our pharma/biotech clients find optimal outsource vendors for training, eMarketing, social media, and more.

Learn more about us here.