I spoke with Brian Thomson, HR consultant and leadership coach, about leadership, hiring, retention, and culture in early-stage life science companies. Brian’s practical insights offer a roadmap for building and sustaining a thriving company from the ground up.

The Importance of Modeling the Right Behaviors

From the beginning, Brian emphasized a key concept: intentionality. In his view, leadership is not just about making the right decisions; it's about being intentional in how you model behaviors and build culture within your organization. This is particularly crucial in the fluid environments of startups, where the pace is fast, and the stakes are high.

He pointed out that it’s not about whether a particular culture is right or wrong—what matters is that it’s intentional and authentic. This intentionality shapes hiring, retention, and performance management, all of which are crucial for the long-term success of a company. He argued that strategic planning should not just be a buzzword but a disciplined practice that informs every decision, from the type of culture you want to build to the kind of people you need to hire.

The Rule of Threes: Core Competencies in Startups

Brain has a rule of threes when it comes to what founders of early-stage life science companies need to focus on: disruptive science, a strong core team, and a high degree of intentionality around culture. While it’s easy for founders to get fixated on the science—because it’s their passion and it’s measurable—the other two elements are just as critical.

This resonated with me, especially considering how often we see startups with groundbreaking science but no clear direction on how to build a team or a culture that can sustain the business. The science might make headlines, but it’s the culture and the team that will drive the long-term success of the company.

Strategic Planning: More Than Just a Process

Brian’s sees strategic planning as more than just a process; it’s a foundational practice that lends clarity, focus, and discipline to an organization. He mentioned that in his role as a coach, he often works with early-stage organizations to develop a strategic plan that is as concrete as possible. The goal? To ensure that at any given moment, everyone in the organization knows the top priorities.

Be very disciplined. Be very focused. Make your plan. Make it as concrete as possible. At any given time, if I go and ask two of your employees, anywhere in the organization, “What are the number one and what's the number one and what's the number two topmost priority that the company has at that moment?”

If they can't answer that, it indicates to me that you haven't done a good enough job of being very clear and being very focused.

This approach to strategic planning directly feeds into the hiring process. By being clear on the values and culture you want to create, you can ensure that the people you bring into the organization are aligned with those goals. Hiring isn’t just about finding people with the right skills; it’s about finding people who will thrive in the specific culture and environment of your company.

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Hiring: An Internal Competency, Not a Task to Outsource

Many startups make a mistake by outsourcing their hiring processes. Hiring is too critical to be left to an external agency, especially in the early stages of a company’s development. The first 10 to 15 hires set the tone for the entire organization, and if those hires don’t align with the company’s culture and values, it will create long-term issues.

Brian argued that hiring should be an internal competency, with the leadership team taking an active role in the process. This ensures that everyone who joins the company is fully aware of the environment they’re stepping into, whether it’s a messy startup with lots of ambiguity or a more structured environment.

The Value of Transparency in the Hiring Process

Brian shared a story from his time as Chief People Officer for a small biotech spinout during the Great Resignation. Despite the mass exodus of employees across industries, his organization navigated that period with zero regrettable turnover and zero R&D turnover. The secret? Radical transparency.

From the first conversation with potential hires, Brian and his team were upfront about the realities of the company’s environment. This honesty helped attract the right people—those who were excited about rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty—and it also helped filter out those who weren’t a good fit. Brian emphasized that transparency in the hiring process not only attracts the right talent but also helps candidates self-select out if the environment isn’t right for them.

Retention: A Balancing Act

When it comes to retention, 100 percent retention isn’t the goal, nor is it ideal. A little turnover can be a good thing, as it brings in fresh perspectives and prevents complacency. However, the key is to ensure that the turnover is natural and doesn’t result in the loss of essential talent.

Brian talked about the importance of building a talent engine within the organization—an environment where employees are developed and prepared for their next roles, whether within the company or elsewhere. This approach not only boosts retention but also enhances the company’s reputation as a place where people can grow and develop their careers.

The Power of a Coaching Culture

Finally, we talked about the value of creating a coaching culture within an organization. Brian argued that this is one of the most effective ways to develop talent and increase engagement. Instead of relying on traditional training programs, which can be expensive and often ineffective, he advocates for on-the-job learning and continuous development through coaching.

In a coaching culture, managers act as mentors, helping their employees navigate their careers and develop the skills they need to succeed. This not only empowers employees but also creates a more dynamic and engaged workforce. This approach doesn’t require a huge budget—it’s more about a shift in mindset and behavior.

Final Thoughts: Intentionality Is Key

As we wrapped up our conversation, the theme that kept coming back was intentionality. Whether it’s in strategic planning, hiring, or building a coaching culture, being intentional about your decisions and actions is crucial for the success of any startup. The best companies are those that are clear about who they are, what they value, and where they’re going.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Issa Kildani is the founder and principal consultant at Ambrosia Ventures. Our conversation centered on his journey from metabolic and cardiovascular research into the consulting world. Even if you are not planning on becoming a consultant, one can learn a lot from his approach to acquiring skills and building relationships with customers.

Transitioning from Research to Consulting

You don’t need an MBA to become a consultant. I’m sure it helps in some areas, but there is a lot to be said for rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out. Issa started his career in metabolic and cardiovascular research as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University. He eventually realized while working at startups that his longer-term goal was to help people and companies rather than stay at the bench.

Transitioning into consulting requires a diverse skill set, including project management, strategic thinking, and analytical skills. There was a lot to learn but he saw a path to make it happen by being self-driven and inquisitive, eager to learn and explore new areas, one of which was strategic thinking.

Strategic Thinking

I’m always interested in what it means to think strategically. Issa shared his experience at a neurofeedback and biofeedback startup in Michigan. Working closely with the CEO, he learned the importance of strategic thinking by understanding different markets and thinking ahead about potential expansions. With multiple opportunities for expansion, how do you choose where to focus? Issa considered what were the emerging markets and where that would put them 5 years down the road.

So you want to jump on it just now, you know, like the AI and machine learning, things like that in drug discovery.

These are hot topics, but which one is going to take you a lot further in the company and what's your long-term vision? Does it align to your long-term vision? Do you plan on selling five years from now or do you plan on growing to a bigger company? Those are the kind of decisions that play into it and help them align to that strategic goal.

Understanding Industry Dynamics

Beyond understanding markets, one also needs to understand how the industry works. There are many components to the life science ecosystem. Issa talked about the unique challenges faced by biotech companies, such as funding issues, regulatory hurdles, and clinical trial recruitment problems.

In the early stages, refining their pitches and helping them communicate their value more effectively is a key for success. At later stages, the focus might be more on regulatory issues or broader strategic goals. My overall impression is that Issa is very good at talking to potential customers and figuring out in detail what their current challenges are. That is a skill in itself.

Building Relationships and Winning Business

Issa takes a very long approach to building relationships and winning business. He emphasized understanding clients' needs, being genuinely interested in their success, and maintaining long-term relationships. It can take a long time to land a client. Issa’s process involves regular check-ins, understanding the client's challenges and milestones, and providing insights so potential clients can understand the value he brings to help them achieve their strategic goals.

The Value of Mentorship

We talked about the value of mentorship. He described how his mentor, who was also his boss, played a significant role in his development as a consultant. By being upfront about his desire to learn and improve, Issa received invaluable guidance and feedback that helped him fine-tune his skills. The key thing here was simply to ask. Sometimes this may seem like a bold move. “Can I really ask a senior executive to be my mentor?” (It’s not the only way but as an older parent, I can tell you nothing gets your attention faster or makes you feel better than when a young person asks for your advice.)

Even if they don’t have time to be your mentor, it will put you on their radar as someone who is looking to do more for the company. You can’t lose.

If you take away nothing else from this message, being curious and asking for advice will take you a long way regardless of your goal. I challenge you to find some one and talk to them this week.

Opportunities and Challenges in Smaller Biotech Ecosystems

Issa is based in a smaller biotech ecosystem, Ann Arbor, Michigan. While smaller ecosystems may lack the resources and investment opportunities of larger hubs like San Francisco or Boston, they offer a chance for a consultant to make a significant impact. Add to that the possibility of connecting with larger hubs and applying those insights locally, you can make a difference to foster growth and innovation in these emerging ecosystems.

The Broader Implications of Consulting

From my own experience, the best thing about being a solopreneur or consultant is the opportunity to see what’s happening across all of life science. If you are the person who feels that life at the bench is too slow or too narrow, this may be the path for you. I enjoy the feeling of helping others in life science directly. I may not find the cure that affects millions but I get to build relationships and see the value I bring t people I actually know. At the same time, I know they are helping millions.

For anyone considering a career in consulting Issa's journey offers valuable lessons. Check out Issa's website and blog for more insights and resources.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

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I traveled to Disneyland Orange County for AACC ADLM back in July to connect with a few folks and walk the floors of the exhibit hall. I was on my way out when Derek Hamre from Launchworks CDMO stood up at his table and got my attention with the best elevator pitch I have ever heard. And that landed him a spot on my podcast. I’ll share what it was at the end of this post.*

Imagine this scenario. You’re in an academic lab or small biotech and you’ve developed a diagnostic test for a molecule or a disease. How do you go about commercializing your test?

Do you need to get a bunch of regulatory approvals? What else do you need to think about? After all, you’re in a small research lab stepping into a whole new world. It turns out there are people who do this for a living and can help you plan out your strategy.

Launchworks is a CDMO for molecular diagnostics. Services range from commercialization strategy and supply chain management through to fulfillment. A company might come to them with a locked down bill of materials and work instructions for kitting tens to hundreds of thousands of units at a time, or maybe they are early in the process and need help thinking through strategy from the beginning.

…one of the reasons that we are pretty present at ADLM, AACC is the RUO kits. Those that are taking an idea from the R&D space and bringing it to the market and that commercialization process is a big, you know, lift for a lot of companies, even if they're bigger. Um, but especially for smaller companies when they have 5, 10 workers that have never gone through the commercialization process.

Beyond that, what level of regulatory approval do they want? In some cases, a kit might be sold as RUO (Research Use Only), but a customer’s customer might want to take it further:

And a lot of our customers, so we won't make those claims, obviously, our customers will go through the FDA filings or whatever, um, but some of our customers will just not want to go through the FDA process, so they'll make their kit RUO and then maybe one of their customers will buy the kit and then go through the FDA or 510K, PMA process… …so allowing another customer or their companies that they're working with to go through that process on their behalf might be the pathway for them.

Regardless of the regulatory path chosen, Derek described the four main areas where a CDMO can help get a product to market.

* Risk mitigation

* Commercialization strategy

* Manufacturing process

* Supply chain

You’d like to avoid surprises in any of those areas. Taking supply chain, for example, it would be important to know if a supplier might be closing shop in the near future. Will you be able to maintain quality as you scale up?

I asked Derek about the logistics of assembling and shipping hundreds of thousands of units from different vendors. Everything is done in-house. Mixing buffers, putting kits in bags, labeling and shipping. Launchworks has about a 30,000 to 40,000 square foot facility in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Prior to this I knew that there were CDMOs for pharma, but not for diagnostics. ADLM was an eye opener in terms of the world of clinical chemistry. And this isn’t the only episode I recorded as a result of that visit. More in a couple weeks.

*I don’t remember his exact words, but it was along the lines of “We’re helping visitors to ADLM become vendors at ADLM.”

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

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How is your executive presence? The way you speak has an impact whether you are an executive in a high stakes conversation or a manager leading your team. Scott Stiefvater is a public speaking …

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I think this is the first time we've ever talked about media strategy on this podcast. I met Keith Betz at Digital Pharma West earlier this year and thought it was about time we covered it. Keith …

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Cell Signaling Technology (CST) recently won a Life Science Industry Award for Best Digital Advertising. I asked Rebecca Reppucci, Director of Marketing Communications, how they achieved that. When …

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Mike Collins started CEM Corporation in a garage, took it public and then bought it back. And the garage wasn't even his... Most companies talk to their customers as some part of their product …

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You know that person who never understands what you are trying to get across? For somebody out there, you are that person. I'm that person. Jessica Pettitt and I had a light-hearted conversation …

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I recently moderated a panel on media relations at a Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) event for scientific marketers following the recent ACS fall meeting in Boston. I was lucky to have two …

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think we can all agree sustainability is important. But how does it contribute to ROI? How do you incorporate it into your business? And is there a competitive advantage to be gained from doing …

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Google cares about more than what it sees on the page or the number of backlinks you have from other sites. Those are important, but technical SEO (search engine optimization) can be easier to …

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Sarah Osteen is a leadership coach and works with organizations frequently around communication issues. A common topic is the concept of persuasion and how to use your power and influence to change …

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This is a special episode with Jeremiah Worth, VP of Client Strategy at CG Life and guest host Hilary Graham, Director of Scientific Marketing and Applications at Luminex Corporation. You may have …

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Jamie Gier is the Chief Marketing Officer at Dexcare, responsible for establishing the company as a category leader in modernizing the way consumers discover, access, and choose their healthcare services – from digital search to booking an appointment.

We enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion about marketing beginning with selling high-value products with long sales cycles and multiple decision makers. You’ve heard it before, but no one wants to be sold to. That’s the expressway to the delete button. Jamie emphasized building relationships and educating, showing customers how their lives could be better.

At Dexcare, her team learns a lot from early adopters about why they chose their product and continue to use it. Ask as many questions as you can, just like we talked about last week… We don’t know what we don’t know.

Jamie and her team are taking advantage of thought leadership in a big way.

We happen to spend a big portion of our media budget on LinkedIn, for example, that happens to be the channel where a lot of our buyers are, and there's a lot of thought leadership.

And so if anything, we've really focused our paid media on a single channel and we want to get really, really good at that. And so that's where we're placing a lot of our investments, but it's one of many. We know as soon as we capture their attention, a relationship begins. And that's where we have to start developing even higher levels of trust and rapport beyond just what they see with us in a digital way….we spend a lot of time with our clients simply promoting their own thought leadership on these topics.

That's number one. Two, we do spend time on building content that is education- rich.

Measurement is important and of course. I asked her how she makes the case for the tactics that are harder to measure. Observation and paying attention. When you land a large deal because someone heard about you on a podcast, that’s a pretty good sign.

Not subscribed yet? Can we fix that?

Thanks for spending some time here, either way.

Jamie thinks that because of the emphasis on measurement, marketers have moved away from creativity. That took us on a little side trip to talk about Jimmy Buffett, who died right before this interview, and storytelling. I had written a piece for LinkedIn (not posted) about the impact JB had on my career. (DM me for details).

Besides writing fun songs about pirates and exotic places, Jimmy’s clever use of language to make emotional connections set him apart. Jamie said:

The thing about Jimmy Buffett is he brought you into his world, or he went into yours. And that was the power of the words he used in his songs.

With one top-10 hit (not even close to his best song) Jimmy Buffett built a business empire around his collection of memorable characters and events. We should try to do the same.

What advice does Jamie have for marketers just getting started?

* Join communities where you can learn. (I recommend SAMPS) and

* Don’t be intimidated by people with advanced degrees. They may know a lot in a technical field that took years of study. And you know (and love) marketing! Learn what you can from them, but also show them how you can help them with what you know. Science doesn’t get sold without storytelling.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

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...we set out to become a more approachable company and in the end, it helped us also to fill the sales funnel in a really, really massive way. Social media can be overwhelming, but you can get a …

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Large companies frequently bounce between two approaches to marketing communications. Should each unit do its own marketing or should there be one central "agency" responsible for serving all the …

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We've talked about narrative storytelling on the podcast before, usually in the context of video. In this episode, I'm sharing an example of what it sounds like in a podcast. Or rather, what it feels …

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Is your brand ready to respond in a crisis? And could you come out of it stronger than ever? If so, then you have an invincible brand. Melissa Agnes is a crisis management expert and she passed …

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Do you ever wonder if the document or presentation you've been using for marketing or sales is the most up to date version available? Would you even know where to look to be sure? A Digital Asset …

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You've got to understand your customer. That sounds like marketing 101. But we may overlook why that is so important for your business. Paul Orange, GM of eCommerce at GE, explains what you may be …

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The practice of marketing is changing quickly with new technologies and channels. But using those effectively requires deep understanding of typical human behavior. As human beings, scientists …

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I saw this article from Jennifer Oladipo that she shared on LinkedIn. Jennifer has been on the pod before and I like the topic so I asked her to come on again and talk about transparency and …

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How do you tie your investment of money and effort in content marketing to actual revenue? In this episode, I talk to Chuck Miller of the Market Element about the specifics of measuring content …

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Google Analytics is a handy tool right out of the box for understanding your website performance. But if you spend a little more time inside the application you can get some very useful information …

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Julie Garlikov is Chief Commercial officer at Sherlock Biosciences where they are developing over-the-counter diagnostics to put answers in the hands of consumers and empower them to make better health decisions.

Sherlock is developing two platforms - a disposable test and a reusable reader for home diagnostics. You can listen to the podcast for some details on the science. Let’s focus here on VOC in design.

Consumer-centric design for me is really all about embodying the methods of design thinking. Which is really making sure that you have a deep understanding and empathy for the user that you're designing for. And that you're solving a problem that they really have, and that you're doing it in a way that fits into their lifestyle or their needs.

This approach involves lots of research, qualitative and quantitative surveys, prototyping and ethnography.

Ethnography is more than observing how they use the product under development. One can learn from understanding how they use any product. Even the buying process is investigated. How do they shop for groceries?

When it comes to the product itself, do they understand the instructions for use?

More good stuff coming in future episodes. Don’t miss it.

Thanks for being here.

If you are developing a diagnostic for sexual wellness, you need to know not just the population dynamics of STIs but also people’s attitudes and beliefs around their sex lives. How do you reach people based on what you know about their behaviors? The results can be surprising.

… one thing that I uncovered in this attitudes and usage study that we did with almost 1300 people, young people in the U.S. was a group I'm calling, it's like a segment of the population, I would call frisky-riskies.

So frisky-riskies is a group that skews a little more male than female and they're a group that's engaging in behavior where they have more frequent casual partners, and they're not often using protection, and they know that they're not using protection, and they know that puts them at risk.

So, what's interesting is that they actually test more than other people because they use testing as a way to mitigate the things they're doing that they know are causing risk for them.

The ability to do home testing for all kinds of indications can certainly reduce the spread of infectious diseases and help move us forward to thinking about prevention and general wellness. In the case of STIs which can be asymptomatic in women, there are implications for fertility as well.

As I think about our conversation, it struck me that we all have an opportunity to make products that will improve people’s lives in some way. But what can we do to make the biggest impact possible with the products we make or the services we offer?

It seems like asking questions and observing the behaviors of our ideal customers offers a big return on a little extra effort.

I just realized last week’s episode reached a similar conclusion about how the early work in any project seems to have an outsized impact. It’s like painting a house. The quality of the outcome is all in the preparation.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

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How can you spot trends in research to be more effective with your marketing efforts? What type of publicly available data will let you do that? And once you've spotted a trend, what then? These …

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...we set out to become a more approachable company and in the end, it helped us also to fill the sales funnel in a really, really massive way. Social media can be overwhelming, but you can get a …

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Illumina has significant market share in genomics. How would they reach beyond their current users to grow the market for genomics analysis? A podcast of course! Paul Bromann is a Scientific …

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Ian Lurie knows how to make content marketing work. I interviewed him after his presentation at the ACP-LS Annual Meeting last October. He shared a lot of ideas and resources to help all of us make …

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...conversations lead to relationships, relationships create opportunities, opportunities lead to sales...-Phil M Jones I find a conversations challenging in some situations. Hosting this podcast has …

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Tamsen Webster told me " Most organizations don't know why they act the way that they do." That's a big problem for branding, because the gap between what is likely your aspirational brand (how you …

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Ethan Kopit assures me that artificial intelligence is going to make our jobs easier and more interesting. Rather than replacing us, it's going to automate the routine tasks we shouldn't be spending …

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It's becoming easier than ever to personalize every bit of a customer's digital experience with your company, from the web to the products they have in their lab. This is good news in many …

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Companies with significant market share have a huge advantage over the competition. It's a form of social proof that has a big impact on a customer's buying decision. Mike Cammarata returned to …

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It's here. The future, that is. I got to experience virtual reality at the ACP-LS annual meeting in Boston last month. Then I sat down with Chris Bybee, the president of Raindrop, to talk about …

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Cheri Walker and her colleagues started Rhinostics in the middle of the pandemic in response to the massive increase in testing volume required to keep faculty and students at Harvard safe from Covid. That’s a story in itself. The principals never met in person for the first nine months!

We had all of our calls virtually. It was all done telephonically, I mean in Zoom. I basically started the company out of my guest bedroom because we didn't need space for the first year. We now have a facility which you can see behind me and we have, you know, all the normal things that you would have as a company grows and expands.

Make sure you listen to get the details on that.

But those workflows I mentioned…

Remember the nasopharyngeal swabs that ticked your brain? No one likes those and processing those samples in that format is cumbersome.

Harvard developed a new type of polypropylene swab with an active end that interacts with a decapping robot. By developing and manufacturing this new type of nasal swab (no more brain tickling) Rhinostics was able to create:

* A better patient experience with a more comfortable, DIY swab.

* A smoother automated workflow with faster turnaround and

* Potentially reduce turnover of medtechs in the lab

I think that's been the flip side of starting a company in the pandemic is just the supply chains and labor and all those issues. And then when you actually talk about the problem that we're solving and the real pain point that exists in laboratories today. Not only are there the cost structures and things like that, it's just finding med techs and people to work in the lab.

And a lot of them got burned out. There was a small number before the pandemic, but a lot of them got burned out. And med tech now is making anywhere from 125, with 20, 000 signing bonuses. And, you know, retention turnover in the labs is something in the 25 to 30, 35%. So, it's a real issue, um, facing most of the laboratories right now.

The automated workflow removes the manual step of decapping swabs before analysis. Barcoding ties the sample to the patient through an app on their phone and allows for better sample tracking. Both of those make for a better experience for the user and the med tech.

You’re subscribed, right? I have several interesting episodes in the can already. Don’t miss ‘em.

Thanks for being here.

The insight here is that rethinking workflows and a small, unsexy device can have a huge impact on lab productivity, patient health and worker satisfaction. No medtech went to school thinking they would be uncapping tubes all day, rather than looking after equipment and solving problems.

I asked Cheri where sample collection is going in the future. There is definitely a move toward home testing. The pandemic proved that it can be done accurately. There is currently an epidemic of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) for which the option of buying a kit off the shelf at the pharmacy would seem to be a way to discreetly get individuals to seek treatment if necessary while maintaining some privacy.

Cheri also mentioned, for example, having a teenager on Accutane where blood lipids needed to be tested on a regular basis.

You could send our little VERIstic® blood collection device, do a finger prick, send them home with ten of them, and then they can just do it and send it back. They don't have to drag their teenager back to the clinic to stay and wait for a blood draw and keep them out of school…

…it's interesting because everyone, it's not just home health and kit providers that are interested, like the whole hospital health system is trying to figure out how can we use these tools to actually have better health care for people that's more convenient, but still just as accurate and maybe get more compliance.

More powerful analysis on the back end of testing is great, but across life science, I wonder if the real opportunities to make an impact are at the front end of how we do things.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5

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Knowing your audience is essential for any type of successful communication. If you are doing content marketing, you probably have a few different types of people in your audience, even for the same …

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Many life science companies are shifting from a focus on technologies to be more focused on their customers. I asked Jeff Mazzeo, VP of Marketing at Waters Corporation, "What's driving that …

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Many life science companies are shifting from a focus on technologies to be more focused on their customers. I asked Jeff Mazzeo, VP of Marketing at Waters Corporation, "What's driving that …

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Do you ever wonder about all the clicks you pay for that aren't relevant to your offering? Even if you have built a pretty good exclusion list, you could still be wasting money. It's not reasonable …

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ESPN is in the storytelling business. Sports are nothing but stories in which we imagine ourselves as players in some way. "What does it feel like to..." The Trials of Dan and Dave is a …

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Not just great. Exceptional. You know someone who fits this description. It's someone you admire. He or she has a seemingly magical ability to drive a vision and make things happen. If you'd …

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You've probably heard me say, "The most effective marketing you can do is to keep an existing customer happy." In this episode, I spoke with Bonni Scepkowski of Stellar Meetings and Events about how …

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I pulled together some highlights from the last year, all related to the topic of content marketing in the life sciences. 1:30 Andy Bertera - How NEB Owns the Buyer's Journey How NEB sees …

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We've talked frequently on this podcast and on my blog about developing a content strategy. This episode looks at it from a different angle. It's about how to coordinate and execute your strategy …

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Joan Boyce knows the publishing business. So who better to talk to about how an editorial calendar is really used by a media company and how to make one for your life science content marketing …

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Hiring people is difficult, expensive and risky. It’s a skill in itself for which most of us get very little practice. I talked to Ken Schmitt about how hiring has changed and a few things to think about when filling a role on your team. Fun fact: Ken got his first job at a staffing agency by answering an ad in a newspaper!

Ken’s agency specializes in placing marketing and salespeople. I asked him about skills that drive hiring decisions:

…marketing especially needs to have that experience and understand the language of sales as well to be truly effective on the marketing side and be able to understand the broader business, not just marketing… is the center of the universe, but marketing is much less of a linear role, if you will, or a stop along the way. And it's much more circular.

You know, it used to be that marketing did this, this, and this, and then stopped, handed it off to sales, and now sales took it from there. But now it's again, a much more circular kind of collaboration and relationship. And so whenever we're talking to candidates about the senior level marketing searches that we're doing, we're asking them, tell us about your experience collaborating with sales.

How a candidate collaborates with sales is important. There are plenty of good marketers without it, but I’d say actual sales experience would be even better. Looking back at my own experience, it’s stunning how little marketing (marcom at least) was connected to sales in the life science companies where I worked. We could spend a few episodes on that…

When hiring, Ken recommends looking at your team as a whole. What skills do you already have and what gaps are you looking to fill? Are there people from outside the industry who can bring new ideas and new skills to the effort?

We discussed whether and when a college degree is necessary. This is an evolution I find fascinating. I think a fair amount about whether and how much we discount or overvalue our degrees based on many factors including how long ago we attended college or specific classes we took but no longer see how they might have been relevant.

I’ve known great marketers with no science background and we put scientists into marketing roles with no marketing background all the time. I’d love to see your comments about what you think is necessary and or optimal.

I have several interesting episodes in the can already. Don’t miss ‘em.

Thanks for being here.

My favorite part of the conversation was about employer branding. As a content marketer, this speaks to me. Every company has a brand in the eyes of its customers. There is also a brand in the eyes of its employees and potential hires.

Let’s look at it like a marketing funnel. At the top there is what your company does, but also what it stands for. What is the culture like? Does the actual culture reflect the aspirational statements or taglines one often hears?

At the middle of the funnel are job descriptions - another candidate for a full episode. My sense is that many employers aren’t thinking about whether a job description might turn away qualified candidates based on the way it’s written. I often see descriptions that seem to say, “Don’t be like the last person who had this job…” Hmmm. Something to think about.

I understand the description needs to be accurate. Can it be inspiring at the same time? I’d like to think so. Given that the job description is one of the first impressions for new hires, it’s a significant part of your brand. Why not show it to someone outside of your company and ask them what kind of impression it makes?

Of course, the bottom of the funnel is the interview and even the onboarding experience. From personal experience, I’d say these things matter a lot. A small investment of time and effort upfront will pay off many times in the long run.

Your deepest insights are your best branding. I’d love to help you share them. Chat with me about custom content for your life science brand. Or visit my website.

Intro Music stefsax / CC BY 2.5

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com

Account Based Marketing is a popular topic right now. What does it look like in the life sciences market? Ethan Kopit, a co-founder of Acenna Data explained it to me very well. Although it has a …

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This episode is primarily aimed at life science marketing agencies but in-house marketers will learn a few things about how to build better relationships with agencies and improve the selection …

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Life Science marketers have lost the link between strategy and execution. The goals they are looking to achieve are often replaced with activities they think they should do. As a result, according …

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cclifescience.substack.com