If you’ve ever visited Liz Strauss’s website, you’ll recognize the title of this post as the tagline to her site. They appear across the top, two words, written in lower case letters, punctuated with a period at the end to connote a foregone conclusion, and that – really – nothing more needs to be said. I’ve talked a lot about the elegance inherent in simplicity lately, and this two-word call-to-action embodies that notion, as does the woman who’s placed them as the tagline to her website.

It’s been a very insular 8-10 weeks for me, ironically at a time that I should be anything but insular and introverted – this is a time for me to build my business, connect with others, convert contacts into clients, make magic, and fuel my entrepreneurial bonfire. It’s true – as timing goes my now insistent internalization is not well scheduled. So, I’ve decided to schedule externalization in ways I’ve not had to before – to visit the blogs of others, steep myself in knowledge, ideas, and facts that are outside of myself, and reach out to those with whom I need to connect in order to turn notions into business practice – and you know continue to support my kids. That said, it should be of little surprise that one of the first stops I made on my journey was Liz’s website, and there I read her latest post What’s Your Most Irresistible True Story? replete with this truly irresistible photo.

photo: Pots and Plants Austin, TX courtesy Liz Strauss http://www.lizstrauss.com

In this post Liz tells us her most irresistible true story. One of the things I found remarkable about this story is that it’s not about her. Instead, Liz has chosen to convey a story that is irresistible to her, and undoubtedly to many of us who have read and/or heard her tell it, as a means of connecting us to a larger notion of becoming a part of something irresistible. That got me to thinking – this call-to-action to be irresistible isn’t about telling others how irresistible you are, or even about showing them. It’s about conveying something to others – a moment in time, a narrative, a story – that lets your audience know that you understand irresistibility, you can recognize it, reframe it, and relate it via your own lens and perspective…and that you can, in turn, potentially recognize the irresistibility within them. When we can relate to the stories of others, we can become a part of that story – and in turn we can become part of something outside of ourselves – a business, a family, a movement, or even irresistible.

So, heed Liz’s call. Go and be irresistible. Tell your most irresistible story. Become a part of someone else’s irresistibility. Relate, externalize and connect – we’re all better off for making connections than not making them. And, Liz, if I’ve totally screwed up your notion…well I trust you’ll tell me – in a way that I may or may not like, but will find irresistible. It’s just who you are.

courtesy http://www.improvisedlife.com

It’s easy to pick on big pharma. For good or bad, the industry continues to appear aloof and isolationist, and many are happy to wag a finger and declare big pharma solely a revenue-generating machine, sacrificing patient care and access to medicines for the almighty dollar. I happen to disagree with (most of) that sentiment. Having worked alongside diligent colleagues inside of big pharma for a number of years, I know there is an urge to improve patient lives, improve access to medicines, and make life-altering and life-saving drug therapies. It is from this perspective that I say, earnestly, the pharmaceutical industry is fucking up when it comes to social business…big time.

While many of us have led the charge to bring pharma into the age of social media marketing, pioneers like John Pugh, Alex Butler, Marc Monseau, Ray Kerins, and Shwen Gwee have broken barriers in the use of social media within the pharmaceutical industry, and there have been breakthroughs in the use of social media to advance the industry (@PhRMA, pharmaforum) and improve engagement with patients (Roche Diabetes Blogger summits), it’s not enough. Over the last several years, many of us have had the conversation about how, if, and why pharmaceutical companies should, or should not, use social media. Honestly, it’s time to change the conversation and have a new one, because the old one is stagnant, and – frankly – I don’t care about the latest Pharma Facebook page that’s been launched or taken down, or about the number of Tweets sent by pharma Twitter handles in the last hour/day/week. I care about better patient outcomes, access to medicines, empowering both patients and HCPs in the treatment and prevention of illness, and accurate information about therapies on the market – and about using social media to facilitate and forge the partnerships necessary to enable this new reality. So, to pharmaceutical companies I say this: some of you are “doing” social, but you’re not “being” social, and here’s why - you’ve not done enough to alter your DNA so you can (begin to) function as a social business.

What is a Social Business Anyway?

The term social business was originally defined by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammed Yunus as a non-loss, non-dividend company designed to address a social objective within the highly regulated marketplace of today [that should] seek to generate a modest profit [which] will be used to expand the company’s reach, improve the product or service or in other ways to subsidise the social mission*. This definition has morphed in the last few year into a fiery buzzword, its meaning has become mutable to suit the speaker and conversation. Of these mutable definitions, one of the most apt I’ve seen comes from Peter Kim who, along with David Armano and Jevon MacDonald wrote about Social Business Design, saying:

Social business draws on trends in technology, work, and society. Companies should care about social business because they can improve business outcomes (i.e., increase revenue or decrease costs). The core principles touch on all areas of a business, whether for business-to-customer engagement, employee-to-employee collaboration, or supply chain optimization. Making social business work requires focus on a company’s culture, connections, content exchanges, and measurement and analytics.

This is a brilliant piece of writing. It not only tells us what a social business is, but takes the time to inform us why we should care and how to make it work – in reality it’s a social business blueprint in the purest form.

Don’t regulations stop Big Pharma from adopting a social business model?

In a word, no. More specifically, they don’t have to. Don’t take my word for it – former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts has been vocal about the pitfalls, and opportunity, for Big Pharma when it comes to social media use in his battle cry Pharma, Guide Thyself. And FDA regulations, or the lack thereof, haven’t stopped companies like Boehringer Ingelheim or Sanofi US, companies who continue to roll out social programs as a matter of course and are beginning to evolve into a business with social DNA. So if regulations are a red herring, what is standing in the way?

Rigid, unchanging culture, a blinding focus on a narrow definition of ROI. A continual push on profit as THE leading indicator for pharma marketing business decisions instead of making the pivot to seeing profit as AN indicator, along with acknowledging the business benefit of building relationships in today’s marketplace – the return on relationship (#RonR), as Ted Rubin would wisely counsel us – these are all factors that continue to block major pharmaceutical companies from embracing a social business model.

If relationship building and #RonR still seems too squishy to be a “real” measure of business success, and therefore not something big pharma needs to focus on to be a social business, Harvard Business Review disagrees by the way, and you can read why in recent posts like Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy and The View from the Field, I would point you instead – my doubting friend – to the trend the pharma industry is missing out on: harnessing big data. Big data, access to it, and adaptability, scalability, and usability of it by patients, payers and HCPs is THE future of healthcare social media – not Facebook, Twitter or any of the other current platforms out there. End of. We need to create new models for a new hybrid of business; just as our healthcare system needs a major overhaul if it’s to support a growing and changing populous, the healthcare business model needs to change, grow and morph into something consumers, payers and PATIENTS can use to gain access to the medicines they need for proper care. And, speaking of Big Data, if there was ever a time to join Todd Park, Aman Bhandari, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Health 2.0, and others in the Big Data Revolution it would be now, when VCs are looking to hackathons in record numbers for innovative ideas, outside-of-the-box thinking, and startups are stretching the limits of what’s possible in a resource-constrained economy (more about the next Big Data Hackathon here: Hackathon for the Human Brain and about the groundbreaking SXSW 2012 Healthcare Hackathon).

Viva Revolutíon!

Yet there is no groundbreaking news of a major pharmaceutical company leading a charge to be present at, promote or host a hackathon in any way. No one loudly promoting more patient engagement. There are no new faces at the table, but the same heroes pushing against a tired agenda and caught in a loop of off-label and adverse event conversations, debating ownership, legalese, and phantom compliance pitfall scenarios.

So, pharma where art thou? Who will lead your revolution? Your brand managers? Your CEOs? Who will step up. Even your agencies and thought leaders are failing you, becoming insular bobble heads delivering not on what you need but on what you ask. We must break from the norm, break out of our self-imposed silos and look outside of our expertise and our industry for the groundbreaking ideas that will lead us beyond a self-limiting focus on the current platforms and fear of regulations we can work within to optimize results. It can be done, because it has been done. The time for revolution is here. Who will join me in taking the first step? Who will stand beside me to lead the charge?

Revolutionaries to follow: I’m continually inspired by friends and colleagues who are pushing the bounds of the norm to disrupt the status quo.

• Regina Holliday: Regina recently announced the first Partnership with Patients Summit, September 21-23, 2012. Regina is a tireless advocate, artist, voice…revolutionary. For many of us we can only stand in awe and follow. Follow Regina’s tireless journey on her blog.
• Steve Woodruff: In his Impactiviti Blog, Steve recently called for some real-world forward thinking from our pharmaceutical industry friends as he incited drug companies to wake up to the mobile revolution with his post The (Inter)face of Healthcare.
• Andrew Spong: the definition of disrupter, Andrew contributes to the conversation with creation on his site www.stwem.com, see An Open Letter to Pharma: Please Employ a Wikipedian, and curation via his Scoop.it page. Want to know where pharma is going wrong? Ask Andrew. Then conference call me in and the two of us can talk to you about how we can fix it.

Disclaimer: Okay, I cannot for the life of me get the video to embed. The link to the presentation is below.

Five Easy Rules for Online Communities: (hint) Rule #4 – Don’t be an Asshat

We’re just over a week away from the first international #140Conf in beautiful Montreal. Hmmmm, that sounds too travel agent-y. Let me try again. Are you coming to the #140Conf in Montreal on May 15? You need to attend! Nope. Not working either. Don’t be an asshat, join us in Montreal for the 140Conf State of Now. It says something about me that the last line is my favorite.

Look, y’all there’s an amazing conference happening in Montreal on May 15, and it’s called the #140Conf: Exploring the State of Now. Don’t take my word for it, check out this list of amazing speakers. I mean, really. In one day you’ll hear words of wisdom and practical advice on how to successfully use social media for your business from Sam Fiorella (@SamFiorella), Mila Araujo (@Milaspage), Josepf Haslam (@Josepf ), JC Little (@LittleAnimation), Ric Dragon (@RicDragon), and many others. More than 30 presenters in all, there to give you proven, successful social media strategies.

Conference organizer Mila Araujo of Ogilvy & Ogilvy has put together a stellar lineup of presenters, covering topics ranging from branding and marketing, to customer service, social business strategy, education, leadership, gameification/location marketing, and more. Register now and join us on May 15 for an eye-opening event unlike any other.

Yes, I’ll be there too. I’m honored to be presenting alongside such business rock stars, and will be talking about “Online Communities: Rule #1 Don’t be an Asshat.” Where else can you see a presentation that delivers value to your business with the word asshat in the title?

Those of you who know me know that I have definite opinions, and I’m not afraid to voice them. While some of you have called me diplomatic (cue laughter from others), in the end I will express my opinions in no uncertain terms.

These very strong opinions often translate into passion about my work, and after a career of learning at the feet of numerous smart people, I’ve decided to hang my own shingle and turn my strong opinions, and proven successes, into a business model – one that creates connections which propel people to action – and contains these core elements:

Creativity: sometimes there is no straight, clear path to reach our goals and objectives; sometimes we need to make our own way. Tell me where you want to go, how you will measure success, what your objectives are and I’ll show you how to get there. Together we’ll create a roadmap to success – even if the path isn’t originally obvious or clear.

Integrity: I believe one of the biggest keys to success is doing the right things for the right reasons. If delivering patient care is a core tenet of your business, then it follows that your business strategies, online and offline, will – in one way or another – link back to that core tenet. In other words, if you’re in business to serve patients, your online strategy won’t involve direct sales marketing tactics, but it will involve creating an online community that serves patient needs to the best of your ability.

Futurescaping: okay this is a buzzword, and I despise buzzwords, but it’s a descriptor I believe in. Your business model, your strategies, your presence is built on the needs of the past to deliver results in the present. Where do you need to be in the future? How can you develop and devise an online program that gets you where you need to be? If you’re in a regulated industry you may feel like you’re playing catch up online, trying to get your message out there to the consumers searching for it. My response is stop looking in the past, or to the current campaigns of your competitors, as a means to plan where you need to be. What are your goals? What is your tolerance for risk? How will you measure success? Answer these 3 questions and I’ll show you how to get where you want to go in ways you never dreamed possible.

I’m creating a path to the future…are you ready to come along?