What about Scientists leading Pharma?

I've expressed my discontent with accountants and lawyers leading pharmaceutical companies. Those feelings have only intensified after reading a recent article in Fortune about the events and circumstances of Jeff Kindler's ouster as Pfizer CEO earlier this year. How can somebody who had virtually no experience in the industry lead a company that expresses the desire, the sincerity of which can be debated, to find cures for debilitating and deadly diseases?

Bob Lutz has gotten some attention for his recent book on how MBAs have messed up the auto industry. Given that a recent report suggesting that doctors are better at running hospitals than business people (shocking), he could be on to something with the role that number crunchers who lack industry specific expertise have played in the decline of American manufacturing. The Fortune story details how a neophyte in pharma wrecked an industry leader. Lutz makes the case that similar things have happened in Detroit. I'm sure similar tales could be told in more than a handful of the biggest (not I didn't say best) companies in this country no matter the industry.

Reading the Fortune story about Kindler comes at an interesting time for me. This story shines a bright light on two major features of my life that I have been reconsidering lately. One is how I'm going about earning my MBA (and whether the effort is worth my time). It's pretty clear that I will never be taken seriously outside of a lab without something to suggest that I can do more than stand at a bench. Whether or not the route that I'm taking to obtain my business credential will impact its value remains to be seen. The second element is how long I want to remain a Pfizer employee. There are advantages to working for Pfizer, primarily potential opportunities outside of the lab, but those advantages come with working for a bloated bureaucracy that isn't showing signs of being able to do much more than acquire other companies. Even those other opportunities would likely require moving to Pennsylvania or New Jersey. My wife would be much more receptive to a move it was to some place with pleasant climate that was near a sandy beach. I've committed to seeing how my recent reorientation impacts my career opportunities. I'll see how this goes and finish up my MBA foundations classes. That won't stop me from looking for opportunities near a beach...

Do Something

Our schools, whether made of bricks or computer files, supply a stream of loosely connected facts and algorithms. You start a class with a list of topics to cover, you cover the topics, you take a test, and you move on to the next class to repeat the cycle. That's a good way to provide credentials, evidence that you've been exposed to a body of knowledge and may have caught a glimpse or  two of how to apply that knowledge to an actual problem, but that's not the basis for a sound education.

To get an education, the facts and algorithms need to be tools for developing a solution to a problem, convincing others that your solution is sound, and implementing that solution. This is not possible through passive learning from a book or participating in discussions about a topic. You must get engaged in a problem and flail around trying to find an answer. Random facts that were covered in a class suddenly take on new significance when understanding those facts becomes critical to solving a real problem.

Real problems can't be faced in a classroom. There is no easy factory approach to education that will provide the experience required to obtaining an education. You can't do it in a traditional classroom and it's not really possible when the traditional classroom experience is transferred to the online environment. The classroom homogenizes thinking, creates a bias for the "right" answer, and rewards conformity rather than promoting divergent thinking.

When I wrote my quick little blurb about what allowed early humans to survive, that something I referred to that allowed early humans to survive was the propensity for people to hang out with one another. Where were the studies that looked at the impact of group dynamics on human evolution? Complex social organizations are the foundations of all human achievement. It seems to me that our evolution was shaped more by our social environment than our physical environment.

This is not an original thought. My ideas grew from reading Naturally Selected. Surely somebody else had come to a similar conclusion. I knew there had to be research being pursued along these lines, but I only found the linked to paper today. While this idea has an aesthetic appeal to me, it's evidently not in the main stream of contemporary thought and research. My impression is that most of the current attention is being given to the molecular aspects of genetics. We have a long way to go before we can start making definitive links between gene sequences and behavior. Our genes function on a level of complexity and feedback that far exceed our limited ability to understand complex and nonlinear systems. 

Online learning reflections five classes in...

I completed my fifth online MBA class on Thursday. The relief that I feel to have accounting behind me is palpable. I was dreading it going into the program. It wasn't as bad as I feared, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it either. Economics and marketing are all that stands between me and actual MBA level classes (and the completion of a resolution).

Given that I've almost completed the pre-requisites for pretty much every MBA program in the country, I did a little poking around to see if any prominent business schools have introduced an online MBA since I started last year. The B-school at UNC has introduced an online option for their MBA this year. I did a little poking around to see whether it might be an option for me after I wrap up my foundations classes at Marist. Before I go into what I learned during this investigation, it should explain why I was thinking about changing programs in the first place.

I went into the MBA program knowing that I was in it for a credential. I didn't expect to have a life changing educational experience (I've already had that). I was just looking for training that would open the door to a broader range of opportunities than what are currently available to me. I was also looking to signal my intention to eventually leave R&D to various people in my current organization. I chose Marist because they waived the GMAT, the price was right, and they don't require me to ever step foot on campus. While those considerations are still valid, another reason I liked Marist was the availability of classes to address my deficiency in the basics of business education. Once I finish the foundations classes, there is really nothing stopping me from switching to a different program. If I'm looking to get a credential, why not get a credential from an institution with a higher Q score than Marist?

The details around UNC's new online option gave me the answer to that question. The schools that get the high rankings from US News or any other source hold themselves in very high regard. There are certain aspects of the program that a student MUST participate in if they are to receive the maximum benefits of University X's educational opportunities. UNC requires participation in immersion weekends, classes that are held online, and the curriculum offers very little flexibility. The school, and a good number of other more highly regarded online programs, offers a program that will shape you into their ideal of a future executive. You go there to receive the education they offer. You are expected to accept the molding that they offer. Given that most people happily pay many thousands of dollars for the opportunity to be molded in this manner, the schools are under no pressure to change they way they go about offering classes that lead to a credential.

Note that I didn't say anything about offering an education. I've gotten an A in every one of my foundations classes. (I'm pretty sure I have an A in accounting, my professor has been posting various grades while I've been writing this post. Those grades match the assumptions that I used to estimate my grade before I started writing. I do like to live on the edge though. One more question wrong on the final would have put my score in the A- range.) I would be hard pressed to give you specifics about what I learned in every class, with the exception of organizational behavior. I've actually gotten good at giving the minimal amount of effort required to get an A.

Why should I try any harder? I'm not going to get anything out of learning the material from a textbook. These classes are changing how I think about business organizations, but I could get the same thing by reading a few books on my own. The deeper I get into this program, the more I realize that traditional classroom education is a waste of time. Everybody talks about online learning changing education, but it's really nothing more than a change in delivery of the same old material. Most online programs just try to make the online experience get as close to a traditional class as they can. That's not a revolution, that's just a revision.

Live Long to Prosper

I've been delving into evolutionary psychology (just look at the books I've been reading recently). I plan on heading over to the library tomorrow to check out yet another book on the subject. I hope the next book does more than cast everything as part of the arms race to get one up on our competition to sire the next generation. Sure there may be a few factors on the margins that do have that role, but what was common to those that managed to reach reproductive age that gave them an advantage? Where are the investigations into this question? Besides, the evolutionary refrain that all things are directed towards attracting a mate gets a little tiresome after awhile. It feels flimsy, insubstantial, and incomplete. The fact that we managed to live long enough to even reach reproductive age seems like a factor that should take a more central role in the development of very interesting and compelling ideas. The evolutionary framework provides a perspective on human actions, which are guided by instinct far more often than reason, that tells us more about who we are than other theoretical constructs of human behavior. To reduce everything to a drive to get laid belittles our biological heritage.

Reasonably Content

The first few moves of my three-pronged assault have been made. I'm gradually being shifted into a design role on the project that I was angling for when I first considered this move. It's too early to tell how this gambit will impact my career, but it has had an immediate impact on how I feel about my job. It's given me a challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate my skills. That's what I really wanted when I started looking at other career opportunities. With my reputation established in the analytical labs, I'm left to take care of what needs to be done without too much interference. I like the autonomy, but that autonomy has come with more anonymity. I'm just doing what's expected. My skills are taken for granted. Working with a design team presents a fresh opportunity to demonstrate what separates me from my peers.

This assignment also gives me an opportunity to gain more experience in the area of the industry that is ripe for growth. I want to make this my niche. While I was hard on myself about the interview a few weeks ago, that trip did provide the industry intelligence that I was looking for when I starting floating my resume to various recruiters. I needed to find an aspect of the industry that requires technical skills but also offers opportunities to get closer to the customer. I've found a role that provides this opportunity.

My complaints about the quality of my projects still apply, I would much rather be working on something a little more cutting edge, but I've made peace with my role in the organization. I've also come to accept that I'll be working on what other people think is important for a while. Getting the job done is the only way that I'll get to a point where I can have a bigger influence in the culture and strategy of an organization. Pouting about it won't put me in the mindset required to achieve my maximum impact in my present role.