A recent biopharmaceutical industry analysis by David Thomas and Chad Wessel (Emerging Therapeutic Company Investment and Deal Trends, June 2015) reveals that for the past decade oncology garners more investment than any other disease.

Shortly after the April 2015 publication of Guiding Bayer’s Global Innovation Engines To New Heights, an article I wrote featuring Bayer board of management member, Kemal Malik, I received a phone call from Valerie Bowling. The executive director for the Conference Forum and producer of one of my favorite events, Disruptive Innovations to Advance Clinical Trials (DPharm), Bowling said the article sparked an idea.

In my previous blog, Are You Seeking To Grow Your Influence, I wrote about one of the three tools every executive can use to grow their influence — credibility. Inspired by Joel Trammell, author of The CEO Tightrope, the former CEO and past Life Science Leader magazine Leadership Lessons contributor had sent me a copy of his book to review.

For executives there is an inherent tension between having total responsibility and having very limited control. The question is, how does one strike a balance between the two? According to Joel Trammell, author of The CEO Tightrope, and past Life Science Leader magazine Leadership Lessons contributor, the key is to seek to grow your influence by applying the 3Cs available to every exec — credibility, competence, and caring.

What follows is the 2015 BIO International Conference as viewed through the eyes of a student and first time attendee — a fresh perspective of the tradeshow floor at BIO that we industry veterans might often take for granted.

“Twenty five years ago, if someone had said to me that I’d go on to do good work in business development, my response would have been, ‘What’s business development?’” jokes George Golumbeski who has a Ph.D. in genetics and did his post-doc work in molecular biology. But today he is SVP of business development for Celgene and is often considered the biopharmaceutical grand master of how industry deal making should be done.

June provided a significant number of educational opportunities for life science executives. If you have any interest in oncology, you could probably be found at Chicago’s McCormick Place attending the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting (May 29 to June 2).

The tagline on the cover of the BIO International Convention’s 2015 pre-event planner is “Forge SUPER powerful connections.” If you think this an exaggeration, then you are obviously not trying hard enough. 

Denice Torres is the president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson company, and winner of HBA’s 2015 WOTY award. Listening to her acceptance speech reminded me of legendary pro football coach Vince Lombardi’s philosophy — “Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it.”