Ask Pharma Execs The Tough Questions
By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
Follow Me On Twitter @RfwrightLSL
By Rob Wright
A reader recently had this to say about one of our stories – “I’m hoping to see you ask some harder questions to the execs and how they cope with tough challenges.” I totally agree. I would have to say this is probably one of the toughest parts of my job. However, let me clarify, it isn’t hard asking tough questions; it’s hard getting real and genuine answers without the executive taking the time to clean them up for editorial consumption. In fact, I had an interview with an executive that used “let me frame this up” so many times in his response that I had to reach for an air sickness bag.
Apparently, these executives don’t realize that the stress ball was invented by HR departments for employees forced to sit through their speeches — the first five minutes of which are littered with platitudes and clichés — thanking the team…blah, blah, blah. So why then do they do this? Well there are a variety of valid reasons which include responsibility to shareholders and legal departments aiming to protect the company’s reputation. But, there are other reasons as well. Reputable publications, including the NY Times and Wall Street Journal have had their reputations tarnished by publishing stories of dubious nature. So yellow journalism is also to blame for executives being overly cautious in their responses. Another problem is technology and the ease with which it can be used by those lacking ethics to tear down and destroy.
Gotcha Journalism - So Easy With Today’s Technology
As great as new technology is, it has forever changed our society — in good and bad ways. For instance, when you combine social media outlets with new miniature video cameras, the combination can be deadly and career ending. People have found some of their most intimate moments and comments not meant for the masses to be posted on Facebook and YouTube. So we can blame “gotcha journalism.” We can also blame a society which seems to have an insatiable appetite for finding fault with folks, capturing it on video, and their willingness to post it on YouTube. Recently, Michelle Bachmann, candidate for the U.S. republican presidential nomination, has found herself the target of this particular tactic. So can you blame an executive for being hesitant to give answers to tough questions? Well, let me explain how we work at Life Science Leader so you won’t hesitate to give us an interview.
How We Roll
“Gotcha journalism” is not how we roll here at LSL. Here is my approach to an interview. First, I seek out interesting stories that involve best practice and actionable information. For example, if I were to interview J&J (NYSE: JNJ) CEO William Weldon, yes I would ask the tough questions about the recall problems they have been experiencing lately. However, these would be followed up with questions about what they are you doing to fix those problems. What types of metrics have been put in place to measure your success? What could other execs learn from your struggles? What advice would you give an executive facing a massive recall? These are the types of questions I ask because our goal is not to drag someone through the mud, but to uncover and share a best practice which is often realized from lessons learned the hard way.
Secondly, I send my questions to executive in advance so they can have time to ponder and gather necessary information. I have received a number of compliments from executives on how they appreciate my taking the time to do this.
My own interview style is very conversational. I will often ask follow-up questions which won’t be listed on my advance questions in an effort to dig deeper for the “pearls of wisdom” readers find so valuable. Third, once I have an article put together, I often send it out for a fact check, so the interviewee and the communications and legal departments have time to review. Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean, time to “frame everything up.” Finally, once it has gone through these steps it will go through a final edit and then various stages of proofing prior to publication. Even with all of this, an occasional typo slips through. We are human after all. But, during the interview, there really aren’t any surprises. At Life Science Leader we aim to find the good and share it.