What Have Been Your Greatest Lessons Learned?

MY GREATEST EDUCATION CAME NOT IN ACADEMIA, but instead at the hands of investors and colleagues.

1. The ability to see a scientific advance, find the right application, and take it to commercialization is 90% of the work (not the inventing of it).
2. Being a key opinion leader doesn’t mean you are right; you still need data and an open mind.
3. You always need money.
4. People are not always honest about their motivations. If you have questions, ask for the answers and correlate motives and incentives.
5. Newfound authority or influence must be used with wisdom, which, if you don’t have, you need to find or hire.
6. Don’t let someone tell you what you can’t do, but listen when they tell you what you can or should do.
7. Be kind, always take the high road, and do not let any ego — yours included — stand in the way of good decision making.

PAMELA REILLY CONTAG, PH.D., is the CEO and president of BioEclipse Therapeutics.