Grunenthal Group

Florent Edouard

Fancy a chat with Elon Musk? Or Kanye  West?” Two immediate thoughts crossed  my mind when my 13-year-old son  suddenly suggested this: “What would I  say to those guys?” and, naturally, “What the heck are  you talking about?” 

Without waiting for an answer, he continued: “get  yourself an invite on Clubhouse, because that’s what’s  happening.” 

This was my personal introduction to a social media  platform that is based on people getting together and  talking, as equals, about both everything and nothing.  Yet, as someone open-minded to new platforms, I  was naturally intrigued. Intrigued enough to accept an  invitation from serial health innovator and entrepreneur,  Tara Wacks, and so began a journey of joining countless  rooms where people excitedly felt like they’d got the  golden ticket. Now they could chat ‘exclusively’ about  the rise of digital health, startups, or any kind of topic  you can possibly imagine, with people they’d never  normally get to meet.

 Now, I am no healthcare spring chicken. I have spent  many an hour in conference networking rooms, advisory  boards, focus groups, and market research. So imagine  my surprise when I found that these conversations felt,  suddenly, ‘fresh’. This was a new type of expression  space, a set of unexpected conversations, a noticeable  step away from the traditional ways to discuss  healthcare.

 It made an impression. I began to wonder, how could  we use this new media differently to change the game? 

But, like a new kid at school, I craved some  familiarity at first. I searched for known faces and  quickly happened upon two of my frequent ‘disruptive’  collaborators, Paul Simms and David Hunt, both of whom had joined the platform only a couple of weeks  before and were themselves still finding their feet. We put  our heads together and decided we could harness our  collective influence to curate a new dialogue, unhindered  by the conventional rules, where people from all walks  of life could come and suggest how life sciences could  be transformed, with no money or glory involved. As if  to prove the hypothesis, we were quickly supported by  passionate patient advocate Christine Von Raesfeld, who  now leads many of our club’s conversations despite never  having worked in a pharma company. She embodies the  idea that improving patient care can be more important  than egos, employment status, and earnings-per-share. 

Over the next few weeks, we evolved into a ‘daily  show’ format. People are busy, so we agreed on a  maximum of 30 minutes per session, every day at the  same time so no scheduling was necessary. 

A tight time  limit, but we agreed we’d always leave a few minutes  spare for anyone to ask a question or throw in their  perspective. 

On Mondays, we tackle Diversity and inclusion,  a longstanding issue in a white-male-heterosexualdominated  industry. Aurora Archer, Pamela Raitt,  and Kelly Croce Sorg are leading a fascinating and  provocative conversation about the new faces of our  future industry.

 On Thursdays, we double down on the patient  engagement and listening agenda, with the help of  Christine and Kristof Vanfraechem, by giving them the  mic to express their needs, hopes and frustration, and  propose solutions for patient empowerment. 

Tuesdays and Wednesdays have become days  where we could talk about creative ideas that are needed  to revitalize our industry’s communications and trust,  and where we could hear about the career failures of  executives in a constructive, learning environment. 

Did I mention the refreshing nature of the  conversation? Our no-cost, no-commitment, no-glory  approach has opened unexpected doors, with very senior  and distinguished leaders volunteering to take guest  spots, and the size of the club growing beyond 1500 in  just a few months. 

Today, we feel more of a movement than a mere  conversation in a trendy app. Our rooms are places  where renegades converge naturally, where broken  industry dialogues are restored, where networking  becomes about quality over quantity – joining executives,  providers, patients, and even their families. Many reports  that they learn more in a 30-minute session than a whole  month of more structured sessions. 

This was made possible by agreeing that everyone  talks as an equal, representing only oneself, genuine and  empathetic, a collective of like-minded people propelled  by the same values and a desire to turn words into action. 

Last week saw a new initiative, bringing our club  out of Clubhouse and onto more established platforms  such as Zoom. With no advertising, no communications  campaign, and no marketing director, we registered in  mid-August more than one thousand people.

 It turns out that a ragtag collective of wide-eyed industry  optimists can create a stronger sense of engagement than even  the most well-orchestrated, well-funded initiative. Because we  want to raise the tide for all ships. After all, death and taxes may  be certainties, but so is the fact that we’ll all become patients in  our lifetime. This is surely what paying it forward means. 

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