anonymous
Guest
anonymous
Guest
I spent a few moons in Genentech marketing over a decade ago, when Commercial couldn't hire fast enough... it was no holds barred, write a job description and you could fill it the next day!! What I gleaned... most of those folks didn't have a clue as to how to develop / maximize / weaponize people let alone a sales / field force (and I'm not talking about anything that would draw a federal/Medicare inquiry... although some thought those easy ideas were "strategy"). Most were just living in a bubble, talking heads trying to impress their own kind, too busy internally / upwardly focused, trying to land an early-stage strategy job with even less accountability + nearly none had ever been in a field force / developed a relationship with a prescriber / accountable for a quota . Then what happened... they rose the internal ranks, making the organizational structure decisions that now places the field force, that Genentech built up, the scape goat... good people who are woefully paying the price. Before any aspersions are cast... my perspective doesn't come from Pharma / BioTech sales (so this isn't an us vs. them thing), but I did carry an individual / team quota for 10+ years within a different industry before earning an MBA (a prestigious one, that's why Genentech gave me consideration... they thought I was one of them) and gaining (very successful) Pharma marketing experience elsewhere. Upon walking in the 1 DNA doors, I was shocked watching Genentech VPs wildly build up marketing teams, hiring dozens for each job that one person could perform well... how the marketing teams' customers were not the prescribers, or even the field forces... but the VPs themselves, to inform them of the businesses they themselves knew nothing about... and the occasional shot at the foot for kicks and giggles. None of it was productive, it reminded me of elementary school busy work. I knew I needed to flee the scene when I was asked to implement in three weeks a messaging campaign for a market decision made behind closed doors that I saw easily as fatally flawed... I asked a couple of clarifying questions, and a dear friend of mine in a completely different part of the business (who was also pulled in last minute for the messaging campaign) texted me "get on board, there is no discussion, they're taking names". That one decision can easily be traced to the challenges Genentech is experiencing today. I can also say, since, I have had the pleasure of working for a few other VPs / business unit leaders outside of Genentech, the real deals, who know how to build / run a business... and they wouldn't have fallen for this over-paid consultant, no field experience themselves, Ecosystem BS!!