STARTING WITH ‘WHY’
You may have seen Simon Sinek’s TED talk or read his book ‘Start With Why’.
The core idea is that the ability of a company to clearly articulate WHY they are in business (rather than just describing WHAT they do) can guide both strategy and communications. The result is no longer being a commodity product, and having clarity of purpose, a larger share of mind and perhaps even expanded opportunities.
But can it be applied to healthcare?
While there are some circumstances unique to healthcare where there won’t be commodification of products (such as when drugs are still under patents), you can imagine other situations in which this thinking could be influential. For example, once a company’s star drug goes off-patent, can the company position themselves as more than just the original manufacturer of the drug? Can their mission be to provide holistic care to patients? To make patients’ treatment pathway as painless as it can be? To provide everything patients need from their treatment?
So, what is the mission of your company?
Starting with WHY and using that to inform the WHAT and HOW can help us understand why we do what we do and perhaps provide new opportunities to reach patients and healthcare professionals.
by Nick Wright
