What if how we think about doing good and making money is all wrong?

I watched this fabulous TED talk again this morning. It really impacted me. I highly recommend you watch it. I’ll explain below how I think it can help us in pharma. But first, a bit about the talk…..

Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta illustrates the double standard that drives our broken relationship to charities. Do you check how much of your money goes to the charity recipients before you decide to invest? Many people do, but to what end? They say “I choose charities that have the greatest percent of their money going to the cause.” Ironically, however, the more the charity invests in their “over head” the more they can produce. That’s the way for-profit companies work… why shouldn’t non-profits work that way too? Watch Dan’s talk. He makes so much sense.

And now, how this can help us in pharma…. The talk made me think about how I am trying to help pharma by teaching them that being focused on the patient and profitability are not incompatible, they are INSEPARABLE. One of the barriers for people I believe is our broken relationship between doing good and making money. Look at how we treat charities. We clearly don’t think you can make money while doing good. Dan shows us without a shadow of a doubt that we need to revise that mindset. In this bold, mind altering talk, he says: Let’s change the way we think about changing the world.

I believe that pharma companies can do good and do well at the same time! I believe we must! When we focus on doing good (focus on the patient) that’s when we will see our greatest profitability.