Influenced

Yesterday I met with Dr. Lorris Betz, M.D.,PH.D.  Dr. Betz currently wears 3 hats: Executive Dean of the University of Utah Medical School, CEO of University Healthcare, and Senior Vice President for all Health Sciences at the University of Utah.  He is an extremely impressive individual who regularly turns people away because he doesn't have time.  Luckily I work with him and can get an audience. This particular time I had an idea for which I was requesting support and he was kind enough to lend me a few moments.  I left completely influenced.

Some individuals are blessed with more gift and talent than others and accomplish incredible things in life. Meeting with these individuals has proven to be invaluable for me.

My uncle is also one of these individuals and happens to own a Ferrari.  Last time I was with him he offered to let me take it for a spin this summer.  He said, "Everyone should have the opportunity to take a Ferrari for a spin" and I didn't disagree.  There is something about these experiences that expand the mind and shape the character.  Likewise, everyone should have the opportunity to meet with a Lorris Betz:  it helps us to think big.

"this business called Marketing"

In The E Myth, Michael E. Gerber poses the question, "Are you beginning to get a sense of the complexity of this business called Marketing?" (pg. 139) 

A friend works with the start-up Xandem, an innovative wireless technology for locating people, without the person carrying an electronic device. They are in negotiations with a huge brand management company that is taking marketing to the next level.  To help understand customers better they build mock stores to evaluate customer shopping habits. They track everything from eye movement to the time customers view products.  They use data to figure out preference to placement, colors, presentation, etc.  

Here are examples of marketing based on data from The E Myth:

1.     Blue suits outsell brown suits. (pg. 76.)

2.     In a television commercial, the sale is made or lost in 3 or 4 seconds. (pg. 135)

3.     In a print add, 75 percent of the buying decisions are made on the headline alone. (pg. 135)

4.     In a sales presentation, the sale is made or lost in 3 minutes. (pg. 135)

Gerber reminds us that business is all about finding perceived needs of customers and fulfilling them.  Xandem is helping a customer base that realizes marketing is as much a science as an art.

The point:  Think deeply about your customers’ perceived needs.

Internet search "mormon"

A friend recently completed a website to promote the Mormon Faith. Many of you know that I am a Mormon. The web site is entitled "Why We Believe" and is used to host peoples' testimonies. I invite you to read my post Here about why I believe in God.

The reason for the website is really quite interesting. Briefly, the Mormon Church (known formally as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) places a huge emphasis on missionary work - essentially recruiting new members. We have a world-wide force of over 50,000 missionaries. Most are 19-year-old boys who pay their own way. The problem is that after all of their hard work to spread their message, people go to the internet and type in "mormon" for the source of all truth. Unfortunately, our church has many bitter enemies who have been using the internet for years to slander our religion. Until recently your internet search would turn up some ridiculous information and you would be scared off of Mormonism forever. But because of the work of people like my friend, internet searches are now turning out much more positive and reliable information.

The first stop on the Bus

It's time to make the first stop.  I assembled a small team and we started a Life Science Club at the University of Utah.  We're using Michigan's Ross School of Business as our model.  They have done an incredible job of establishing a club that really adds value.

The purpose:  Connect high potential students with Life Science Industry professionals, academics, advocates, ideas, innovations, entrepreneurs, investors, and governments.

The benefits:

• Up and coming talent is a major component to creating a superior industry
• Establish a base of man power for bigger events like conferences
• Expand our network and establish a presence to promote growth and change

If you would like to be part of the wave of change, please join our group and find a meaningful way you can contribute time, energy, network, ideas, or leadership.

The Bus

The bus is changing direction. I have finally found a focus - turning Utah into one of the preeminent hubs of the Life Sciences industry. To do this I am going to voraciously study about how others have done it while at the same time building the biggest Who's Who in Utah Life Sciences network. This network will include entrepreneurs, investors, start-up people, academics, researchers, industry folk, government officials, advocates, and legal experts.

Lucky for me, there are a lot of people trying to do this and so I'm really not changing the direction of my bus as much as jumping on someone else's.

If you know anyone who can fit in this network I would love to meet them and do an informational interview with them.

So now the purpose of this blog is to log the process of building something big. The vision hasn't changed, we're still thinking big, just in a more precise way.