Virtual-ly Working

The sun hovers just above the horizon, the light and heat still coming, but fading. I relax on the second floor patio, sipping cheap beer, watching a hawk circle the golf course. Visiting family in temperate, southern suburbia. Savoring the real world, but contemplating a virtual one. A Pharma one.

The Big East coast BD stands freshly completed, still being digested, but the West coast road show will fire up soon. I'm joining...last minute.Flights to arrange, meetings to schedule, more time in the US and more time at 'old' home on the east coast, waiting. I'm ambivalent about the change in schedule. I feel the pull of the future in China, a restless horse in the starting gate, but nostalgic at the opportunity to visit 'older' home on the West coast, and see familiar faces there, and smell flowers in February. Taking advantage of the unexpected time in the US, I surprise family and pop in for the weekend to escape the bitter cold. Its 65F (18C) here.

The warmer temperature relaxes the body and allows the mind to ponder. Pondering about the snapshot of the industry I've been afforded in the past weeks. Tectonic scale forces are acting upon us. The view of so many companies response to these pressures remains in my mind. Some big pharmas streamline their bureaucracy, to become lean, yet large powerful discovery engines, others try to disperse themselves into small entrepreneurial bits. Almost all have begun some outsourcing in search of efficiency, chemistry at first. Screening, DMPK and Tox more frequently, and on the extreme...outsource everything. True virtual pharma. Seriously, a one person company, it's here. (One Man, One Company OMOCs?)

First impressions on one person companies, it's enabling. Perhaps wonderfully enabling. One person, one idea...lower cost to push it forward. More targets get investigated due to lower cost and benefits to all. Also, the CRO’s will become specialized…not just doing one kind of medchem, but industry wide medchem experts. Specialization. The downside could be the lack of brain storming, of many talented minds (with a vested interest) and perspectives around a table, debating, arguing, building new strategies on the structures of each other, synergizing. The experienced talent in the CRO's could mitigate this somewhat. Issues both detracting and enhancing are yet to be uncovered. I wonder if in ten years we’ll be kicking ourselves for not starting OMOCs sooner.

Big BD and the Universal Fire Code

It’s been a long week of Business Development meetings, four or five companies a day, five to ten people per company, for the past week. Stacks of business cards, handshakes and smiles. A great chance to see old acquaintances; meet smart and dynamic people championing new ideas, and a fascinating snapshot of the state of pharma. My role in the meetings is minimal, lots of time to observe and ponder. I keep thinking of the Universal Fire Code.

Back in the day, the weekend began after Saturday morning lab time with a Whole Foods sandwich in front of the Discovery Channel. One program that affected me deeply surprised me. It was about fire, a history of fire disasters…infamous, tragic, titillating, perfect to begin the weekend. A man appeared talking about the Universal Fire Code. A huge tome of building regulations, very boring and dry, facts and no heart, but something in his speech grabbed my attention. He talked with conviction and passion. I stopped eating. This book is holy, he explained, perhaps more holy than anything ever written in human history. Every line in this compendium has come at the cost of human suffering and death. Pages and pages of knowledge learned dearly.

This holy book is what I’m thinking of as we meet leaders of our industry. I see the people we are meeting with as authors of a new holy knowledge. Maybe the universal pharma code. They work hard, with dedication, on an important endeavor. To understand the rules and solutions of suffering caused by disease, and write the code for all of us.

Our industry suffers greatly now, it’s visible tangibly in the fading lobbies of big pharma, and in the faces of those facing layoffs. Fewer people will be working on our universal pharma code in the coming years. I worry. But I’m hopeful. I’ve just met over 50 talented people who are convinced they can add something to the code. After this week, I believe them. I'm happy to be associated with them, I hope I can help.

It's Business Time

I am one of them now. One of those rep-like people who, knock on your office door and interrupt your work day. Vendors?! Most of the time, if I needed it, I’d already had it. Just Google it. Now I’m standing on the outside of the door. I knock.

The ‘big meetings’ scheduled by higher-ups come later this month, so no sense going back and forth around the globe, but what to do here and now? I’m in the US, when I want to be in China doing medchem. Here is my past, there is my future…and very anxious to continue there. But not yet. It’s business time. ‘BD’…business development, mysterious and new for scientists, but integral for a small company. Talk to current clients, make sure they are happy. Talk with new contacts, turn them into current clients. “What’s a client?!” asks the scientist. I’m not slick. I’m not persuasive. I’m probably borderline asocial. But having big pharma experience and native English ability, I can talk client language on two levels…eventually. Find out what they are doing and how to help them do it. That’s admirable, something to hang on to in this strange territory that feels as different as China.

I try to set things up online as much as possible. Linkedin is excellent. It’s fascinating to reconnect with past co-workers, and this part rocks. I remember faces, stories as I invite more and more former co-workers/friends. So strangely satisfying to see the connections count rise. Why didn’t I do this before? Soon, though, it’s time to venture into the brick and mortar world.

I’m at a new site. Everything is new and high end, furniture, décor, plasma monitors, new people. An old friend. He introduces me to a major mind there. The kind initiating multiple start-ups. He stands tall, with a pleasant demeanor and warm handshake, sharp quick eyes. We chat a bit, but I’m nervous. I’m not in the conversation. I’m too busy thinking. I should say something BD-like. I forget the names of people we probably both know. Awkward silence and it’s done. Business hours are over. I forget to give him a card. The next meetings are more fruitful. Since I’m not salesman, better to be myself, just a chemist. Meet intelligent interesting people working on cool projects and see what I can do back in China to help them make those projects successful. BD the science way.

Don't Go There

The sun shines brightly and feels warm, a nice respite from the cold damp air. I close my eyes to feel the warmth when I hear a voice. “Do you speak English?” asks one of two girls smiling at me. Why yes, I do. We chat for 10min. They are charming and I get up to walk with them. They are about to rob me.

I’m sitting in People’s Square, a vast expanse of people watching, a huge metro station with 10 (or more?) exits. I’m waiting for a friend to show me around, be my guide to some local attractions. There is shopping everywhere. Just an incredible amount of stores and merchandise, one cannot exit a metro station without walking through a mall. My friend is late, but I’m enjoying the spectacle. It’s Sunday afternoon, I’m done apartment hunting for the day, time to finally relax a little and explore my new city. It’s nice to just sit and be.

Living in a big city, one gets used to constant barage of selling. But nothing like this. I guess I’m a target, a foreigner, a lone foreigner. Shopping trip? Watches? DVDs? Bags? Hawkers abound. In a brief walk around People’s Square, I became an expert at saying ‘No’. I find a place where there seems to be fewer of them…but much sun. And sit down to enjoy the light and heat on a crisp winter day, watching people go about their lives. My eyes are closed, but I can sense someone approaching. I prepare my ‘No.’ but open my eyes and am pleasantly surprised.

Two cute, smiling faces asking me to speak with them. They are not selling. They are English students and would like to practice English, would I mind to speak with them for a few minutes? I would not mind at all. Speaking English here is one of the few things that I can do well. Makes me feel momentarily competent. And they are friendly, charming. But they have to leave, could I walk with them for a little bit longer? Why yes, of course I would like that.

They are college seniors, they walk fast. They are full of energy and its wonderful to think this city is full of such people. It’s sunny. Happy. We walk through another mall. All smiles, harmless flirting. We are in shadow now. We come to a stop in front of a Tea House and there are three people waiting for us, expectantly. Something is wrong. I don’t want to go in. I say I have to leave and they look lost, not sure what to do. I hurriedly walk away before they can charm me. I have escaped. Undamaged, but changed.

Other expats were not so lucky. Going into the tea house is nothing sinister, it’s as banal as a simple swindle. $200-$300 for a pot of cheap tea. Don’t go there.

Holiday and Food

It’s down time now, the middle of the CNY holiday and people are off to far flung destinations…Malaysia for the beaches and sun, Thailand for the fun, back to the US or within China to see family…and eat.

Not much is happening so I, too, am thinking about food. It’s strange to have to prepare my own food again. With the Chinese company, breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided to the employees. Of course the food is Chinese, and it is served industrial style in a large cafeteria, and if you go at the wrong time, the lines are long. The cafeteria serves about 3000 meals per day, it’s an amazing operation.

Breakfast is usually some form of pasty or Chinese dough (my fav has the red bean paste inside but often it’s just dough) with some really yummy little pickled peppers and warm rice soup thing. Its small and I have taken to having a small breakfast before company breakfast. I usually can find a group of English speaking seniors there to eat with in the left corner. That is at 8:15.

Lunch is like a collection of tapas plates, but to me this is the hardest meal. I have no idea what the little plates are, and I’m a little wary of the meat dishes so I often just get the vegetables and rice. A little company shop sells fruit, hot/cold/special drinks. The lady behind the counter there knows me, Ko-Le – a coke is liquid familiarity for me, but I miss ice. She gets it for me now before I even ask. Lunch is at 12:15…same area for the seniors.

Dinner gets delivered to my office. Here’s a typical meal in the picture. Usually it’s rice, some sort of clear noodle, cabbage and sometimes another vegetable with a meat dish. My fav has been the chicken thighs, my least fav was the fish head. Dessert is usually an orange or tangerine. Dinner comes at 4:45.

Buttering the Salad

There are only two of us, in the very back of the plane. She is Chinese. It’s dinner time, and she is concentrating on the little square dish holding the salad. She looks puzzled. After several moments, she picks up the pad of butter and begins buttering the salad.

It’s time to come back to the US and finish packing. Real work has barely started and already I’m coming back to (not quite) home. I wish I wasn’t leaving now. There are meetings for me to attend in the US, client meetings. That’s something new, I’ve never had clients before. The flight is very very long, flying over the arctic. The snow capped mountains and valleys are breathtaking on a clear day. Fourteen hours is a lot of time to fill. I have books, food and my computer and naps to keep me occupied. Those things you can control. You cannot control who your neighbor will be for the duration.

I’m so far back in the plane that the tail section narrows to allow only two seats on the side. My neighbor comes on the plane late in the boarding process. She has a carry-on and cannot reach the overhead compartment. I help her put the bag away and she says ‘thank-you’. She says it the way I speak chinese… tentatively, quietly, full of uncertainty. I ask her in my limited mandarin if she speaks English? Ni hui bu hui shuo yingwen? Bu hui. She does not, that is our entire conversation for the next 14hrs.

I would guess she has not flown before. She clutches her large purse on her lap as if unsure what to do with it, holding it for security. They come early with in the flight with the customs declaration cards and she hurriedly fills it out and tries to give it back to the flight attendant. She does not watch the movie or read. The drink cart comes, she points. The dinner comes and she looks at the salad.

I empathize with her situation completely. I see myself in her. To be in totally unfamiliar surroundings and not know the expected behavior/response/action. I say ‘excuse me’ in mandarin. I pick up the little container of salad dressing on my tray and pantomine applying it my salad. “Oh!” is the look on her face. I’m sure I am buttering the salad everyday in China.

Chinese New Year - The Banquet

The stage is two feet high and the lights are hot. I’m in my casual brown suit, soaking wet with beer and holding an empty baby bottle. This is the first impression 1,200 of my co-workers have of me.

The company is hosting it’s annual banquet for Chinese New Year. The whole company eats, and drinks, and drinks, and drinks and puts on shows for four hours. There is nothing like this in the US. Employees here expect it. The Senior managers all must participate in some sort of skit. Some put on costumes that look like bastardized Saturday morning cartoon characters, some dance. There are two acts involving simply stunning women. Employees. Volunteers. One set does dance routines with bare midriffs and spandex and one show-casing traditional Chinese attire. They are huge hits with the crowd. My business spider-sense tingles…this is lawsuit territory in the US.

There are so many empty 755ml bottles on all the 135 tables. So many empty cases of beer as not to be believed. It’s hard to drop the business wariness and I’m a little on edge. Everyone is having a very good time. It’s easy to see the bonding happening. It’s an ocean of people. No spouses are present. There is so much special food, so unusual to my eyes...chicken feet, fish head, chicken presented with the head on the plate, cooked shrimp with head still attacheded. Someone explains that the moving parts are best.

I’m only able to understand bits of what the MC’s are saying, they are also employees. First skit is due up and it seems they are calling for volunteers. One of the seniors starts shouting my name. Um…What? Four hours before I was told I would have to make a short speech. I practiced two lines of Chinese for three hours. One hour before I was told the speech is off. My name is now being yelled from other tables, momentum builds and I am trapped, but also flattered. I start up to the stage and several others trickle out of the sea of people and line up under the hot lights. We are being video taped. Another senior takes pity, I think, and comes to stand next to me. I don’t understand what the MC’s are saying, but a tray comes up with baby bottles full of beer. Ah…crystal clear now. It’s a race to see who can finish the beer through the nipple first.

I have a few seconds to craft a strategy…venting will be important I think. San, Er, Yi…3, 2, 1…and I’m sucking to win! I realize I can squeeze the bottle for faster flow rate. I squeeze harder and the top bursts, soaking me. But it’s too late, I’m already out of the running.

Later, still sticky with beer, I float from table to table. From recognized face, to recognized face and the other seniors introduce me to their teams. The teams are happy, young and eager. My team will be like them. I hope I can reach them, train them, help them develop and be successful. Lead.

I say in spotty, recently learned mandarin "Wo yingwen shuo de hen hao, ke shi wo putonghua shuo de bu hao. Xin nian kuai le" ... I speak english very well, but I speak mandarin very badly. Happy New Year! I raise a very small glass and shout "kan pei!" We all drink together.