Crafting Meaningful Connections to Benefit Patients

Stu’s Craft is Making Connections

Each of us brings our specific expertise—our craft—to the table to accomplish the goal of creating and delivering medicines to the patients who need them. When I think about business development, our craft is making connections. Whether with other companies or within our organization, we need to build partnerships that allow us to be successful and can benefit society.  

The business of making medicines is complex. There are so many skills that need to come together to get a molecule from a bench scientist to become an approved medicine for patients. It’s like a puzzle. Let’s say we have 11 of the 15 pieces we need, how do we identify the four that are missing? Who can we partner with to complete the picture?  

Meanwhile, we must keep in mind that being a good fit is based on more than expertise. The ideal partner shares our values, our expectations and our passion for turning science into medicine.  

Creating Connections That Benefit Society

A good deal incentivizes all the various parties to achieve more together than they could individually. We need to achieve our goals, and the partner needs to achieve their goals. But it doesn’t end there. Collectively, we can advance a higher goal of adding value to society. If we can achieve something that delivers on all three fronts, that to me is a good deal.  

This philosophy of a three-way success, known as sanpo yoshi in Japanese, is rooted in Daiichi Sankyo’s culture. Our organization thinks of itself as part of a larger ecosystem and what we are trying to do as a company is deliver value to society. Our particular role is creating medicines that can help people who need them.  

To achieve sanpo yoshi, the interests of all stakeholders must be considered and this requires long-term perspective. We must contemplate how something that looks right in the short term, something that brings immediate gain, might be detrimental in the long term. This broad perspective is just one of the things that makes Daiichi Sankyo a great place to work.   

Opening Doors to Diverse Ways of Thinking

I often describe effective business development as a room with lots of doors. People can come in through any number of different entrances. They can come in with a law background, like I did, or they may have a science or finance background. If you only let people in through one set of doors, you're automatically missing a whole bunch of different perspectives. To do business development effectively, skills are important, but so is a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints. I want all doors to be open.  

Watch “Where Craft Meets Partnerships”

Take a deeper dive into the craft of making connections that benefit society.  Visit the Daiichi Sankyo U.S. YouTube Channel to watch Where Craft Meets—Partnerships, featuring Stu Mackey, Global Head of Business Development, in conversation with his colleague Fay Dunbar, Director, Inclusion & Diversity. Stu shares his perspective on what makes a good deal and the role relationships play in expanding and accelerating our ability to help as many patients as possible.