July 26, 2024 • 15 mins
In this episode of Frictionless Marketing, host Paul Dyer sits down with Sri Ramaswami, Vice President of US Pharmaceuticals Communications for GSK, to discuss the challenges faced by individuals with chronic illnesses, particularly lupus.
The conversation centers around the moving story of Salathiel, a young woman diagnosed with lupus right after her high school graduation. Sri emphasizes the systemic barriers in healthcare, especially those affecting marginalized communities, and outlines GSK's initiatives to promote health equity, reduce negative social determinants of health, and improve access to quality care.
Sri shares insights into the power of storytelling in creating empathy and driving change and offers valuable advice on remaining adaptable while staying true to one's values in a rapidly evolving industry.
00:00 Introduction to Frictionless Marketing
00:05 A Heartfelt Story of Salathiel's Battle with Lupus
00:54 Sri Ramaswami's Keynote Highlights
02:58 Challenges Faced by Lupus Patients
03:52 Understanding Lupus: Symptoms and Diagnosis
05:31 Systemic Barriers and Health Disparities
06:15 GSK's Initiatives for Health Equity
08:06 Three Pillar Approach to Reducing Barriers
10:09 Advice for Aspiring Professionals
14:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Frictionless Marketing is a production from /prompt, the leading earned first creative marketing and communications agency. Grounded in the present, yet attuned to the future.
To learn more about how to make marketing frictionless, purchase Friction Fatigue by /prompt CEO Paul Dyer, online and at booksellers worldwide.
Produced and distributed by Simpler Media Productions.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Frictionless Marketing,where we explore the latest
(00:02):
trends and challenges in theworld of marketing and beyond.
Today's episode brings you a deeplymoving and powerful story that sheds light
on the struggles faced by those livingwith chronic illnesses and the systemic
barriers in our healthcare system.
Our host, Paul Dyer, CEO of /prompt,sits down with Sri Ramaswami,
Vice President and Head of USPharmaceuticals Communications for GSK.
(00:22):
Sri shares the heartbreaking yetinspiring journey of Salathiel, a
young woman diagnosed with lupus rightafter her high school graduation.
From battling severe health issuesand financial burdens to confronting
the limitations of rural healthcare,Salathiel's story is a poignant
reminder of the urgent need forhealth equity and systemic change.
Stay tuned as we dive into the challengesand initiatives aimed at bridging
(00:44):
these gaps and making healthcare moreaccessible and compassionate for everyone.
Live from Fierce PharmaPR and Comm Summit East.
Sri, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
For those who were not able to be heretoday, didn't get a chance to hear
your keynote at the Fierce Pharma PRand Communications Summit, it was a
really powerful testimony to the impactyou're having at GSK, which started
(01:08):
out with Salathiel's personal story.
Do you wanna maybe give ourlisteners a small overview of
the story you shared today?
Absolutely, Paul.
Thank you again forhaving me on the podcast.
I'm really honored to be ableto share Salathiel's story
because it's so compelling.
She was diagnosed with lupus as a teenagerand faced many of the same challenges
(01:31):
that others must deal with every day.
She turned her journey into a crusade andher goal is to inspire others to action.
It was a very inspirational story.
Talk to us a little bit more aboutthe impact this story's had on
your outlook or approach from acommunications function perspective.
Sure.
Salathiel's story absolutelydemonstrates the power of storytelling.
(01:55):
I think a lot of people may beable to relate to her journey.
When we can make those connections,the empathy that follows can open eyes,
elevate awareness, and change behaviors.
Salathiel's story reinforces thekinds of stories we should be sharing.
Stories that are authentic and moving.
You started with her path to diagnosis,then you fast forwarded twenty years,
(02:18):
and you talked about how Salathiel'shealth has evolved, how some of the
challenges she faces today are different.
I think you referred toher today as a warrior.
What have you or GSK learned from this?
Today, she still faces the waxingand waning of the disease, Paul.
Some days she feels goodand some days she doesn't.
Because she's sharing her story broadly,she has built a network of support.
(02:42):
The reality is many lupus patientscontinue learning about their disease
throughout their lifetime becausenew symptoms may surface years later.
There is no consistency, so havingconversations and resources of the ready
makes it a little easier to move forward.
Well, can you talk about some ofmaybe the specific difficulties
she or someone like her encounters?
(03:04):
Particularly living in a rural areawith limited access to specialized care?
It could be a limited numberof medical specialists.
For some, clinical trials may be theonly access to care that they have.
But clinical trials are oftenhosted at large academic
centers, often in big cities.
It could be technology.
If they don't have stable wifi, then eventelehealth options may not be possible.
(03:29):
It may even be that there aren'tas many retail pharmacies which
carry the medicines that they need.
Awareness could be an obstaclebecause there may not be as much
opportunity to expand knowledge.
This could be because nonprofitorganizations don't have a presence.
Educational campaigns may not reach them.
Major events like health fairs arenot likely to be organized there.
(03:52):
Now Sri, I'm just realizing it could bethat there's a lot of people listening
that don't know exactly what lupusis, or maybe they've heard of it, but
they're not really familiar with whyit's so difficult to diagnose or why it's
such a unique and burdensome disease.
Can you talk a little bit about that forpeople who may not be familiar with lupus?
I'm glad you asked the question.
Lupus is difficult to diagnose becausethis chronic disease exhibits a wide
(04:15):
variety of symptoms that resembleother diseases and other conditions.
It presents differentlyin different people.
It's an autoimmune disease, so your bodyis attacking itself and can cause damage
to cells, tissues, organs, or systems.
This also can happen at anytime, which is frightening.
(04:35):
The symptoms could be sporadic, or yearslater you may develop a new symptom.
According to the Lupus Foundationof America, the average time to
a lupus diagnosis is six years.
But for women of color, thattime can take much longer.
Think about that.
Yeah, in your story from Salathiel,it sounds like she was diagnosed
very quickly, but it was a verypainful process regardless.
(04:59):
Can you talk about maybe whatare some of the symptoms or
complications associated with lupusthat patients like Salathiel endure?
It is complex, Paul.
Patients cope with strokes, increasedrisks of heart attacks along with
fatigue, joint pain, chest pain,skin lesions, even memory loss.
(05:19):
One of your main points today wasthat the health system was not
serving Salathiel or people like her.
And you made a point of referringto her as, I'm not gonna call her a
patient, I'm gonna call her a person.
Can you maybe talk a little bit aboutthe, what are the issues and gaps in care
that would contribute to her strugglesor struggles of other lupus patients?
(05:39):
When we think of systemic issues,we think about policy that needs to
change and biased practice standardsthat lead to health disparities.
The result of this is people of colorhave a much longer window to diagnosis
and then suboptimal treatment.
We know the impact of this.
Black women with lupus, regrettably,die up to thirteen years earlier
(06:02):
than white women with lupus.
I don't think I heard that number earlier.
That is shocking.
It certainly is.
So what, from an action standpoint,as communicators, of course, we have
to draw awareness to these things.
It's also on us to try to spur action.
So what initiatives is GSKinvesting in to help address these
(06:23):
issues, address the prevention orcomplications of a disease like lupus?
As I said before and at my talk,we need to meet people where they
are so we can build connections.
We've teamed up with the NationalBasketball Retired Players
Association and the HoustonRockets for the last two seasons.
We knew we could get in front of a lotof people who may not normally attend
(06:45):
a health fair by doing this, and wecould give them information about
lupus, talk to them about the risks,the symptoms, even the challenges.
We heard from three people who wentto their doctors right after these
events and were diagnosed with lupus.
And this may sound like a small number,but in the scheme of the disease
and the number of people who get thedisease, it's pretty significant.
(07:06):
And so we know that themessage is resonating.
That's great.
I mean, that's a real exampleof improving public health.
What about access to quality care,especially in these rural areas?
Are there things you're doing at GSK tohelp increase access to quality care?
Or maybe in some ways improvethe negative social determinants
(07:27):
of health, which is another bigtheme in your conversation today?
Yeah.
I did talk about access andabout addressing negative social
determinants of health and alsoabout reducing systemic barriers.
We are pushing to expand thecapabilities of staff like nurses,
pharmacists, and social workersbecause they're accessible to more than
(07:47):
doctors, to more people than doctors.
Some may not know, but in thehealthcare system, the social worker's
whole job is to remove barriersto wellness and barriers to care.
We're also leveraging datato identify areas with
concentrated health disparities.
This gives us an opportunityto have meaningful impact.
And you also, you talked abouta three pillar approach at GSK.
(08:10):
Can you talk about the threepillar approach and your efforts
to reduce systemic barriers?
Absolutely.
Some of the barriers have beenaround for decades, so we know we
needed this multi-pronged approachto focus on the root causes.
Our first pillar is addressing thenegative social determinants of health.
We want to look at the differentfactors that can prevent someone
(08:31):
from getting medical care.
Is it transportation?
Is it access to doctors, limited diseaseawareness, not understanding the risks?
The second pillar isaccess to quality care.
Is a person able to get to ahealthcare professional, and
how knowledgeable is that HCP?
We have a team working with HCPsto close knowledge gaps in disease
(08:52):
states or cultural competencies.
Our third pillar is addressing systemicbarriers such as racism or discrimination.
Is the person facing abias in their treatment?
Thank you for walking through that.
I know this next question is kind ofloaded but in your view, how can our
listeners support health equity andhelp contribute to this vision of
(09:15):
a more equitable healthcare system?
It's a great question, Paul.
I would say be open to conversations.
It's all about learningand it's about listening.
One of our efforts involved hostingan innovation challenge at a
Hispanic Serving Institution or HSI.
The students at Florida InternationalUniversity learned about vaccinations
and then gave a presentation onhow to educate their communities.
(09:39):
What we saw was many of thestudents learned about the power
of prevention for the first time.
They then went and spoke totheir families as part of their
research, and those conversationsopened up even more conversations.
That's what we wanna see.
So Sri, first of all, this has been great.
I really appreciate you laying thisout for our listeners, folks who
(09:59):
weren't able to be here, what wasa tremendous conference, and you
being the keynote presentation.
I'm gonna wrap with two questions, okay?
So the first is we're gonna askbig picture in just a second.
If you're gonna give your past selfsome advice, what would that advice be?
But first, let's wrap up our keynote here.
So what do you think is either themost important takeaway, or just the
(10:19):
thing that if someone was gonna takeaway one point that you would want
to emphasize what would that be?
I think, as I mentioned during my keynote,people can't be what they can't see.
And therefore, it's so important thatif you want to effectuate change in
the community and make health equityreal and relevant and impactful,
(10:40):
you have to go into the communityand meet people where they are.
I think that's so critical.
I think also from what you sawtoday, not just in my speech, but
also the panel discussion, I thinkit takes a village to do this.
No one can solve the problemsof health equity on their own.
I think it's really important forus to collaborate, to ideate, to
(11:01):
try new things, and yeah, we'renot always gonna get it right.
We may fail sometimes.
But what do we learn from thosefailings and those failures that we
can apply toward a more equitableworld where everyone can thrive?
I think that's all really powerful andthat you can't be what you can't see.
Just it touches on so many levels.
This idea of going into thecommunities, it's really important
(11:23):
as a takeaway as more and more andmore of our work becomes digitized.
And we live primarily in ourindustry, in urban centers.
We start to look at theworld through a screen.
Yes.
Correct.
What you're saying isyou gotta see the people.
And see them in their environment.
Exactly.
I think that's just areally powerful reminder.
(11:44):
So thank you.
And now, alright, so the doozy.
We're getting away from keynote now.
[Sri chuckling] But as I'd mentioned,walking through your introduction.
You obviously have had avery successful career.
You're in a position of greatinfluence within our industry.
A lot of people listening wouldprobably aspire to a career like yours.
So, if you were gonna give your past selfone piece of advice, what would you say?
(12:09):
When I think about the most importantrole that, or advice I can give perhaps
to people based on my own past, Iwould say it reminds me of the quote
from Goethe who said, "we must alwayschange, renew, and rejuvenate ourselves.
Otherwise we harden."
It's important in an industrylike ours, frankly in life, change
(12:33):
is an inevitable part of life.
And I once saw a very impactfuland strong piece of writing that
said, "We believe in change, butnot in changing what we believe."
And the reason why that is so importantto me, and if I could perhaps go back
to my younger self or my past self,why those words are so important is
(12:57):
because when you realize that changeis an inevitable part of life, but that
you are uncompromising in your values,then you're able to drive real change.
I look at it even throughthe health equity lens.
I don't, in fact, think that it isdifferent from everyday life in the
sense that we are at an inflection pointin healthcare and other things where we
(13:20):
know that we can't leave people behind.
The risk of doing that, theopportunity cost of doing that is high.
So the industry's gonna constantly change.
Medicines are gonna change.
Innovations are gonna change.
New things will come into the market.
Other things will go.
The question is how do you ridethat wave of change without
(13:41):
compromising your values?
Well, and that, especially ata time of tremendous change.
Correct.
Which I would argue, throughoutmy whole career people have talked
about every year is a time of change.
But not like this.
Exactly.
After the pandemic, with all ofthe social change going on, the
technological change, this is reallygood advice, remaining centered.
(14:02):
But not getting stuck.
Correct.
Right, that idea of not hardening.
Well, said.
That's really, really great.
So, thank you, Sri, for sharingSalathiel's story and for some of
your own story, and also just forthe vital work that you're leading at
GSK to address some of these issues.
It's been a great conversation.
It was very well received today.
And I know that our listenersare gonna be thrilled to hear it.
(14:23):
So thank you.
And for our listeners, thank youfor tuning in to this episode
of Frictionless Marketing.
Remember, as Sri has reminded us all,we all have a role to play in creating
more equitable healthcare system.
So until next time, stay engaged,listening, open, changing but not
hardening, and be back with you soon.
Thanks Sri.
Thank you, Paul.
(14:44):
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof the Frictionless Marketing Podcast.
For a complete transcript of thisconversation or more information on
/prompt, please visit us at meetprompt.co.
If you found this episodeinsightful, share it with
your connections on LinkedIn.
To learn more about how to makemarketing frictionless, purchase Friction
(15:04):
Fatigue by /prompt CEO Paul Dyer,online and at booksellers worldwide.
Frictionless Marketing is aproduction from /prompt, the
leading earned first creativemarketing and communications agency.
Grounded in the present,yet attuned to the future.
Produced and distributed bySimpler Media Productions.
Welcome to Frictionless Marketing,where we explore the latest
(00:02):
trends and challenges in theworld of marketing and beyond.
Today's episode brings you a deeplymoving and powerful story that sheds light
on the struggles faced by those livingwith chronic illnesses and the systemic
barriers in our healthcare system.
Our host, Paul Dyer, CEO of /prompt,sits down with Sri Ramaswami,
Vice President and Head of USPharmaceuticals Communications for GSK.
(00:22):
Sri shares the heartbreaking yetinspiring journey of Salathiel, a
young woman diagnosed with lupus rightafter her high school graduation.
From battling severe health issuesand financial burdens to confronting
the limitations of rural healthcare,Salathiel's story is a poignant
reminder of the urgent need forhealth equity and systemic change.
Stay tuned as we dive into the challengesand initiatives aimed at bridging
(00:44):
these gaps and making healthcare moreaccessible and compassionate for everyone.
Live from Fierce PharmaPR and Comm Summit East.
Sri, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
For those who were not able to be heretoday, didn't get a chance to hear
your keynote at the Fierce Pharma PRand Communications Summit, it was a
really powerful testimony to the impactyou're having at GSK, which started
(01:08):
out with Salathiel's personal story.
Do you wanna maybe give ourlisteners a small overview of
the story you shared today?
Absolutely, Paul.
Thank you again forhaving me on the podcast.
I'm really honored to be ableto share Salathiel's story
because it's so compelling.
She was diagnosed with lupus as a teenagerand faced many of the same challenges
(01:31):
that others must deal with every day.
She turned her journey into a crusade andher goal is to inspire others to action.
It was a very inspirational story.
Talk to us a little bit more aboutthe impact this story's had on
your outlook or approach from acommunications function perspective.
Sure.
Salathiel's story absolutelydemonstrates the power of storytelling.
(01:55):
I think a lot of people may beable to relate to her journey.
When we can make those connections,the empathy that follows can open eyes,
elevate awareness, and change behaviors.
Salathiel's story reinforces thekinds of stories we should be sharing.
Stories that are authentic and moving.
You started with her path to diagnosis,then you fast forwarded twenty years,
(02:18):
and you talked about how Salathiel'shealth has evolved, how some of the
challenges she faces today are different.
I think you referred toher today as a warrior.
What have you or GSK learned from this?
Today, she still faces the waxingand waning of the disease, Paul.
Some days she feels goodand some days she doesn't.
Because she's sharing her story broadly,she has built a network of support.
(02:42):
The reality is many lupus patientscontinue learning about their disease
throughout their lifetime becausenew symptoms may surface years later.
There is no consistency, so havingconversations and resources of the ready
makes it a little easier to move forward.
Well, can you talk about some ofmaybe the specific difficulties
she or someone like her encounters?
(03:04):
Particularly living in a rural areawith limited access to specialized care?
It could be a limited numberof medical specialists.
For some, clinical trials may be theonly access to care that they have.
But clinical trials are oftenhosted at large academic
centers, often in big cities.
It could be technology.
If they don't have stable wifi, then eventelehealth options may not be possible.
(03:29):
It may even be that there aren'tas many retail pharmacies which
carry the medicines that they need.
Awareness could be an obstaclebecause there may not be as much
opportunity to expand knowledge.
This could be because nonprofitorganizations don't have a presence.
Educational campaigns may not reach them.
Major events like health fairs arenot likely to be organized there.
(03:52):
Now Sri, I'm just realizing it could bethat there's a lot of people listening
that don't know exactly what lupusis, or maybe they've heard of it, but
they're not really familiar with whyit's so difficult to diagnose or why it's
such a unique and burdensome disease.
Can you talk a little bit about that forpeople who may not be familiar with lupus?
I'm glad you asked the question.
Lupus is difficult to diagnose becausethis chronic disease exhibits a wide
(04:15):
variety of symptoms that resembleother diseases and other conditions.
It presents differentlyin different people.
It's an autoimmune disease, so your bodyis attacking itself and can cause damage
to cells, tissues, organs, or systems.
This also can happen at anytime, which is frightening.
(04:35):
The symptoms could be sporadic, or yearslater you may develop a new symptom.
According to the Lupus Foundationof America, the average time to
a lupus diagnosis is six years.
But for women of color, thattime can take much longer.
Think about that.
Yeah, in your story from Salathiel,it sounds like she was diagnosed
very quickly, but it was a verypainful process regardless.
(04:59):
Can you talk about maybe whatare some of the symptoms or
complications associated with lupusthat patients like Salathiel endure?
It is complex, Paul.
Patients cope with strokes, increasedrisks of heart attacks along with
fatigue, joint pain, chest pain,skin lesions, even memory loss.
(05:19):
One of your main points today wasthat the health system was not
serving Salathiel or people like her.
And you made a point of referringto her as, I'm not gonna call her a
patient, I'm gonna call her a person.
Can you maybe talk a little bit aboutthe, what are the issues and gaps in care
that would contribute to her strugglesor struggles of other lupus patients?
(05:39):
When we think of systemic issues,we think about policy that needs to
change and biased practice standardsthat lead to health disparities.
The result of this is people of colorhave a much longer window to diagnosis
and then suboptimal treatment.
We know the impact of this.
Black women with lupus, regrettably,die up to thirteen years earlier
(06:02):
than white women with lupus.
I don't think I heard that number earlier.
That is shocking.
It certainly is.
So what, from an action standpoint,as communicators, of course, we have
to draw awareness to these things.
It's also on us to try to spur action.
So what initiatives is GSKinvesting in to help address these
(06:23):
issues, address the prevention orcomplications of a disease like lupus?
As I said before and at my talk,we need to meet people where they
are so we can build connections.
We've teamed up with the NationalBasketball Retired Players
Association and the HoustonRockets for the last two seasons.
We knew we could get in front of a lotof people who may not normally attend
(06:45):
a health fair by doing this, and wecould give them information about
lupus, talk to them about the risks,the symptoms, even the challenges.
We heard from three people who wentto their doctors right after these
events and were diagnosed with lupus.
And this may sound like a small number,but in the scheme of the disease
and the number of people who get thedisease, it's pretty significant.
(07:06):
And so we know that themessage is resonating.
That's great.
I mean, that's a real exampleof improving public health.
What about access to quality care,especially in these rural areas?
Are there things you're doing at GSK tohelp increase access to quality care?
Or maybe in some ways improvethe negative social determinants
(07:27):
of health, which is another bigtheme in your conversation today?
Yeah.
I did talk about access andabout addressing negative social
determinants of health and alsoabout reducing systemic barriers.
We are pushing to expand thecapabilities of staff like nurses,
pharmacists, and social workersbecause they're accessible to more than
(07:47):
doctors, to more people than doctors.
Some may not know, but in thehealthcare system, the social worker's
whole job is to remove barriersto wellness and barriers to care.
We're also leveraging datato identify areas with
concentrated health disparities.
This gives us an opportunityto have meaningful impact.
And you also, you talked abouta three pillar approach at GSK.
(08:10):
Can you talk about the threepillar approach and your efforts
to reduce systemic barriers?
Absolutely.
Some of the barriers have beenaround for decades, so we know we
needed this multi-pronged approachto focus on the root causes.
Our first pillar is addressing thenegative social determinants of health.
We want to look at the differentfactors that can prevent someone
(08:31):
from getting medical care.
Is it transportation?
Is it access to doctors, limited diseaseawareness, not understanding the risks?
The second pillar isaccess to quality care.
Is a person able to get to ahealthcare professional, and
how knowledgeable is that HCP?
We have a team working with HCPsto close knowledge gaps in disease
(08:52):
states or cultural competencies.
Our third pillar is addressing systemicbarriers such as racism or discrimination.
Is the person facing abias in their treatment?
Thank you for walking through that.
I know this next question is kind ofloaded but in your view, how can our
listeners support health equity andhelp contribute to this vision of
(09:15):
a more equitable healthcare system?
It's a great question, Paul.
I would say be open to conversations.
It's all about learningand it's about listening.
One of our efforts involved hostingan innovation challenge at a
Hispanic Serving Institution or HSI.
The students at Florida InternationalUniversity learned about vaccinations
and then gave a presentation onhow to educate their communities.
(09:39):
What we saw was many of thestudents learned about the power
of prevention for the first time.
They then went and spoke totheir families as part of their
research, and those conversationsopened up even more conversations.
That's what we wanna see.
So Sri, first of all, this has been great.
I really appreciate you laying thisout for our listeners, folks who
(09:59):
weren't able to be here, what wasa tremendous conference, and you
being the keynote presentation.
I'm gonna wrap with two questions, okay?
So the first is we're gonna askbig picture in just a second.
If you're gonna give your past selfsome advice, what would that advice be?
But first, let's wrap up our keynote here.
So what do you think is either themost important takeaway, or just the
(10:19):
thing that if someone was gonna takeaway one point that you would want
to emphasize what would that be?
I think, as I mentioned during my keynote,people can't be what they can't see.
And therefore, it's so important thatif you want to effectuate change in
the community and make health equityreal and relevant and impactful,
(10:40):
you have to go into the communityand meet people where they are.
I think that's so critical.
I think also from what you sawtoday, not just in my speech, but
also the panel discussion, I thinkit takes a village to do this.
No one can solve the problemsof health equity on their own.
I think it's really important forus to collaborate, to ideate, to
(11:01):
try new things, and yeah, we'renot always gonna get it right.
We may fail sometimes.
But what do we learn from thosefailings and those failures that we
can apply toward a more equitableworld where everyone can thrive?
I think that's all really powerful andthat you can't be what you can't see.
Just it touches on so many levels.
This idea of going into thecommunities, it's really important
(11:23):
as a takeaway as more and more andmore of our work becomes digitized.
And we live primarily in ourindustry, in urban centers.
We start to look at theworld through a screen.
Yes.
Correct.
What you're saying isyou gotta see the people.
And see them in their environment.
Exactly.
I think that's just areally powerful reminder.
(11:44):
So thank you.
And now, alright, so the doozy.
We're getting away from keynote now.
[Sri chuckling] But as I'd mentioned,walking through your introduction.
You obviously have had avery successful career.
You're in a position of greatinfluence within our industry.
A lot of people listening wouldprobably aspire to a career like yours.
So, if you were gonna give your past selfone piece of advice, what would you say?
(12:09):
When I think about the most importantrole that, or advice I can give perhaps
to people based on my own past, Iwould say it reminds me of the quote
from Goethe who said, "we must alwayschange, renew, and rejuvenate ourselves.
Otherwise we harden."
It's important in an industrylike ours, frankly in life, change
(12:33):
is an inevitable part of life.
And I once saw a very impactfuland strong piece of writing that
said, "We believe in change, butnot in changing what we believe."
And the reason why that is so importantto me, and if I could perhaps go back
to my younger self or my past self,why those words are so important is
(12:57):
because when you realize that changeis an inevitable part of life, but that
you are uncompromising in your values,then you're able to drive real change.
I look at it even throughthe health equity lens.
I don't, in fact, think that it isdifferent from everyday life in the
sense that we are at an inflection pointin healthcare and other things where we
(13:20):
know that we can't leave people behind.
The risk of doing that, theopportunity cost of doing that is high.
So the industry's gonna constantly change.
Medicines are gonna change.
Innovations are gonna change.
New things will come into the market.
Other things will go.
The question is how do you ridethat wave of change without
(13:41):
compromising your values?
Well, and that, especially ata time of tremendous change.
Correct.
Which I would argue, throughoutmy whole career people have talked
about every year is a time of change.
But not like this.
Exactly.
After the pandemic, with all ofthe social change going on, the
technological change, this is reallygood advice, remaining centered.
(14:02):
But not getting stuck.
Correct.
Right, that idea of not hardening.
Well, said.
That's really, really great.
So, thank you, Sri, for sharingSalathiel's story and for some of
your own story, and also just forthe vital work that you're leading at
GSK to address some of these issues.
It's been a great conversation.
It was very well received today.
And I know that our listenersare gonna be thrilled to hear it.
(14:23):
So thank you.
And for our listeners, thank youfor tuning in to this episode
of Frictionless Marketing.
Remember, as Sri has reminded us all,we all have a role to play in creating
more equitable healthcare system.
So until next time, stay engaged,listening, open, changing but not
hardening, and be back with you soon.
Thanks Sri.
Thank you, Paul.
(14:44):
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for listening to this episodeof the Frictionless Marketing Podcast.
For a complete transcript of thisconversation or more information on
/prompt, please visit us at meetprompt.co.
If you found this episodeinsightful, share it with
your connections on LinkedIn.
To learn more about how to makemarketing frictionless, purchase Friction
(15:04):
Fatigue by /prompt CEO Paul Dyer,online and at booksellers worldwide.
Frictionless Marketing is aproduction from /prompt, the
leading earned first creativemarketing and communications agency.
Grounded in the present,yet attuned to the future.
Produced and distributed bySimpler Media Productions.
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