An Ode To Sidney: Get Lost!
3 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 18th, 2007 // 8:30 am
Is it time for the Lilly ceo to go?
That’s the question being asked in yet another poll on Cafe Pharma, the ribald home to overheated sales reps. Given the uneventful stock price, the big salary he gets while whacking jobs, and the embarassing Zyprexa scandal, someone apparently thinks that tossing Taurel may be a good idea.
The voting is early, but a clear majority agrees:
15 of the 16 respondents, or 93 percent, are unequivocal - Yes, Sid should go.
A few caveats, though. First, as noted, the voting has just begun and there’s no clear indication when the polls close. So the results could change. Two, anyone can vote; you don’t have to be a Lilly sales rep - or any kind of sales rep - to hate Taurel, or love him, for that matter. Lilly public relations may instruct employees to visit the site and vote repeatedly in his favor.
Nonetheless, Sid is taking a beating in the early going. He needs to do something - and do it quickly - to improve his image with the detailers. Maybe he should give them better cars or require they organize fewer speaking events for docs with their hands out. Or maybe take a pay cut. Anything is better than being vilified on Cafe Pharma.
Here’s the link.[tags]Cafe Pharma, Eli Lilly, Sales Reps, Sidney Taurel[/tags]
Kevin
Greetings Ed. Your site and the witty commentary are both informative and enjoyable but I do have a concern regarding the validity of one of your sources. I have noticed your reliance on CafePharma as a valid journalistic source seems to be increasing recently. I would ask that you take a serious look at this practice as it dramatically reduces your credibility with the pharma industry. CafePharma, as an anonymous posting site, provides absolutely zero statistically significant polling data that you source to incriminate the Lilly CEO. Furthermore, it is widely understood in my industry that posters on that site are underachiever complainers hailing from the bottom 25% slacker group. You might as well source the National Inquirer or similar.
I hope this helps as I do enjoy your take on pharma events.
Kevin
Kevin
Greetings Ed. Your site and the witty commentary are both informative and enjoyable but I do have a concern regarding the validity of one of your sources. I have noticed your reliance on CafePharma as a valid journalistic source seems to be increasing recently. I would ask that you take a serious look at this practice as it dramatically reduces your credibility with the pharma industry. CafePharma, as an anonymous posting site, provides absolutely zero statistically significant polling data that you source to incriminate the Lilly CEO. Furthermore, it is widely understood in my industry that posters on that site are underachiever complainers hailing from the bottom 25% slacker group. You might as well source the National Inquirer or similar.
I hope this helps as I do enjoy your take on pharma events.
Kevin
ed
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for writing. And thanks for your thoughts.
I understand your concerns. In this case, I tried - as I have before, actually, when citing Cafe Pharma polls - to point out the weaknesses.
These include your point that the polls aren’t scientific - anyone is free to vote, including people who aren’t Lilly reps, any kind of rep or even in the industry; and often the numbers are small to modest, anyway.
In this Lilly post, I did try to be specific about the shortcomings. Perhaps I should have been even more specific.
However, I wasn’t trying to ”incriminate” Taurel. I would have done the exact same thing if the results were the opposite. Whether that’s likely to occur is another matter. But I’m simply looking for interesting temperature readings, as I call these things.
I understand your point, however, which is that some of these polls may be worth passing on. I actually do pass on some of the Cafe Pharma polls for the reasons already stated. Some ask uninteresting or ridiculous questions.
However, I would disagree that I’ve relied on CafePharma a great deal. I’ve referred to polls on that site a total of 7 times since launching Pharmalot four months ago. It so happens that I cited polls twice this past week. In percentage terms, that’s a big jump. But overall, I actually don’t think I’ve overdone it. Still, I appreciate your point.
One final thing - I do understand how CafePhama is viewed. Any such site filled with anonymous ramblings, and worse, is going to lack a degree of credibility. But there is info that is credible. I’ve gleaned quite a bit reading threads, sometimes leading to good items (although this requres some old-fashioned reporting to ensure accuracy or flesh out details).
Nonetheless, most of the industry people I know do peak at the site for the same reasons that I do - it’s a source of entertainment and can also be educating, if one is a discerning reader and has a lot of patience.
Bottom line - I appreciate that you thought enough of Pharmalot to take the time to offer a word of caution. I will keep this in mind going forward. And maybe you’ll respond to Pharmalot polls, which I hope to run from time to time in the near future.
All best
ed