Suzanne Jacobs, Group President, Medical Communication, Real Chemistry on Concierge Service at Scale, what ‘Future Ready’ Looks Like, and the Power of a Plan

So I'm Suzanne Jacobs. I'm the group president over medical division at Real Chemistry.

Suzanne, thank you for joining me.

Oh, it's lovely to be here. Thank you, Neil.

I feel like this is the moment at the wedding where somebody thanks the people who've come from the farthest away because you are joining us today from Germany, which may be, I need to check the geography, maybe the most distant guest uh we've had. So thank you for taking the time. Thank you for taking the time out of your afternoon today. I really appreciate it.

Oh no, I'm in uh Berlin for uh a medical conference uh this week. And uh yeah, it's it's what I do. It's thrilling to be here. But Neil, I'm delighted to take some time out and talk to you this week.

Amazing. So I have I have so many questions for you. You've had such an interesting career journey. Like we could just have a conversation about exits and acquisitions. You sit at such an interesting point, and your role has such an interesting vantage point. I think like at this time in pharma marketing and comms, I'm so interested to hear about what you think is coming down the pipe. But let's let's first just kind of situate ourselves in uh real chemistry. I know everybody should know everything about real chemistry, but I don't know if everybody does. So just kind of situate us in the real chemistry of today, like scope, scale, focus. And then I'm gonna kind of go backwards a little bit to talk about how we got to today. So give me a sense of what real chemistry is as we talk today.

So real chemistry really supports our pharmaceutical and our biotech clients. And I think what makes real chemistry a little bit different is that we, you know, we do offer that breadth of um services for our clients. So from our communications to our advertising to our medical group. Um, but really what sets us apart a little bit is our breadth of data analytics and now our AI capabilities as well. So I think what we as an organization have been doing, you know, really over the last uh decade is ensuring that we're always like future ready. So ensuring that we have the right data, ensuring that we have the right tech, ensuring now that we have the you know strong AI capabilities, but always working in healthcare. So that's all we do, that's all we know. Um, you know, we wake up every day and we think about you know, how can we add value into the healthcare ecosystem?

And how how many people and geographically generally focused? I think you guys are sort of a little bit of everywhere, but but give me a sense of uh scope and scale.

Yeah, so we're um about two and a half thousand uh individuals. Um, and we are uh predominantly based uh in the US and uh in Europe. Um we are expanding uh rapidly. So another reason for me being in Germany is that we're looking at our uh German expansion or Swiss expansion, and really I think healthcare is having a moment uh at just now that we need to think globally. We need to think about how we can serve patients and physicians and organizations, not just within the you know, the larger markets. Um so for us, that's um, you know, that's a strategy for us in the future is you know, how does real chemistry really support our clients across all major, all major geographies?

Some of the ways that real chemistry has grown, I know you and I in our last conversation had a really interesting conversation about organic growth, which I kind of want to touch on a little bit, but let's go back and talk about kind of how you got to be where you are, because that also involves an acquisition. You sold your firm to it wasn't called real chemistry at the time, to WTO in 2019, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe give me a sense of of what that was like. You were you guys were only four years in, right, when you sold?

Yeah. So um, Neil, really my uh career history uh started off in in pharmaceuticals and I was there for you know the best part of 14, 15 years. And I made a decision after uh having my daughter that I wanted to take my career in a slightly different direction. Um, the things that I loved were always my agency days. I I loved being uh really in the heart of everything that was going on, you know, meeting physicians, producing the work. Um, and I got a huge amount of excitement from that. So I transferred um from pharma into agency, and then I quickly uh realized that I wanted to set up my own company. So I set up my uh own company with two amazing individuals that we are still partners and and good friends today. And at that point, everybody asked us, like, you know, there's lots of medical communications companies. How are you going to be different? How are you gonna be successful? Are you sure you know what you're doing? Um, you know, leaving a you know a well-paid job. And um, you know, we we took the risk and it was the best thing that I have ever done. We were small and agile. We said yes, we worked it out. Um, you know, we provided what I think at that point was just uh, you know, a very strong concierge client service uh to the you know the companies that we were working with. And so we grew rapidly within uh it was a three-year period. Um and then actually at that point uh we were starting to do a sort of combined project with real chemistry. And so it was just a really kind of a smooth uh acquisition, um, you know, from us having our three-year journey together as ISO Health, and then and joining that larger group, Real Chemistry. Um, that was the the point where obviously as an organization, we were gonna have to go through major investment, you know, investing in back office support, investing in more data that we could purchase, et cetera. And I wanted to ensure that we could offer our clients everything. You know, I wanted to be um able to have like very strong creative, very strong insights and analytics. And real chemistry was just the perfect partner for us. So um, yeah, it was a it was a very, very smooth transition.

So it wasn't necessarily that you took ISO to market, it was more, hey, we're working really well with these with these folks. They're thinking about growth through acquisition. This kind of feels like a natural fit.

Yeah. So I I work on quite a lot of um uh ME opportunities now in my leadership role in in real chemistry. And we talked to a lot of companies, and they inevitably always want to go through a process. They always want to go through a process with uh bankers and you know, go out to market and have lots of people pitch. Um, I think I was just really fortunate that I, you know, I found the right partner myself. Um I didn't, we didn't go through that that process, which takes time, it costs money to do that. And so I think, you know, one of my thing uh pieces of advice really for startup companies is try and work out early on who you think your perfect partner is going to be. And um, I think just trust yourself, you know, there's there's lots of um, you know, people in the middle giving advice, uh, will have opinions, will try to, you know, obviously put up the price, etc. But I think and take a piece of the pie. Um, which is, you know, everyone's everyone's got their their place and their job and you know, give great advice. But I think it's it's about chemistry, you know, it's it's about getting the right culture and the right people and the right leaders. And I was just really impressed with the leaders at this company and um wanted to be a to be a part of it.

I find it so curious how you said that I made the change after I had my daughter, because I think typically or stereotypically, being an entrepreneur is a kind of a 24-7 job uh in a way that isn't necessarily the same if you are working for a company. So often people, when they have their kid or their first kid, or they they they want to sort of go into a slightly safer space that's maybe got a bit more of a boundary to it. I find it interesting that you're like, okay, now's the time that I'm gonna go uh and really lean into starting up my own business. But obviously it worked out.

Yeah, I um I talk to many women who who have that same feeling. Um it's almost like a feeling when you you have a child that you're you're suddenly a responsible adult. And you want your children to be proud of you and you, you know, you want to achieve even more for them. And you you want to um you know set quite high standards for them as well. Um, so I think, you know, my um, you know, my kids have seen, you know, both our parents like having a very strong work ethic. Um, but we also love what we do. And I think, you know, that passion comes across. So, you know, our children are excited um, you know, to know what we're doing, where we're going, where we're traveling to. And um, you know, I I think that's that's being that good role model is is rubbing off on them as well.

I think that there's something about being an entrepreneur where, and now you in in the in the scope of the leadership role that you have, where it is part of you in a way that I think is different potentially from having a a job in kind of a more traditional sense.

Yeah, I think there's um there's a sense of freedom, uh, you know, being the entrepreneur, running your own business. Um, and I think one of the things about this company, it's really nice is we still have that entrepreneurial spirit. So, you know, I'm obviously now an employee within the organization, but that spirit remains. And, you know, I will tell all of my team members, like, you know, you're the CEO of this business, you're the CEO of the account that you're running, you know, so run it like it's your own business. Um, and I think I think that's that really makes a difference. It really resonates with people if you give them that ownership and freedom and the accountability just to do a nice job, um, you know, for them as well as their clients, uh, you know, and something that they can be proud of as well about building a business and growing, you know, growing uh an account with a client.

When you were talking about starting your business, you know, you had said uh folks were asking you, what are you going to do that's different? And what space are you gonna carve out in the market? And the word that jumped out at me that I wrote down was concierge. And there's there's a sense, I think sometimes there's like product and service a little bit. And I think that sometimes people think about differentiation solely on the product standpoint. You know, what is it that your firm offers that is sort of materially different than the competition, such that someone's gonna go choose, you know, we have a bigger data analytics team or we've got some sort of special capabilities, right? But then there's also the service part. It's like the way that you service clients and turn them into advocates and fans. And obviously a company that can do both of those things is fantastic. But often when you're just starting out, it's it's really a lot about service. It's a lot about that concierge kind of approach that has a brand manager grabbing a coffee, you know, in the lunchroom, saying, Oh my God, I love working with Suzanne and her team, and the other brand manager saying, Well, that's I don't really love my agency, like let's go chat with them. Like there's a virality, I think, to that. How do you do that at scale? Like this is one of the things that we chatted about when we were talking about last, which is a sort of organic growth and client service and instilling that concierge mentality, I think, into like a really large global team that you're responsible for. And I think that sometimes as organizations get bigger, the conciergeness is antithetical to uh, you know, repeatable processes and methodologies and et cetera, et cetera. How do you how do you marry those two up? I know that's like a really long question, but how do you my simple question is how do you marry up the the scrappiness of a small shop with the scale of of real chemistry today?

Yeah, it's I mean it's really interesting. I think it it really has to be a a culture, doesn't it? It has to be a philosophy, a culture throughout the organization. Um you have to love what you're doing. You have to want to ensure that your your clients um look good, you know, that the you deliver well for them. So that, you know, we're in a very, very privileged position that we are working with some amazing leaders within biotech and pharma who are, you know, delivering practice-changing medicines or technologies for patients. So, you know, what's not to like this is an absolutely wonderful profession that we work in. And although we're not, I don't think, always directly, you know, got that patient contact, we indirectly have it via our clients or our healthcare professionals that we're working with. And I think one of the things that, you know, when I was um, you know, within Pharma, I always thought, can I trust this agency with my physician? Like if I'm not available on a call, could I trust this agency with this physician to run a briefing call, to meet them? And and I think that's that's the key. Um, you know, I know I'm like, I know my team are trusted, you know, with that VIP uh physician. You know, these physicians to us are like rock stars, you know, we're by this conference and the world leaders uh, you know, within space are surrounded by us, and it's a it's a privilege. So I think um that concierge and that little bit extra um is just is is so valuable. Um and I think that has to be a culture, it has to be almost like trained organically. Um I'm a massive fan of hiring uh graduates, you know, bringing graduates into the industry, bringing them to conferences, like investing in them quite early on so that they can see and they can learn. Um, you know, and I it's not about being at a desk. You can't train this in, you know, through training modules. You have to be out in the fields and watching and admiring people and and and seeing how they do it.

I used to say, you know, I think that really, really good client service people, you know, have something in them that just they just like at a DNA level need to please their clients, right? Like their clients being somewhat dissatisfied is like troubling to them at a at a core core level. And that's not something that you can teach.

Yeah. And I think everybody's different. So you have to, the skill I think is working out, you know, what team members are best with what organization. Totally. Best with what clients. Like, you know, some clients just like, you know, obviously just want big picture thinking, whereas others need the detail, you know. So if you turn out with no detail, that isn't gonna work. So yeah, that's where um, you know, I have to rely on my my leaders and our you know, our great accounts teams and strategists to to get that little bit of magic right and to plan the right team.

You you mentioned the younger generation. The thing that that jumped out at me from one of our earlier conversations was, you know, you had you had mentioned that a lot of the people that you hire or a subset of the people that you hire kind of didn't even really know that like medcoms was a was a career option. Like, you know, they love science, but they don't want to sort of be at the bench. You know, how do you find those entry-level folks? And, you know, maybe for folks who are listening and thinking about kind of moving, what do you what do you look for or what does your team look for? I'm sure you're not doing first interviews anymore. What does your team look for when you're talking to somebody who doesn't necessarily have X number of years of practical experience of the role they're about to go into?

Yeah, I um well, we have quite a uh robust internship program. But, you know, I'm the type of person that says yes to anyone if someone shows some curiosity and wants to come in the company and see what we do. I'm like, yeah, sure, and you come, you know, come in. And so that sort of open door policy is quite nice. Um I think it's it's it's around finding, you know, these these graduates that are like, you know, are curious, who want to work in science, who want to be science communicators. But I always ask them, what are you passionate about in healthcare? Like tell me a healthcare story, tell me uh, you know, someone, you know, that has been affected by, you know, a condition, you know, has got a healthcare journey. Tell me about that. So I try to get people to open up about that first. And I think that really helps them understand like this is really important what we do. This is important work. And if you want to join this industry, you have to be really passionate about it. You know, you have to have that passion for um healthcare and making a difference and start to understand like the healthcare ecosystem as well. I mean, that is rapidly changing for us. And yes, you know, wow, I I love grads coming in because like they have been trained totally different from what I was as a scientist at uni. I mean, we hadn't mapped to the human genome when I was at university, and you know, and these um smart individuals now are, you know, looking at AI and mathematics and biology and uh you know computing science, and they are they've got this whole mix of everything that they're they're doing within their science degrees now. So I, you know, they're infinitely, I think, smarter than um, you know, what what I was coming out of university?

You know, you have a really, really interesting perspective in terms of the rooms that you're in, the tables that you're at, the very large team that you run, the geographies that you're responsible for. What problems do you feel, you know, maybe real chemistry is is solving for clients right now? Or what problems are clients coming to you with to be solved as we sit here in the kind of End of 2025 and as healthcare is having sort of a global moment. What is near to the top of the list, do you feel?

Yeah, that's a huge question, isn't it? So thanks for that, one nail. Yeah, no problem at all. Yeah, I mean, so let's do some of the the basics uh first of all, um, before we kind of more go into the uh the bigger picture questions. So I think, you know, uh, you know, faster, smarter, more accurate, cheaper, you know. So, you know, there's there's a limited resource. Um, you know, and quite rightly our clients want to be spending their dollars in trials and, you know, developing, drug developing. I mean, that's you know, that's a costly process, as we know. So really, you know, how can they make other aspects uh of their organizations just more efficient? So I think for us, you know, that's what we're all working through right now is how can we make things um you know more cost effective, but keep that high scientific uh rigor uh for our clients. So, you know, that's one thing um that clients are are are talking to us about. Um, but I guess more of the, you know, the the bigger picture thinking is that, you know, global reach. You know, how can we ensure that we have uh you know healthcare across across the world? You know, how can we ensure that we have that education uh you know for physicians um in countries that don't you know have the same, you know, the same access um, you know, to the conferences that we are, you know, we're at today. Um how do we solve the you know increasing sort of diversity uh issues that we have as well? You know, our you know, our physicians are they've got so much technology now. We are we're bringing a wealth of drugs to them every single year, every conference, you know, from cardiology to metabolic to rare diseases to oncology, neuroscience, and you know, just think the amount of data that's coming out every year. And, you know, for a lot of our say community physicians to try to assimilate all of that data and then to act on it, and then to have time in the clinic with a patient with all of that data. I mean, this is the biggest thing we have to, we have to solve. You know, we have to really support our physicians with understanding, you know, right patient, right drug, right time, but allowing our physicians to have time to have a conversation with their patients and to listen. Because as we know, like, you know, this is very, very multifactorial. You might come in with one condition, but you know, there's there's something else underlying as well. Um, you know, mental health surrounding a lot of the conditions that we have. So, you know, I think I think that's a massive area for us all to problem solve together, um, you know, and and see how we can give our our physicians back that time to treat more patients more effectively.

When you look forward, what are what are some of the challenges that you're trying to currently kind of uh future-ready uh the business for?

I mean, I think it's uh creatively being able to stand out, isn't it? You know, to get across um information in a way that uh resonates, that is memorable. Yeah, you know, we've been we've been doing that for decades, but even more so now because we've got so much information um and our attention spans are so so limited. Um but we we also want to use the channels where you know our physicians are, you know, where they're at in their personal life, how can we, you know, use those opportunities as well. So, you know, I do think um, you know, some of the regulations and things need to change so that we, you know, we can give out that right information in in different platforms, different channels of the future, because you know, not everyone wants to come home and then open up their laptop and do training modules and go on the pharma websites and you know, so it's it's directing directing people to the experts, you know, on demand when they do have that time. And I think that's why probably like you know, post-COVID, like congresses have had this massive resurgence of people wanting to come back together, you know, they want that time to network with their colleagues and have conversations because we're all online all the time. We're on our phones constantly, and actually being in a room filled with people with the same interests and conversations, I think is having that resurgence. So, you know, that that face-to-face time, that personal touch is um, you know, is important, I think, right now in this very, very highly digitalized world that we're in.

You earlier in this conversation mentioned sort of you wanted people uh, you know, who sort of wake up every day thinking about this, you want the agency to wake up every day thinking about this. I am fairly certain that you probably also wake up every day thinking about this. What tools do you have to help you assimilate all the information that you've coming that you've got coming at you? Uh, you know, manage your time as you sit in this position. I have to imagine that your day looks in some ways similar, probably, but in a lot of ways very, very different than it did, you know, five years ago when you completed the first acquisition. How's that transition from kind of entrepreneur to leader of a very, very large team? Have there been discrete horizons? Has it been a slow kind of change? Like what's what's that been like? And then how do you like how do you manage it all?

Yeah, so I I definitely wake up thinking about my job. I think I sleep thinking about my job as as well. Um, but it also I don't I don't want all my team members to do that either. So, you know, I want them to have that balance. So, you know, in some ways you have to show that as well. You have to try and and strike that balance yourself. Um you know, I think for for any leader, there is there is so much to do. You have your performance of your organization. Um you have to think about your your clients and your your purpose, you know, how good is the work that you're producing? Is the work you're doing having an impact and having value? Um and are your people okay? Are your people happy? Are they enjoying what they're doing? Do you have strong career progression for them? You know, that mentorship that they've got, what do they think of you? Are you inspiring them as a leader? So almost like all the categories, you know, sort of float about in your little mind palace, I would say, all the time. Um I mean, I think for any new leader, there's a little bit of, you know, imposter syndrome. Can I do this? Um, you know, have I taken, you know, more than I can I can handle. Um, so I always I told myself, and I I tell everybody is give yourself six months. Give yourself six months in a new role. And within that six months, there's probably three key things that you have to do. Um, you have to listen, you have to talk to people, and you have to really listen uh to what's what's going on. So staffing-wise, clients, you know, what are the problems that you're trying to solve? And then I absolutely love a plan. I love writing things down, you know, and and and pulling it, pulling a proper plan together, a strategic plan, you know, that uh age old expression of hope is not hope is not a strategy. Um so I I I love a strategic plan. And then ask for feedback, you know, ask people like, how am I doing? How are they doing? Um, you know, we regularly uh ask clients for feedback and it's it's great, you know. Sometimes it's all swimmingly, it's going well, and then other times you'll you'll you know, they'll they'll give you feedback that it's here's something to work on, and that's great. So I think just that regular cycle of listening, planning, getting feedback um is is probably really helpful. Um and having having a moment to recharge a little bit as well. So, you know, if you recharge and then you can come back and you can have that big picture view again, um, you know, in a day, I must make hundreds and hundreds of decisions, like small decisions, sometimes big decisions. But then occasionally, if I just step away and I think, what am I missing? Like, what are the big decisions that I'm not thinking about that are going to lead to stepwise change and just give myself a moment to think and you know, reflect on those bigger decisions that I'm not making, because I'm making a hundred small decisions every day. Um, and I I feel like I'm probably going through a period of that now, just as the industry is changing and evolving. Um, you know, I'm having to think, okay, what what are we missing? What do we need to do to get, you know, ready for the future, for the client of the future, for the patient of the future. Um so that that that's an important, I think, reflection point that I'm currently currently going through.

I I know it's gonna sound very obvious, but I I do think that thinking is sometimes quite an underrated quality in a leader. I think, especially folks who are new into leadership positions, there's this sense of it's gotta all be action, action, action, and giving yourself or forcing yourself or creating a structure whereby you have some space to kind of metabolize all the stuff that's going on and let your mind wander a little bit and have ideas that might not otherwise enter, have a moment to uh reflect not on what's just what's upcoming, but also sort of what have you done, how have you shown up, what decisions have you made. Like I think that is so uh incredibly uh important. I mean, it's one of the reasons that as much as I obviously despise air travel, I feel like sometimes you know you're on you're on a plane or you're in a different situation. I try not to go on Wi-Fi on the plane, and it's just it's even a couple of hours where uh you're looking out the window and and stuff comes to you. And and I think that the that's incredibly, incredibly important. I I love listen, listen, plan, and and and get feedback is a that's a pretty solid list. I we just we just had a Salesforce effectiveness event um farmer brand supposed to have one a little while ago, and someone was talking about a large pharma company here in Canada, a new leader came in and after sort of three months put out a call for some feedback and forced the people that were giving the feedback to give at least two pieces of constructive criticism because often feedback to the person that's very much at the top of the uh of the org chart tends to be a bit soft around the edges. And I just I thought that was a really interesting way to show up and be like, I am curious about not just what you feel I'm doing well, but also where you think I could improve a little bit.

Yeah, it's it's just being open, isn't it? Open to to changing. Um is like uh I can't remember the you know the name of that TV show where the you know the CEO goes back to the the ground level and you know pretends he's like you know one of the team or something like that. And yeah, they always come away with improvements and changes. So it's sort of being in the business, I think, is is really important as well. Like, you know, not being a leader that's um, you know, in an ivory tower in a boardroom, um, you know, make sure that you're actually in the business, problem solving, um, you know, for for everyone really, and and then, you know, coming back out of that again and and hiring the right people, you know. I I I sort of mentioned early on, it's like, you know, people that are passionate, that want to be in the the industry. I mean, it's lots of different industries for everybody to work in, you know, pick one that you're passionate about, you know. And um, yeah, we all we all have moments that, you know, it's it's difficult or it's intense and you're not quite sure. But I think it's, you know, you've you've got to stay in something that you're you're you're truly passionate about and you feel that you're you're you're making a difference.

What are you what are you most excited about right now as you as you sort of uh you know think about work as you go to bed and think about working when you wake up? What is what is the thing that's got you charged up as we sit here at kind of near the end of 2025? Um yeah, what's the thing that's got it you most excited about?

I think it's it's gotta be AI um right now, really, that's uh first and you know forefront of uh our minds and our our thinking. Um why I'm excited about you know having this whole emergence of new technologies is that we you know we don't yet know what's fully coming. We don't yet know like the full capabilities. Um, you know, we're we're experimenting, we're building, we're utilizing all the tools. But you know, if we truly think of what the real intentions for AI is to give us that time to think, to give us that time to be strategists, to think a little bit differently, to ensure that there is access to um education and medicines at the touch of a button, you know, for people globally throughout throughout the world, you know, countries that they um you know they don't they don't have the same luxuries as as we have. So, you know, I think it's how can we use this wave of new technologies just to improve improve our lives, improve healthcare, um, and being a part of that, like what's happening right now, and it's you know, I'm so glad I'm not missing it. Um but I'm I'm also really pleased that I have a lot of Gen Z in my organization that can really help me with it as well. And um, you know, it's it's a it's a it's a real privilege privilege right now, you know, to have uh, you know, these wonderful uh young individuals that it's just so automatic uh for them. And um, you know, it it's great. It um, you know, it keeps us all already young, um, you know, and on top of technology as well.

That's that's that's fantastic. Suzanne, I I I so appreciate the conversation and your passion and candor and um uh and insight. Um, I really loved uh today. Thank you.

Thank you, Neil. It's been a real pleasure. Thanks for inviting me.