Jun5

Falling Into Planning and Landing in Medical School

Posted by Kareem Royes from Ogilvy Healthworld - New York, North America

By Kareem Royes from Ogilvy Healthworld - New York, North America | Published: June 5, 2013

Would you ever think that a career in planning could end with medical school? Well now you know it can!Doctors_thumbnail

I started working at Ogilvy Heatlhworld as a Science and Research Specialist within the Planning Department approximately four and a half years ago, right after completing my Masters of Public Health degree from Columbia University. One quick email of my resume to a craigslist post, and two weeks later I was working at Ogilvy Heatlhworld.

At the time, I worked with two other research specialists, one a scientist and the other a medical doctor. Our main function was to work with the planners who worked on healthcare accounts to provide scientific and strategic guidance that helped our clients achieve their business goals.

Over the four and a half years, it has been a very rewarding experience. I have worked on accounts across several therapeutic categories, including:

  • Depression
  • AD/HD
  • Gastroesophageal reflux disease
  • Postmenopausal osteoporosis
  • Menopause
  • Nosocomial pneumonia
  • Complicated skin and soft tissue infections
  • Transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy
  • Prostate cancer
  • Immuno-oncology
  • Chronic myeloid leukemia

One of the remarkable aspects of my trajectory at Ogilvy Heatlhworld was that I stumbled into advertising and planning as a career. However, over the past four and a half years I was able to learn about how to gather insights and translate them into best-in-class marketing strategy that has successfully created excellent creative that has transformed our clients’ business. One of the biggest challenges I had as a planner was taking the science and transforming it into something conceptual that helped the creatives develop campaigns across these therapeutic areas. Ultimately I have decided that, like fine wine, planning is just something you get better at with time. Today I can now say I see science differently.

My career plans were to eventually matriculate into medical school. It is with great pleasure, but sadness at the same time, that I share that I will be leaving Ogilvy Heatlhworld this year to attend medical school. My years of listening to patients in market research will definitely help me to be a much keener physician who will take a more holistic approach to treating my patients. But in retrospect, as I look back at my time at Ogilvy Heatlhworld, my experience as a science and research specialist has definitely equipped me with the right skills to become a key opinion leader (KOL) in the future. Outside of the obvious—that is, learning and understanding scientific content at record-breaking speed and simplifying it to a third-grade level—I am now able to:

  • Relearn how to pull an all-nighter to get the job done
  • Critically review fair balance for potential adverse events
  • Think of objections to challenge sales rep when they attempt to detail me about a product
  • To say declaratively…I know Ogilvy Heatlhworld did not produce that creative

Finally, without my experience as a planner, I would not have received my acceptance to medical school. It certainly provided me with great conversation points to discuss during my medical school interviews, which ultimately made my interviews stand out amongst other candidates. For that, I am grateful to Ogilvy Heatlhworld.

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Apr2

The True Life of an Ogilvy Healthworld Fellow

Posted by Claire Lormor from Ogilvy HealthPR - London, UK

By Claire Lormor from Ogilvy HealthPR - London, UK | Published: April 2, 2013

beautiful view of big ben, london

The Fellowship Scheme at Ogilvy Healthworld in London is one of the most comprehensive in the field. Fellows spend two years rotating through core disciplines of Advertising, Market Access, Medical Education, PR, Digital and Strategy/Planning. The scheme involves a combination of training, coaching, assignments and project work. Claire Lormor, who started in September 2012, reveals what it is really like. 

 The selection process

Once I had submitted an essay, filled out a comprehensive questionnaire and got through two rounds of agonising interviews, you would have thought I gained myself a nice little place on the sofa of successful Ogilvy Healthworld fellows. No. It wasn’t until I got invited to an “assessment day” that I realised the real selection process had only just begun.

I arrived early on the assessment day, but I was still one of the last to arrive due to the number of keen beans who believe that you will automatically get a job if you arrive to an interview three hours early. After talking to the other potential fellows for about a minute, I realised that they all seemed to have spent the last two years in the industry or getting to know everything about the industry, whereas I had shamelessly spent the last two years travelling the world and doing ski seasons. My nerves were definitely getting the better of me. Luckily the pain au chocolat, Ogilvy branded M&Ms and the concept of a Friday drinks trolley were enough for me to calm down and remember why I really wanted this job.

The main focus of the day was our individual two-minute presentations, where we had to explain to the jury (board of directors) and the other fellows why an object of choice best described ourselves. Some were weird and some were wonderful. People described objects such as water bottles, eggs, books, spectacles and sailing masts. I still don’t know how Ogilvy analysed our presentations; maybe it was just for comedy value!

When the presentations, interviews, brainstorms and team exercises came to a close, we all went our separate ways and waited for the call. I am sure you are not on the edge of your seat wondering whether I got the job or not, but I would like to confirm that I did, and I am now an Ogilvy Healthworld fellow who thoroughly enjoys being lost in the world of health comms.

Moving to London

A great summer of relaxation before I start my fellowship: tick.

A car full of clothes ready to travel 300 miles to London: tick.

A house in London: oh no.

How can someone who knows London about as well as they know the North Pole decide where they want to live? You can’t just ask your friends or colleagues, because wherever they live is “definitely the best place to live.” You can’t ask your parents because they will say the safest place in London, which is guaranteed to be the dullest. You can’t couch-surf because everyone will judge you for being a 23-year-old young professional living on someone’s couch. And you can’t stay in a hotel because one night would cost a year’s wages (not quite).

After spending weeks wandering the streets of London and going to numerous restaurants and bars (it was awful), I decided on an area which I thought would be the best place for me to eat, drink, shop and sleep. It may sound like your idea of hell, but after a lot of strange phone calls and awkward viewings I am happy to say that I am the proud owner of a room in an eight-bed house in the centre of Clapham Junction with other 20-somethings who enjoy working during the week and partying on the weekend.

The other fellows

They say you can find everything on the Internet, but they also said that the world was going to end…weeks ago.

As soon as I found out I was going to be a fellow, I naturally went straight to Google/Facebook to see if I could identify who the other selected fellows were. Ogilvy managed to keep this information from us until our very first day of the fellowship. It was then that I was introduced to Emma (the spectacles girl), James (the sailing mast boy), Pippa (the hockey top girl), Houda (the framed letter girl), Sophie (the Rolling Stones record girl) and Izzy (the can of Foamburst girl).

Not a bad bunch to spend the next two years with!

My first rotation

The fellowship scheme is for people who know they want to be in health comms but are unsure of what area they want to go into. To cater to our indecisiveness, the fellows and I are placed in three of the five departments over the course of two years in the hope that we find our feet and decide what we want to do with our life along the way.

I was delighted when I was told that my first rotation would be in PR, but at the same time I had no idea what PR was. Five months down the line and to me PR means: general admin, media monitoring, budget tracking, long hours and plenty of meetings. However, it also means: working as a team, keeping up-to-date with the pharmaceutical industry, liaising with clients, organising events, communicating with medics around the world, and assisting in the launch of new healthcare products. It’s a hard knock life in PR, but in the world of healthcare comms hard work never goes unnoticed.

As a whole, my experience in Ogilvy Healthworld has been thoroughly enjoyable. If the interesting world of healthcare, a great group of people, a friendly atmosphere, and a cake for everyone’s  birthday isn’t a reason to get up in the morning, I don’t know what is. I am very much looking forward to my next 18 months as a fellow and I hope to experience more of what Ogilvy Healthworld and London have to offer!

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Feb22

Making Good Out of the Bad: Top Tips for Effective Crisis Management

Posted by Stephanie O'Hagan from OgilvyHealthPR - London, EMEA

By Stephanie O'Hagan from OgilvyHealthPR - London, EMEA | Published: February 22, 2013

CrisisObserving a team during times of crisis is sometimes like watching young children on a football field.  Everyone is so busy running after and tripping over the ball that they forget to keep to their positions.  One of the ways we help our clients overcome the overwhelming urge to deal with a crisis the way children play football is to participate in a crisis simulation workshop with a fictitious scenario to test if they would stay in position and deliver as a team.

No one wants to have to deal with a crisis in their daily work (or outside of work for that matter!) And the explosion of social media has made effective crisis management an even more real need. In the space of several minutes one remark, one photo, one hint of a hint of a juicy news story can reach millions and become a trending topic on the web.  As communications professionals, this is not something that should make us wobble in our shoes (indeed the rise of social media has made our industry all the more exciting and relevant) but it is something we need to ensure our clients are fully prepped to handle effectively.

However, when it comes to pharma companies—whose raison d’être is developing and marketing treatments that impact on lives—crises can pack a real PUNCH. The issues can become serious, emotive and heated. A crisis simulation helps test whether internal teams can handle the pressure of negative news stories, government investigations, stakeholder queries, media interviews and social media saturation.

By delivering these simulations and seeing clients in action, we have developed these top tips:

  1. 1.       Smaller groups work best in a crisis situation.

Too many opinions can make a complex situation more complex and can make decisions more difficult to reach. Agree on a core crisis team and ensure that each person is aware of his or her specific role.

  1. 2.       It is vital to appoint a leader early on and refer to the company crisis toolkit and literature.

With so many voices struggling to be heard, it is important to have one authoritative decision maker and leader. The leader should in turn remember to refer to company crisis procedures which are available to support them.

  1. 3.       Intra-disciplinary dialogue is vital, especially when working across different companies and groups.

One thing that is often forgotten during high-pressure environments is internal communication. However, being aligned and supporting each other is the key to effective crisis management.

  1. 4.       Make decisions—fast!

There is no time to lose during a crisis. Slow responses or lack of comment will be perceived negatively by stakeholders and the public.

  1. 5.       Prepare, prepare, prepare.

Ensure a clear crisis procedure is in place and that all parties are familiar with it.

  1. 6.       Social media is not “ignorable.”

Social media has the power to make a relatively contained crisis a global conversation within minutes. It is important that clients have a clear vision of how they will respond to this and that they act fast.

  1. 7.       Issues and crises can be an opportunity to reiterate positive company messages and turn the situation to a positive.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Effective crisis management can demonstrate commitment to transparency and patient safety. Clients should be prepared to take advantage of this.

  1. 8.       Have a glass of wine on standby for the end of the day.

Goes without saying!

 

 

 

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Feb13

Experience-by-Proxy as a Medical Decision Making Tool

Posted by Brad Davidson from OCH Behavioral Insights - NJ, North America

By Brad Davidson from OCH Behavioral Insights - NJ, North America | Published: February 13, 2013

computerNow that patient-centered decision making is becoming a reality, it begs the question: are we, as patients, really prepared to make life-or-death decisions on our own behalf?

The biggest problem I have making many of the decisions I am faced with in everyday life, not just in health, is that I simply don’t know enough about the options I’m choosing between. I am fully capable of ordering a cup of coffee—I’ve had lots of different kinds of coffee, and on any given day can be trusted to order myself a latte or a grande or whatever.

But if you ask me something I really don’t know much about, either experientially or theoretically, I’m going to be at sea, metaphorically speaking. To reuse an example I wrote about recently, when my builder asked me if I would prefer for him to install flexible tubing instead of traditional pipes for a new sink, I really didn’t have any idea, at all. He’s the expert, so I asked him what he would do. And he did what anyone might do in that situation—he told me what was good and bad about each, but made it clear that, really, flexible tubing was the bomb. You’d be an idiot not to go with flexible tubing.

And it turns out, he’s wrong. It works fine, but the water tastes like rubber, so you have to let the tap run for about 30 seconds before you fill up a cup of water. Not a huge deal, but what happened is, he gave me advice based on what would work best for him; it’s a lot easier and faster to install flexible tubing, so why not suggest it to me? I mean, he did give me the options, and he told me the truth about each in terms of cost, durability…but he never really told me what it would be like to actually live with a sink that produced water that had flowed through, or worse, sat in, flexible tubing. It was a decision he had to execute—it was a decision I have to live with. There’s a really, really big difference.

This lack of context when making decisions is one of the key problems facing patients who are now tasked with the emerging paradigm of patient-centered decision making, that is, the job of making their own health care decisions. Patients lack the experiential knowledge of what it might be like to live with option A versus option B. Doctors and other health care providers, who are much more familiar with the choices being faced, really never live with the consequences of these decisions, they merely execute or observe them. Just like a plumber, their choices are based on their own interpretation of what is best for the patient, which is probably in some measure based on what makes most sense for them, given that they have to carry out the technical aspects of the decision. This is why we are moving towards patient-centered decision making in the first place, so that the patient can make decisions based on what he or she believes will be best for him or her, given their values, their situation, etc. But if we give patients the kinds of information that doctors use to make decisions, or the kinds of information my plumber gave me about ratings, durability, costs, etc, we’re only helping patients understand the consequences of their decisions from the point of view of someone who doesn’t have to live with them—we’re still not helping them understand what it will be like to live with the consequences of different decisions.

A lot of very important medical decisions are made only once by any given individual, so whereas I might have another sink put in some day and be able to make a second decision differently based on the experiences of the first decision I made, sink-wise—in the medical context, you pick your option and you live with it. We may be providing patients information about these decisions, but in many ways it’s hard to say that the decisions themselves are “informed.”

What we need, then, is some way to give patients a window into the possible futures that might exist for them, depending on which choice they make, which option they follow. Like the Ghost of Christmas Future, we need to have some way to show patients what their lives might be like with choice A, choice B, or no choice at all.

This is, in part, the theoretical underpinning of one of Ogilvy CommonHealth’s two South by Southwest (SXSW) core conversations taking place in Austin, TX, early in March.

One of the best tools for achieving this is video testimonial by patients who have been faced with similar choices, and who made one. These patients can talk from experience about what it is like to make such a decision, why they made it, and what it’s been like since then. Another patient may have made a different choice, and can talk about the consequences of that choice from their distinct point of view. And suddenly a patient who was choosing from medical options based on things like survival rates and risk-benefit can now make decisions based on the experiences of people like them, facing the same issues they faced; people living with the consequences of their choices, for better or worse. This we call “experience-by-proxy”—borrowed experience, which allows you to gain knowledge of a path followed before you follow it for yourself.

These experiences-by-proxy won’t necessarily help make the decision for you, but they can make your decision more grounded in reality. If you are unsure if you need a hip replacement, and watch several videos, one of which has a patient saying, “It changed my life, I have no idea why I waited so long,” and another of which says, “It was horrible, I should have waited longer, and here’s why…”, you may still have conflicting opinions. You may still want a better quality of life with a new hip, but fear the consequences of an operation that is never guaranteed to go right. You may still be on the fence…but at least now you have a clearer vision of what it would be like to live with the option to go forward with hip replacement, and to put a face and a life to the theoretical risk and benefit you considered earlier.

To learn more, go to http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_IAP7391

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Feb7

How Communications Can Support Mergers and Acquisitions

Posted by Nicole Yost from OgilvyHealthPR - London, UK

By Nicole Yost from OgilvyHealthPR - London, UK | Published: February 7, 2013

Merger-and-AcquisitionWith mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the pharmaceutical sector showing no signs of slowing down, there has been criticism of some deals in recent years. These acts of consolidation don’t always reap the fruits they set out to bear and, if not managed well, may even result in a stifling of innovation, reduction in R&D productivity and decreased value of the company.

In a recent study as part of an MBA project, a survey and interviews were conducted among a sample of biotechnology and pharmaceutical company employees with experience of M&A deals, to find out their thoughts about communications during the M&A process.

Deal-making in the pharmaceutical sector is seen as a means of growth and competitive advantage through, for example, access to new markets or geographies; growth in R&D pipelines; access to scientific expertise in a given therapy or technology area; access to sales and marketing expertise; complementary skills and company synergies. The last few years have seen big pharma facing thinning pipelines and patent expiries, and for some, M&A activity is a means of gaining additional assets, innovation and technologies.

M&A activity has swept the industry, leading to some large and high-profile deals.  Despite the urge to merge, studies show that failure rates for M&As in general are high. Reasons cited for failures include poor corporate governance, poor valuation of the acquired firm, and bad post-acquisition management, including poor communication with employees and mismanaged integration of staff and departments.

Survey findings

In the 70-person survey of pharma and biotech employees with experience of M&A, 92% of respondents said their company had previous experience of M&A within the organization, with 57% saying further M&A was planned within the next 12 months.

The main reasons given for the deals were: access to R&D or pipeline, company growth or defense, entry to new areas or markets, and entry to new product areas. Some 52% of respondents said there had been some restructuring or significant restructuring of their part of the business post-M&A.

In describing the cultures of the two organizations in the M&A, 59% of respondents said the cultures were different or totally different, with 88% of respondents saying they believed it is important to create a company with common values and behaviors for M&A success.

As shown in table 1, survey respondents felt that communication with staff was deemed important for a variety of outcomes, including productivity, staff satisfaction and shareholder value.

Table 1: Summary of survey responses to importance of communications for different outcomes

Extremely important Very important Somewhat important Neither important nor unimportant Somewhat unimportant Not at all important
Staff satisfaction 40%  40% 15% 1.9% 0  1.9%
Productivity 40% 40% 9.6% 3.8% 1.9% 3.8%
Shareholder value 43% 30% 19% 1.88% 0 5.7%
Reducing levels of uncertainty 26% 52% 13% 0 4.3% 4.3%
Setting your own expectations 8.7% 39% 26% 13% 4.3% 8.7%

Talking to staff is not always a priority when doing a deal. As one interviewee commented, “The main focus is the deal itself and the financial benefits, synergies and scale. Companies don’t always think about the broader implications beyond this, so insufficient attention is paid to the communications imperatives of creating a new entity.”

“Communicating with external stakeholders—especially shareholders—is prioritized in M&A. I have heard cases where employees first knew of a merger of their company by reading it in the business press.”

Some pharma mergers have seen clashes at different levels especially where the companies coming together have very different cultures and one or the other has to completely change. Communicating about the reasons for the deal can help to gain staff buy-in and support during the M&A process, despite the accompanying uncertainties of change. It can help employees to establish an identity with and a commitment to the new organization.

But creating a single, strong company culture is not the only option. Some companies have maintained the different cultures of their separate organizations to support innovation and productivity from each company.

In the survey, all of the interviewees agreed that in order to reduce the high levels of uncertainty and rumors that tend to develop among employees during M&A, internal communication is vital. They also agreed that communication with employees can support integration, improve staff productivity and help to achieve better M&A outcomes.

“Without employee communications, the water cooler conversations take over. Employees become disengaged, motivation falls and no work is done, driving business performance through the floor.”

“If you don’t communicate, it is mayhem,” said a former Communications Head of a large pharmaceutical company. “All other things being equal, without a planned internal communications program, the desired M&A outcomes will be much more difficult to achieve.”

The survey respondents said the most commonly used forms of communicating with staff were company-wide meetings, written communications such as emails and newsletters, and team and individual meetings.

Graph 1: Communications tools used during M&A

chart

All other things being equal, communicating with staff about the rationale for the deal, the next steps post-merger and what the company changes mean for staff can support the success of a deal.

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Oct9

Reflecting on Young Executives’ Night Out

Posted by Jamie Fishman from OHW Payer Marketing - Parsippany, North America

By Jamie Fishman from OHW Payer Marketing - Parsippany, North America | Published: October 9, 2012

I recently had the honor of attending Young Executives’ Night Out, an industry-wide event hosted by the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame. It was an evening of true inspiration, where the most influential giants of our industry shared knowledge and experience with the future stars.

As a panel of CEOs discussed their career experiences, challenges and highlights, I listened closely for pieces of advice I could take back and apply to my work and relationships. It was humbling to hear them speak of issues they had encountered as leaders, and solutions they developed to fix them. During the next portion of the evening, which offered workshops on a variety of topics, I attended two sessions which focused on evaluating creative, and client problem solving. At the close of the evening, I left with a lot to think about.

Since the event, I have been reflecting on what I learned, and have developed four rules for myself to follow moving forward as a rising professional in this industry.

- Be curious. Be hungry.

Next time I am struck with a 3 pm hunger spell and I feel the urge to run to the nearest vending machine for something sweet, I will think again. Instead of seeking junk food to satisfy my craving, I am going to take a moment and read something. Google something. Read an article. Ask a question. Learn something new that I can apply to my work and share with my clients. I will tell my clients something they didn’t know and think on their behalf before they have time to blink. Satisfying this type of hunger is pretty sweet, and doesn’t come with the guilt.

 - Be proactive.

When approaching someone with a problem, I will always present a potential solution. A logical and strategic thought process impresses people, even if the proposed solution isn’t what actually happens in the end.

 - Be passionate.

To put it simply—I want to do what I love, and support what I believe in.

 - Be nice.

I want to always act with kindness and integrity, and for my colleagues and clients to trust me. At the end of the day, we are all people, and it is important to remember the true value of relationships.

It is no coincidence that these key points have surfaced before, as our industry leaders are well aware of the value held by each. I hope the guiding principles I have set for myself are valuable to you and can be applied to your work. I encourage you to share your thoughts on other helpful guidelines that you follow, so we can all learn from each other and continue to grow.

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Sep13

What Happens When a Consumer Becomes a Patient?

Posted by Michele Moss from Ogilvy CommonHealth Consumer Care - NJ, North America

By Michele Moss from Ogilvy CommonHealth Consumer Care - NJ, North America | Published: September 13, 2012

It happens to all of us, sooner or later. Whether it’s a health concern your doctor brings up during a routine office visit. Or you ask your doctor about a medicine you saw advertised on TV, online, in a brochure in the waiting room, or something health-related a friend or family member told you.

At that moment, there is a paradigm shift in the way people think and act. A person’s mindset is different when under the care of a doctor. Language is different when being treated for a specific disease state. Listening is different when a person has to take ownership of his or her own well-being. Processing information is different in a heightened state due to illness.

Now patients become information seekers. About their condition, about medicines that treat their condition, and about over-the-counter products that can help improve their overall health and wellness.

Once informed, patients become information givers, eager to share their newfound knowledge and experience with family, friends, and colleagues. Now conversations begin with: “My doctor told me…”.  And these 4 words give instant credibility to what is being said about a medical condition and the medicines and products used to treat it.

So as the patient continues to “shop around” for health information and treatments, we see the evolution of the cycle, with the patient now becoming a consumer; a consumer of health goods and services. This is reflected in how we define these terms today. For example, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines a consumer as one that utilizes economic goods, and a customer as one that purchases a commodity or service; Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary defines a patient as a client for medical services.

Not so long ago, it would have been unthinkable to speak of patients in terms of “buying” medical care. A person was considered “under the care of” a physician; this bond was sacrosanct, and no one would ever consider questioning what the doctor said. In fact, the venerable century-old Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines a patient as a person who is ill or who is undergoing treatment for disease (they do not even have an entry for consumer or customer).

But as today’s consumers find themselves more and more responsible for their own health and wellness, the slogan from retailer Sy Syms rings true: an educated consumer is our best customer.

So, how did you become an educated consumer of healthcare?

Fill in the blank: “My doctor told me____”.

 

 

 

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Jul24

Why Is It So Hard to Learn From Somebody Else’s Mistake?

Posted by Donna Ambriano from OCH Medical Marketing - NJ, North America

By Donna Ambriano from OCH Medical Marketing - NJ, North America | Published: July 24, 2012

Recently, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to drive to Key West from southern Florida. (I know, I know, it sucks to be me. If you’ve done it before, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, I highly recommend it). It’s an absolutely spectacular drive along Route 1, with crystal blue water as far as the eye can see on either side of a long, straight, wide-open road. Really long. Really straight. And really wide open. With a heavy foot on the accelerator and some decent horsepower, one could really cut some time off this trip. Or at least pass that annoying RV piled high with bicycles, kayaks, and fishing gear, going a grinding 40 mph, and towing a rusting, mustard yellow 1994 Pontiac Aztec.

That was probably the same thought that flashed across the minds of many of my fellow drivers…right before they became names on the roadside memorial signs that dot both sides of the Overseas Highway from Homestead to the Southernmost Point.

I’ve been driving to the Keys at least once a year for 20 years. And every time, there’s a big sign with flashing lights that announces how many fatalities to date have been reported. And every time, it’s in the double digits (13 in 2012 at the time of my trip, in case your inquiring mind wants to know). So why do we never learn, even when the evidence is right in front of our eyes?

I started wondering about this as we meandered along behind the RV under cloudless blue skies, taking in the stunning vistas of mangroves, watching the boats from far away and the pelicans from closer up, and counting the small, white signs that represented the site of gruesome tragedies. At least 39 people in addition to the aforementioned 13 had ignored the history of the unfortunate drivers before them—and that was just between Key Largo and Key West.

Never mind the cause of their crashes (yes, the majority are alcohol-related). How about, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”? The sad signs were there. Obviously. How could somebody miss them?

Maybe the answer lies in the dual concepts of “proximity” and “causality.” The ability to learn from our own mistakes is globally recognized: we make a mistake, and the result affects us directly as we are very close to it (“proximity”). There is a direct connection between our action (or inaction) and the consequence (“causality”). This is borne out at a neurological level and can be documented via electroencephalography. Within 50 milliseconds of a screw-up, your brain involuntarily sends out an initial reaction called error-related negativity (ERN) involving the anterior cingulated cortex. This part of the brain monitors behavior, anticipation, reward response, and regulates attention, helping you recognize that an error has occurred. (Also known as the “uh oh.”) The second signal, called error positivity (Pe), shows up 100 to 500 milliseconds later. This signal shows that you are aware of and paying attention to your mistake and its results (informally, the “you IDIOT” response). Numerous studies have shown that we learn more effectively when the ERN signal is larger, suggesting a bigger initial response to error, and the Pe signal is more consistent, demonstrating we are paying attention to, and thus trying to learn from, the mistake.1

 Our ability to learn from others is a little more complex. A 2011 Scientific American article shows that people can learn from other people in a competitive situation—but more from their competitors’ failures (what not to do) than their successes. In an experiment, volunteers played a simple game, modeled after foraging for resources in the wild, against a computer. While the computer was making its move (which simply consisted of changing the color of a box), the live player’s mirror neuron system (a system known to respond to the actions of others) was engaged as if the player him/herself was making the same choice. If the computer’s choice failed, the mirror neuron system of the live player immediately shut down the mental simulation—in other words, the live player’s brain learned from the computer’s mistake so he/she would not make the same error.2 Why? Proximity and causality: the live player was directly involved with the computer player, and the decisions the computer player made directly influenced the decisions and actions of the live player. The relationship between the person and the computer came down to learning “what’s in it for me” by seeing what failure looked like, and acting on that knowledge to achieve success.

So back to those unfortunate accident victims: Shouldn’t they have learned from the examples of their fellow fatalities? I would think that living to see another day would be a pretty strong motivator to trigger the “what’s in it for me” learning response, wouldn’t you? Again, this is all about proximity and causality. If you don’t see the accident, or the fates of the victims don’t impact your life directly, your neurons won’t react the same way. You may feel distressed or sad about the people behind the memorial plaques, but you have no direct experience of their failure and therefore no context for how you could learn from their mistakes. On the other hand, if your brain is sending out ERN signals while you’re behind the wheel, you’re probably already involved in something awful…and hopefully, will have the opportunity to experience the Pe response and learn how not to repeat the mistake in the future. Unlike the unlucky 13.

 

 

  1. Lehrer, J. Why do some people learn faster? Wired. 2011. Available at: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/why-do-some-people-learn-faster-2/. Accessed June 19, 2012.
  2. Swaminathan S. Monkey see, monkey don’t: learning from others’ mistakes. Scientific American. 2011. Available at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=monkey-see-monkey-dont. Accessed June 19, 2012.

 

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