Prerequisite for the Technology Innovation Manager: Education and Skills in Science and Technology
How is it that a sizeable number of CEOs of healthcare technology firms are not skilled in the sciences and technologies that drive healthcare technology innovation? A better question: How is it that investors do not demand as much at a time when R&D productivity is supposedly under a microscope?
Without such skills, CEOs must rely heavily on the abilities of others to understand and communicate innovation opportunities and challenges for them. For firms focused on the successful identification and management of such opportunities and challenges, it is unrealistic and unhealthy to expect the communication chain from the lab to the executive office to remain unbroken. Think about how scientists communicate with each other. We debate vigorously, directly, at times impolitely. We persuade by weighing the strength of evidence supporting alternative hypotheses and convincing others through logic that the evidence supporting one side is undeniably stronger. This form of communication is not directly applicable to the board room. Non-scientists typically find it frustratingly non-committal and confrontational. It is the rare scientist who can effectively translate this usually arcane discourse and debate into an unbiased, convincing strategy for action.
What’s more, it is not the wise CEO who accepts any advice at face value. It is one of the CEO’s most important roles to question, to challenge, to explore alternatives. How can a CEO effectively challenge expert advice without the knowledge required to ask the most relevant questions? Should an analytically oriented CEO rely solely on the analysis of a trusted advisor? Should an intuitively oriented CEO rely on ill-informed intuition to make judgments? Crash courses in science and technology for key decision-makers are not enough. Communication-skills training for scientific managers are not enough. It is well beyond time that boards of directors require CEOs of healthcare technology innovators to have advanced training and practical experience in science and technology.
