At 35, while pregnant with my sister, my mom was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. In the 25 years that followed my mom suffered from nearly every complication on the list. It started slowly, but eventually there was a seemingly constant onslaught of medical problems, including high blood pressure, foot infections, hypoglycemia, nerve damage, circulation issues, iron deficiency, eye complications, chronic UTIs, and kidney disease (to name a few). In the last two years of her life she was in and out of the hospital constantly. She’d been diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and continued to struggle with life-threatening wounds due to extreme numbness in her feet. She remained good-natured through it—and even liked to joke about the time she lost a shoe but didn’t realize she was barefoot until she had walked across a parking lot and got into the car with my dad.

My dad was (is) amazing. My mom didn’t want to have to be in the hospital for dialysis treatments so my dad learned how to administer peritoneal dialysis at home (which needed to be administered EVERY night—by my dad, the CARPENTER). He learned how to take care of her wounds—including all of the equipment needed to help stimulate her circulation. He ordered all of her medical supplies and equipment. He dealt with the medical supply companies when things didn’t work properly. He checked her vitals and blood sugar several times per day. He drove her to every appointment. He did all of her shopping. He did all of her cooking. Eventually, he fed and bathed her. He even made a crazy contraption out of wood that enabled him to take her and her wheelchair up and down the stairs—one stair at a time!—so that she could stay at home near the end and sleep in her own bed. (I remember it made a horribly loud noise as is lumbered from one stair to the next and I was always sure he was going to hurt himself.) I never saw anyone more determined.

My mom ultimately succumbed to her disease in 2007 at age 59. It’s hard to say what complication was really the culprit, as her body was so badly ravaged at the end. My dad was destroyed. Not only did he lose his soul mate, but he also felt like he lost his entire purpose in life and his reason for being. He’d spent the last two years caring for my mother 24/7. The concept of “free time” hadn’t existed in his world for over two years. But suddenly there were no medical appointments to fill up his week nor treatments to administer nor vitals to check. Other people were moving on with life but he had to figure out a new life. It was incredibly difficult (and that doesn’t begin to cover it). It took him over two years to find his “new normal”—and of course he still has moments of extreme emotion. In those moments, I just hug him and tell him how much I love him.

In the coming years, I would love to see us (Compass) and our clients do more for the caregivers—not only during the diagnosis and treatment stages, but also after they have lost their loved ones. At the end of life, one hopes that the patient moves on to a better place. But I can tell you from experience that the caregiver moves on to a far worse place. It’s a place filled with despair, guilt, sadness, and an overwhelming feeling of disorientation. I know that we can help them. The opportunity to play a part in that is why I do what I do.

There are two pictures—one of my mom and I at my wedding in 2006 (10 months before she passed) and the other is my dad with my sister at her wedding in 2011. I can see in his eyes that he’s thinking of my mom. I’ve come to know that look. ☺

1. Be realistic about what you can achieve.

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a great meal at a favorite restaurant when you suddenly – and regrettably – realize that your eyes were bigger than your belly? Project bloat causes that same queasy feeling. When new project enthusiasm morphs into to a mile-high stack of manuscripts, wireframes and design concepts on your desk, you know you’ve ordered more than you can comfortably swallow – and that you’re not going to meet your deadline. The cost of extending your project’s budgeted duration can lead to significant cost overruns. Time is a silent budget killer. Not only is it costly to keep your team (and your agency’s team) engaged in a project that’s beyond its planned duration, but you’re delaying ROI and missing opportunities to engage those teams on new projects. Even worse, delays can result in missing the window of opportunity to capitalize on the market insight that led you to invest in the project in the first place. To avoid these hazards:

• Be honest about how much time you can carve out of your schedule to work on each program or project in your marketing plan. Share this with your partners so that they know what to expect and how to engage you.
• Be aware of the effort and timing impacts of other projects in your pipeline on your staff and your organization.
• Launch content and features in phases. If launching a new site, start with a placeholder site or HCP-focused content to establish a presence and then follow up with additional content and features.
• Avoid “over-socializing” your project within your organization in the early stages – which can lead to scope additions and time drag from stakeholders not directly invested in your project goals.
• Come to terms with the reality that it’s probably going to take longer than you think – and budget accordingly.

By setting bite-sized, realistic goals you give yourself and your team an advantage in delivering a successful, timely program on schedule and on budget.

2. Make regular, clear communication with partners and vendors a top priority.

You want the best-of-the-best working on your brand for each thing that you do. But what happens when you can’t remember if you told the PR agency or the branding agency or the offline agency or the interactive agency about the new market research insights you received last week? This is an issue with which nearly every busy brand manager struggles. Clear and consistent communication can help to avoid the extra time, effort, churn and rounds feedback. As a start:

• Take the time to talk with your partners each week. If a weekly “status report” format feels like a root canal, be open with your partners about what format works for you.
• Get your agencies and partners together on a regular basis and encourage inter-agency collaboration. Insist on inter-agency cooperation.
• Conduct all-agency calls at least quarterly to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
• Ask for feedback from your partners regularly. Invite them to tell you what they need from you to deliver their best work.

Excellent communication ensures that all of your partners are working as efficiently as possible, with the most current brand and company insights, to deliver a cohesive and impactful brand experience.

3. Schedule an early stage concept review with your med-legal team.

At Compass, we’ve had the great fortune to work with clients that have a passion for innovation and exploration. We’ve delivered some of our best work as pioneers in uncharted territory (see www.pku.com). Key to our success has been early partnership with our clients’ medical / legal / regulatory (MLR) teams. People support what they help to create. Early concept reviews help to:

• Provide insights that can put your marketing program on a path to “approvability”.
• Save time and budget dollars that would otherwise be spent on creating potentially troublesome program elements.
• Minimize costly rounds of review.
• Foster a relationship of trust and collaboration with your MLR board that makes them want to find ways to help your program succeed.

Whether we’re sharing a strategy deck, storyboards, wireframes or an interactive prototype – at Compass, we believe early support from MLR is essential to successful innovation.