Written by Paul Simms

Like me, you’ve probably sat through a thousand meetings where the word ‘innovation’ was rife, but it didn’t mean anything.

You’re tired of the buzzword bingo. You’ve watched as creativity, disruption and agility were flogged across dozens of powerpoint slides. 

We sit there, nodding, agreeing, not rocking the boat—but for all the rhetoric, the real pace of actual transformation is painfully glacial. To our friends and family outside, we describe our industry as slow, traditional, mature.

What’s missing is something you may never have thought of: randomness. Yes, randomness. Allow me to explain.

Encouraging evolution

In my talks, I often discuss evolution. Evolution is more than just a metaphor; we can use Darwin’s evolutionary models not just to understand our industry’s past but to get a pretty good idea of our future, too. All you need to do is replace Organisms with Businesses, Genes with Processes, Habitats with Markets and so on.

But evolution is, interestingly, something that is not designed. It is random mutations (followed by natural selection) that enable progress.

One of my favourite quotes is Orgel’s 2nd Law. It elegantly informs us: “Evolution is cleverer than you are.” In other words, that random process of experimentation and mutation can lead to smarter possibilities than we could ever deliberately conceive by design. There is no masterplan!

Speculate to generate

At Impatient Health, we aim to introduce something called Speculative Design. Indeed, many of the hands-on sessions at Pharmageddon will take us on a speculative journey, asking “what if?” instead of the usual “how to.”

Because conventional design, overly concerned with functionality and commercials, is woefully limited. It often just makes life a bit more convenient without actually challenging or reshaping our conceptual and social frameworks. It’s incremental.

But here, we’re less interested in finding a solution. It’s not about solving problems, but asking deeper questions. Traditional design creates solutions; speculative design creates possibilities. And by allowing room for dreaming about possibilities, we open a venue where society can contemplate different versions of itself.

The freedom to explore without the immediate pressure of utility or application liberates us to stumble upon radical solutions that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. That’s why Pharmageddon doesn’t emphasise ‘best’ - just ‘different’.

Sacrifice to succeed

It might sound counterintuitive, but temporarily staying away from customers as a source of inspiration might be smart at first.

True innovators know their customers, but don’t rely on them. As Henry Ford said, “if we asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Clay Christensen also observed the incremental ‘sustaining’ innovation that occurs if customers are your only guide. Instead, you must surprise your audience with unimagined innovations, and only then listening to their reactions. 

Pharmageddon epitomises 'creative destruction.' It’s a space where we discard the old. Destruct to construct. Forget sacred cows.

We are trained to see unpredictability as a threat, but it's time to flip that narrative. Say hello to unexpected results, audacious experiments, and radical randomness. It's not just why we're here—it's what patients need. After all, it’s only natural (selection)…

October 2023

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