Exactly 10 years ago today, a team of us formed Consilium, working eagerly on our mobiles and travelling between 1 Ropemaker Street in the City, Pret A Manger and my home in SW London. My second daughter had just been born, so life was busy on many fronts, but I surrounded myself with brilliant people and took an optimistic approach.
I remember discussing the potential new venture with my parents, who had always been role models for me. They said the idea of setting up my own business was ludicrous since I already had a full-time job and a young family, and that I would soon have two young families and I’d never get another day off for the rest of my life. How right they were about the reasons but wrong about the decision!
It has been an exhilarating 10 years. Consilium has grown into a highly driven, market-leading team of more than 40 people who enjoy working with each other and giving great advice and support to our 90+ clients.
To celebrate our anniversary, the whole team took to the ski slopes in the healthy Norwegian air! It was a good time to reflect on how far we had come – and I realised what a key role positive thinking has played in this journey to success. As a scientist, I’ve never believed in any form of medicine that doesn’t have scientific credence. However, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, among many others, have been exploring the benefits of positive thinking and optimism on health, which include greater resistance to illnesses and better coping skills during times of stress. It has certainly helped us over the years.
I love working in the healthcare industry, one of the most innovative, disruptive and vital sectors. I started my career as a bench scientist and have been lucky enough to always love my job, from my time in the lab to my current role advising healthcare companies around the world.
We are seeing exciting progress in so many areas of healthcare, including metabolic, neurodegeneration, oncology, cell therapies, gene therapies and of course, AI, to name a few. Whether these products are developed by emerging biotechs or large pharma companies, great strides for human health continue to be made as a result of the capital being invested in the sector. Market conditions are still challenging but we’re starting to see a lot more activity in M&A, financings and pharma deals, so yes, there are plenty of green shoots. There’s even been an IPO or three! And a vast pipeline of excellent assets. We believe these signs point to a return to a healthier market and resulting strong companies and shareholder value creation.
As a trusted advisor, we pride ourselves in spending a lot of time with our amazing clients, understanding them and getting close to them to make sure they are fully supported and well-positioned to succeed. With our specialist focus and deep healthcare network, we help them to advance and to develop products and data to improve patient lives.
I love the work but it’s just as important to me that I can look forward to working every day with the Consilium team who are wonderful caring people as well as talented communications experts. Alongside our rapid growth, we have developed a successful and fun culture where we can be ourselves, and strive for a good lifestyle while looking after each other and delivering the highest quality work. This engenders a feeling of positivity and ultimately, I hope, better mental and physical health.
Breaking our revenue record yet again for FY 2023, we continue to go from strength to strength. Our goal for decade number two remains unchanged: to help clients globally to manage their reputations with stakeholders in order to improve patient outcomes and create shareholder value.
We continue to take the optimistic approach. It has served us well for the first 10 years and we are positive the next decade will be as exciting and rewarding. Thank you to all the brilliant people I am fortunate to work with, from our team to our clients and all our partners.
If you’re interested in talking to us about our work, please contact any of our team and if you’re keen to read more about positivity, here’s a link to Mayo Clinic’s research: Positive thinking: Reduce stress by eliminating negative self-talk – Mayo Clinic.
