After 20 years of working in-house at healthcare companies and as an independent communications advisor, our newest partner and former client, Tracy Cheung, returned to life in a communications agency. Here’s why.
I’ve never been much of a career planner. My approach has generally been to “say yes more often than not and see what happens”. This has led to a path that would have surprised the 15-year-old me (who wanted to be a teacher) – starting with public affairs, moving through a range of communications disciplines including corporate and financial PR, investor relations, marketing communications, and employee engagement, and including a stint at running a nuclear medicine business. I wouldn’t change any of it. I’ve had the good fortune to work on fascinating issues, in excellent organisations, with brilliant people. And I’ve enjoyed working in different ways: as part of an agency team, as an in-house specialist, and as an independent consultant.
My career began in agency. It’s a great place to learn. Supporting a range of clients and companies ensures variety and you’re surrounded by colleagues who understand and do what you do, while bringing different experiences and perspectives.
When I moved to my first in-house role, to manage investor relations for a FTSE-100 life sciences company, my agency mates predicted I’d be bored. They were wrong. What you lose in breadth, you gain in depth, and it’s exciting to be embedded in an organisation, making decisions and seeing projects through to their completion. Honestly, there haven’t been many dull moments. I’m grateful to have seen both sides, agency and in-house, and to have been able to draw on the best of each during my time as an independent consultant, when you’re an external strategic advisor but often also deep in the detail of implementation.
While my career path hasn’t been carefully planned out, my career purpose has always been a clear and driving factor, namely “to do interesting things and to make a difference”. I have been lucky enough to be involved in shaping messages and communications for many issues that meet this goal, including gene sequencing, diagnostics for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and psychedelic therapy for depression.
Over the years, I’ve learned there is a third criteria to add to the career ask. As well as aspiring to do interesting things and to make a difference, I want to work as part of a collaborative team. The pandemic has reminded us of the importance of community and of valuing every member of the team, from frontline worker to laboratory researcher. But where does true collaboration come from? It’s not just bringing together different skills and experiences. It happens when people really care about what they do and how they do it, and about the people with whom they work. Kindness as well as intent must be at the core of any true collaboration.
And so, my latest career path “yes” has brought me to Consilium, a healthcare- focused, international strategic communications agency which is certainly doing interesting things and making a difference, advising private and listed clients in life sciences and biotech who are addressing unmet health needs. When I was a Consilium client, I could see how highly they also valued collaborative teams. It was evident in their care for each other as well as in their commitment to working as part of the client team, providing strategic counsel and fresh ideas as well as network access and execution, with honesty and sincerity. When both sides of the communications team work together in this way, you get a shared sense of purpose and a much better outcome. Oh, and it’s great fun too, which isn’t on my list because that has to be a given!
