As I watch the daily stock ticker, hoping that our fledgling recovery will not be cut down by the European economic crisis, our own politics, or another potential disaster, my one source of solace is our industry.  Fortunately, I get to spend my work hours supporting an industry that saves lives on a daily basis.  Medical science is experiencing breakthroughs at an ever-increasing rate which is crucial since we are looking towards a US population that will make a radical shift in life expectancy going from 40M people over 65 in 2010, to 72M in 2030.   While the general economy is struggling to gain its recovery foothold, our industry is growing.  Of course, it is unfortunate that more people are living with illnesses; however it is fortunate that people are living longer and we are finding ways to help.   The following are just a few industry predications that give me faith as I watch the news of the general economy.

Recently, we have seen an increase in the number of companies who are adding senior consultative sales executives in the National Accounts, Corporate Accounts, IDN, GPO and Government spaces.  These types of sales positions are mostly found in the healthcare arena because of the unique value chain which has led to a continued growth of GPOs and a recent expansion of IDNs and hospital systems.  Of course it makes sense to create a contract with a whole hospital system or IDN rather than the individual entities.  Just as it can to leverage the relationships the GPOs have already built to get your product in the door on a massive scale.  So why are some of these sales teams growing while others are shrinking?

My 15 year old son was required to read a book from the 10^th grade book list this year, and naturally he chose the one about sports, Drew Brees’ Coming Back Stronger.  As a good mother, and fellow football fanatic, I decided to read it as well.  If you haven’t had a chance to read his story, it has some great business takeaways with the underlying theme of turning adversity into success; it is also fun to hear the replay of the games told from his point of view.

Malcolm Gladwell (author of Outliers, Blink, and The Tipping Point) published an interesting series of articles in his compendium What the Dog Saw.  In his article, “The New-Boy Network”, Gladwell chronicles the job courting process of recent Harvard graduate Nolan Meyers, and how first impressions and interviews factored into the process.