exchange. The traders quickly “voted” with their dollars, and clear
lines were drawn between the prices of winning and losing mole-
cules. In fact, the prices distilled the collective knowledge of the
traders, providing rapid shorthand insight into the likely success of
each potential drug.
Gwen Krivi, vice president for project management at Lilly
Research Laboratories, notes that although the tool was used only
for simulated portfolio decision making, participants were excited
and energized by the approach. The company plans to run
additional pilots in the near future. Borrowing a slogan used by
Incentive Markets, Krivi says, “Market forces are the financial
equivalent of natural selection, and history is written by the
survivors.”^7
More Breakthroughs to Come?Lilly leaders concede that initiatives and experiments like these are
just a beginning. The 127-year-old company is still a long way from
replacing its traditionally rigid structure with colonies of knowl-
edge-based communities. Nevertheless, the motivation to change
is high.
“Ours is an industry of breakthroughs, not just in the form of
scientific discoveries, but also in the ways we work,” says CLO
Sullivan. “We need to challenge notions of how ideas develop, who
does what work, and how we leverage knowledge. That’s where our
next big breakthroughs may lie.”
Sullivan adds that Lilly’s knowledge management and e-business
teams share a mission of helping the company stay on a constant
course of experimentation and growth. Team members remind
themselves that the patient is indeed waiting. “Our ability to
help this company become more powerful in its use of knowledge
could mean the difference between a lifesaving drug becoming avail-
able one year from now or five. That’s all we need to know to keep
going.”
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