Becky Zaccardi, MS

I’ve decided to forever have a one-year resume gap. And it’s something we need to talk about. I just finished a 10-month sabbatical. What prompted the decision was a desire to focus on improving my communication skills so I can be more effective in my next role. But I also wanted to take time out of my industry bubble and interact with life outside of work in a more intentional way. Including thinking about how I could drive even more positive patient outcomes through my work. I’m aware that this might mean delaying my professional advancement and that I might always face the dreaded resume-gap stigma. And I’m okay with that. But here’s the problem. I am immensely fortunate: — My boss was supportive — I had the means to not work for a year — I knew I wouldn’t lose my role when I got back What about people who are not in that position? People who: — Need to care for a loved one — Get burned out and need time to recover — Suffer from illness that requires prolonged care In other words, mine was voluntary. Most resume gaps aren’t. Which brings me to my point: It’s 2024. Not only should we eliminate the resume-gap stigma once and for all. But we should start moving in the other direction— Actively supporting those who take time off.

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As every golfer knows, the game is a metaphor. There’s so much to think about, and reflect on, as we walk the fairways. I was fortunate to have Tommy Hrach as my amazing caddy this past season. He was insightful, patient, and positive. Here are four tips from Tommy—his instructions for golf (and life).   1. Stare at it. Tommy wanted me to keep my eye on the ball. That focus—and not lifting my head to peak how I did on my shot—helped me make better contact. Any problem or opportunity can benefit from that commitment to holding a steady gaze. On the fairway or my daily path, I want to hold my attention still, eyes squarely on the prize. 2. Follow through. Sometimes I forget to finish the swing, causing me to lose distance and loft. Remembering to stay committed until the very end is as important for golf as it is for most endeavors. Don’t give up halfway through. 3. Tempo. Tommy would complement my tempo when my swing was neither too fast nor too slow. It’s a hard concept to master. But once I got the feeling, there’s a grace and ease to my shots. Whether dancing, walking, or talking, I’m going to look for a good tempo and keep the beat. 4. Stand like a tree. I would wiggle and wave my club around trying to smack the ball as hard as I could. In truth, a grounded stance, a shortened backswing, and a sense of serenity improved my game a lot. I will try to hold the quiet posture off the course, too.   Like so many great caddies, Tommy not only carries your bag, he is an advisor, cheerleader, teacher, and friend. What did you learn this summer?   #Wellness #SummerReflections  

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Thoughts on this? >> MDLive veterans nab $7.5M Series A for virtual specialty care startup >> Comment below! >>> lqventures.com #strategy #competitiveintelligence #marketing #biotech #healthcare #pharma #pharmaceutical #productmarketing

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Reposting to my network. I know those of you with full time roles are busy - maybe busier than you have ever been as companies lay-off and try to do more with less… But take a moment to think about- really ponder - how you would feel, what your life would be like, how your family, your psyche, your confidence would be impacted if your company “cut your role”, and you went went 674 days without another job, hitting up every colleague, every “friend”, every recruiter…applying for hundreds, maybe 1000+ jobs over that time. Hearing back only 10% of the time with any answer at all - and the rest a brief “no”, with no feedback, no reasoning… I don’t know Peter, but I have felt this feeling. And while many of you cannot imagine what this feels like, I beg you to spend 40 minutes this week thinking about anyone you know that is t working right now but wants to - promote them on LI, promote open roles on LI - spend 20 minutes doing something good for those you may need at some point.

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One of my proudest career accomplishments was leading a post-approval enhancement in a major global market that mitigated $50M downside sales risk. Quantifying the impact of your contributions is a game-changer. There’s power in numbers and being able to confidently communicate your part in achieving them. Think back to a recent achievement. How can you measure its impact? Whether its percentages, time saved, or customer satisfaction improved, quantifying results strengthens your story. Update your LinkedIn profile or resume with one quantified accomplishment today. Let’s celebrate the numbers—share your wins below! 👇 #MultidisciplinaryMaven #powerinnumbers #STARframework

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Gentlemen, September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. The 2024 Campaign is Know Your Score! NBA Hall of Famer - Alonzo Mourning is the national spokesman this year. Here's what you should know: Cancer screening is for people without symptoms. Prostate cancer screening can help find cancer early, when it may be easier to treat. The number of advanced stage prostate cancer diagnoses is increasing, after decades of decline. At age 50, men at average risk should talk to a health care provider about prostate cancer screening. Men at increased risk of developing cancer should have that conversation earlier than age 50. (Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines) Studies show that nearly 2/3 of men age 55 – 69 are not being screened for prostate cancer. In 2024, an estimated 299,010 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the US and 35,250 men will die from the disease. The incidence of prostate cancer is about 70% higher in Black men than in White men for reasons that remain unclear. Prostate cancer has the greatest mortality disparities of any cancer. Black men have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. They are also more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage and have a higher mortality rate compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Call to Action: Visit cancer.org/getscreened to learn more and find a screening location near you. Here’s what you can do: Visit https://lnkd.in/e2F3w6Vf to learn more about prostate cancer screening and check out the video from Alonzo Mourning! Amplify social content on the ACS brand channels featuring prostate cancer awareness and screening messages.

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AI is everywhere - but is it validated? COTA and Baptist Health South Florida are teaming up to validate the performance of the AI-enabled PreciseBreast that predicts the likelihood of recurrence in invasive breast cancer. #realworlddata #oncologyresearch #rwd #breastcancer #healthcareai

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To my industry peers: Are you exhausted? Do you feel like you cannot take a break? On the edge of burnout is a dangerous place to exist. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. ⭐️ Rest = Success ⭐️ We know you’re driven. You’re out there slaying those project deadlines, crushing your travel plans, and networking like a pro—all while pushing your team toward success. But here’s the thing: you can’t perform at your best with an empty tank. 🚗 Rest and recovery are just as important as your hustle. Taking time to disconnect and recharge isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. When you make space for rest, you come back with more energy, focus, and creativity to tackle your goals and keep that momentum going. ✨ So, give yourself permission to unplug. Whether it’s a weekend getaway, a day of quiet, or just turning off the notifications for 4 hours—your future self will thank you. Remember: Rest isn’t the opposite of productivity—it’s the fuel that makes your success sustainable. 💼 #WorkSmart #Recharge #RestForSuccess #BalanceIsKey #pharmacy #pharmacists #healthcare

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It's a positioning thing. Where Walgreens is flailing to find strategic fit with primary care (via its $6 billion write-down of VillageMD), Elevance Health plans to build a $4 billion business unit focused on chronic care management. Per company CEO Gail K. Boudreaux: “This will help us continue through having a focus on advanced primary care; it’s still very much focused on our chronic patients and complex patients. We are still building specialty care enablement. In time, Elevance Health will have full ownership of what we expect will be a leading platform for value-based care delivery and physician enablement at scale.” It's a competition thing. "The new partnership with Clayton Dubilier & Rice is “a necessary move as Elevance looks to hold its own [against] mega brands like CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group, which have entered the delivery space in a more aggressive manner,” Forrester analyst Arielle Trzcinski writes here in emailed comments. Elevance said its partnership with CD&R aims to create a new advanced primary care offering supported by care coordination, referral management and health coaching." And it's a thing still locked in the conceptual past. The next cycle of evolution in the business and economics of healthcare *works* with a more original narrative, a different screenplay altogether, a new genre, something that creates space to expand what Stacey Chang (via Kent Lawson) calls the 'impact horizon'. There's a difference between "primary care" and 'continuous health engagement' as ideas for big innovation. The former is an obsolete framing, with almost no kinetic energy to power anything other than a margin squeeze. The latter is a new economic concept, a foundation upon which to shift the center-of-gravity for the American Way of Healthcare. From "Hospitals Declare War on Corporate Insurance", by Paul Keckley: To industry watchers, the war is no surprise. It’s been simmering for years but most recently inflamed as operating margins for most hospitals eroded while profits among corporate insurers led by Big 6 (UnitedHealth, Humana, Aetna, a CVS Health Company, Elevance, Cigna Healthcare, Centene Corporation) swelled at double-digit rates. To outsiders, it’s not quite so clear. Corporatization seems embedded in the business models for both. And both appear complicit in well-documented beliefs that the health system is failing as unnecessary higher costs make it less accessible, affordable and effective. As the War intensifies, each combatant is inclined to make their cases aggressively contrasting “us” against “them.” ********* Market innovation is really about management innovation. And the process starts by positioning strategy at a system level. The goal isn't to "fix" a broken engine, but to enable 'gravitational pull' into a new orbit for competition and collaboration. To Engage: [email protected] To Meet Next Week: @ #asembia24 To Explore #ModernStrategy: Blue Spoon Consulting

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#M3P has Medicare Part D #plansponsors considering what the best path forward is. When we talked with Jessin Joseph, PharmD, MBA (Sr. Director, PBA Services) on the Astonishing Healthcare #podcast, he mentioned something everyone should keep in mind: "Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will learn from this." In other words, M3P will evolve, and changes will come as a result. Learn more about Capital Rx's M3P solution here: https://okt.to/0hzw2e Listen to the entire podcast episode here: https://okt.to/IBwls2"

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Headlining this week's CHC Newsflash: Following their debut in 2019, Walmart has announced that it will close all 51 Health Centers across five states and shut down its virtual care offering, Walmart Virtual. The retailer noted that over the past five years, it had made “meaningful impacts with patients, while continuing to learn, pivot and evolve”. However, “through our experience managing Walmart Health Centers and Walmart Health Virtual Care, we determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue”. It added: “We will take what we learned as we provide trusted health & wellness services through our nearly 4,600 pharmacies and 3,000+ Vision Centers.” Separately, after recently launching an early morning delivery service (from 6am), Walmart has expanded late night delivery to midnight, reports Chain Store Age. This week's issue continues to reveal the state of the global CHC market in the shape of calendar Q1 results from more of the top players. And the message is clear: whereas in 2023 we saw some volume growth to support higher value sales, the 2024 picture is bleaker. Almost all companies are reporting growth through price increases and more favourable product mix, offset by volume declines. The usual caveats apply. The quarterly results are based on sales into the wholesale and retail trade, and any downstocking of trade stocks would adversely affect manufacturer sales, even if consumer offtake is undiminished. Also, the widely-publicised reporting by the major players takes the spotlight off regional, local and private companies, which seem to be doing better in this recession. Even so, there are major concerns about how 2024 will turn out, which may lead to downsizing as the year goes by. In the meantime, daily business life goes on. For many years I've spoken warmly of the in-store clinics in the USA, which have tried to make basic clinical care part of the overall shopping experience. The concept was created by entrepreneurs; the major stores then acquired and expanded these businesses; but the general view is that the model is too complex and expensive to operate. As Walmart says, it's hard to find a sustainable commercial model, which is a great pity as Pharmacy Point-of-Care continues to be a growth driver elsewhere in the CHC market. To read more of my thoughts on this and other key CHC trends and developments, trial our combined news service by contacting Melissa #consumerhealthcare #CHC #CHCNewsflash #CHCNewDirections #Walmart #clinics #USA #Pharmacy #PharmacyPointofCare #CHCdata

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Talking to some industry colleagues, I had a moment of clarity when it comes to business competition... Be competitive, not combative. Compete on the strengths of your own offerings rather than attacking others. Differentiation and denigration are two very different things. This shows confidence, professionalism, and boosts your reputation. Trashing competition lowers the bar for the whole industry.

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Tune out the noise A great mentor once told me to pick 1-3 objective(s) per week and to stick to it. Basically to tune out any background noise that may interfere or be irrelevant with the objective. It didn't mean to do only 1-3 things per week. It meant that, no matter what happened around, I still achieved at least this/these objective(s) every week. This was important in big pharma, but I learned it is absolutely critical in biotech. There is so much that can derail us. And I have seen many colleagues go through so much stress and put so much effort on things that ultimately, either they have no control over or it is not material enough to impact their true objectives. Maintain 360o awareness, but be purposeful and tune out the noise. Looking forward to sharing lots of great news in 2025!

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PROBLEM: Following golf on TV can be challenging. SOLUTION: Enhance the technology used at broadcasts to make golf easier to follow. BUSINESS INSIGHT: Watching golf becomes more engaging when considering the role of betting as a significant part of the investment. As always, MKBHD Inc. Inc. explains it perfectly.

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Figured this is as good a week as any to put out my remaining Q4 comedy schedule - in the event you find yourself in need of a laugh right about now! If you find yourself in need of a speaker at an upcoming event who can not only bring the laughs, but a powerful message as well to ignite change on your team or in your organization please message me so we can chat! Link for tickets to shows in comments or message me... #comedy #standup #motivationalspeaker #keynotespeaker #GetOutOfYourComfortZone

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Totally agree with Josh Bernoff here about naming your book. Catchy (title) plus briefly explanatory (subtitle) is the way to go. https://lnkd.in/gbxU7e7r Grab attention and memory. Then address understanding. Make both intriguing.

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“Busy Bragging”… we all know someone who does this. What you might not know is that it promotes stress for you and your team. Strategies for managing - from the article: “Habitual busy bragging can erode the overall positive dynamics of a workplace. If you encounter a busy braggart, approach the situation with empathy but do not feel obligated to absorb or resolve their stress. Set boundaries to protect your own well-being. It is important to promote a workplace culture where genuine collaboration and mutual respect are valued over appearances of busyness.”

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