Emerging realities can challenge us personally,
professionally and organizationally.
One of our tasks as providers is to understand what it
is our clients and customers want—what they value—and
then find a match with what we can offer. Sometimes this
means using existing experience and capacity to navigate
toward new offerings. Sometimes it means taking off in
a completely fresh direction. Sometimes it means think-
ing in a different way, offering a new proposition with
an innovative vision, and building the sense of value that
both parties share.
At ETR we are using all of these strategies to respond
effectively, dynamically and with purpose to the realities
of the world in this moment, this day, this place and time.
We change our footing and pivot when necessary because
value, by our definition, is an ever-changing proposition.
I invite you to look through our 2013–2014 Third
Quarter Review to see many examples of this kind of
response. Our staff continue to be agile, inventive, for-
ward thinking and innovative. Let us know if you see ways
to share these commitments and contributions through
our mutual endeavors. We are actively seeking new part-
nerships and opportunities to create more value for those
we, and you, serve together.
Sincerely,
Daniel McCormick, CEO
FROM OUR CEO
We face novel expectations on the job, master additional
skills, put new technologies to work, and find different
ways of interacting with colleagues, all in the context of
shifting value paradigms.
There are new realities for organizations as well. These
often include the need to leverage resources differently—
to find new sources of funding, new ways to reach patients
or clients, new customers for products and services. Most
organizations today are also putting metrics to work in
more precise ways. For example, here at ETR we’re work-
ing with platforms that allow us to calibrate our outreach
more effectively to match the needs of our clients and cus-
tomers, reaching them with content they want and tools
that make a difference in their unique circumstances.
One thing that hasn’t changed is our deep commitment
to delivering genuine value, whether to a funder support-
ing scientific inquiry, a partner requesting evaluation of a
local project, or an end-user picking up one of our health
education pamphlets.
As I’ve been reflecting on these different streams—the
constancy of our commitment to value and the maelstrom
of cultural, financial and technological change that spins
around that—I’ve been thinking more about the ways we
make sense of “value.”
What is it? How do we know when we’ve received
or delivered it? How can we measure it? What strategies
allow us to add value to a service, outcome or product?
Those of us in the health arena might exchange any
number of products, services, programs or ideas. I firmly
believe that to understand a value, you must stand where
you can see movement in both directions—that is, encom-
pass both the delivery and the receipt of whatever is being
offered. This is the only way we can assess whether the
value delivered and the value received represent a positive
mutual exchange for the parties involved.
New Horizons
Navigating Emerging Realities
with a Focus on Innovation and Value
2
uarterly Review
|
SPRING 2014
