So why aren’t more healthcare companies engaging with people online? Is it fear of losing control of the message? Legal and regulatory concerns? Worries about having something to say?

I suspect it is a little bit of all of these things.

But some people are trying to figure it out (including me), and last week I joined a few folks from some other healthcare companies — Bo Piela from Genzyme, Michael Partridge from Vertex Andy Gore from Amgen and Larry Weber — out at the BIO meeting in San Diego and heard more about some internal and external attempts to embrace social media.

At least one attendee took away that we were all saying “just do it,” and there is some truth to that — after all, by actually getting involved you can learn a few things first hand, such as:

1) The benefits aren’t what you’d expect. This about relationships — and sometimes relationships have unintended consequences. In my case, some of the people I’ve come in contact with have turned into friends and mentors — while others have been kind enough to alert me to things I should know about. How do you put an ROI on that?

2) This is labor intensive. Like any relationship, to remain in good standing takes work. That means paying attention and listening as well as engaging. (And taking the garbage out to the curb once in a while.)

3) Your audience selects itself. I’ve written about this before, but it is important to keep in mind that you no longer get much say on who listens in.

4) You have to take the chaff with the wheat. It ain’t all going to be good. Sometimes you are going to have to listen to criticism — and respond to it. But, after all, being part of any relationship involves learning more about how others see you.

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s commencement season – and throughout the country, students at all levels are getting spruced up, throwing on their cap and gowns and setting their sights on the future.

Now I have to admit, I don’t remember a thing about my college graduation apart from the fact that I was sweating to death under my robes and that my grandmother kept moving champagne bottles out of camera shot – and I didn’t even attend a ceremony for my post grad program. But recently I was given a shot at reliving the “commencement experience.”

On June 13th, I was at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Weldon gave this year’s commencement speech. Bill’s son was one of those earnest young graduates, and, listening to his address, I felt his words took on a special significance – that of a father giving advice to a son setting course on the seas of life.

You can catch it all on the UCLA Anderson site as a webcast – or as a print document. Much was said about what components make great leaders, but it was the following thoughts that resonated with me:

I like it. In closing, Bill called attention to the few words that grace the tombstone of UCLA grad and sports legend Jackie Robinson – words that once again underscored the importance of following that “North Star” – of doing something you truly believe in:

After the ceremony, I got to thinking about how commencement speeches shouldn’t just be for graduates — that there are some messages that even the most experienced and battled-hardened should hear. And — just as I’ve found that some of the books I read while in my 20s have an entirely new meaning to me now — perhaps I should also see if the speakers at my own graduation had some useful nuggets worth hearing again now that I’m a bit more worldly wise and no longer baking in the springtime sun in my cap and gown.

For those who have been following the litigation surrounding the use of the red cross emblem, I just wanted you to know that earlier today Johnson & Johnson and the American Red Cross announced that they have reached a resolution of this matter.

Last month I traveled with a photographer to Africa as part of a trip organized by Johnson & Johnson’s contributions team to meet with partners whose health and education programs we support. I take such trips from time to time as one way of chronicling our charitable work “in the field” for our employees and others. Beyond that, though, these trips give me and my traveling buddies a chance to see firsthand what our “on-the-ground” partners are doing to help us save and improve lives, prevent diseases, and build health care capacity for those who need it most.  By any definition, this was a trip filled with physically exhausting travel and a steady dose of emotional moments, as many of these journeys tend to be. What gets to me most are the seemingly insurmountable circumstances that face our fellow brethren day in and day out – and particularly the children (many the age of mine!) living in squalor and struggling with diseases such as polio that have long been eradicated in the developed world. Or, the many disenfranchised women and children who, for a variety of social and political reasons, aren’t given the opportunity to learn in formal educational settings. Among all this despair are stories of hope and aspiration, driven by large and small NGOs and community leaders – or, as I like to describe them, angels on earth. A few examples… 

Mtakuja Secondary School

In the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 100 teenage girls – all dressed in green and white uniforms – welcomed us with songs and a play during the initial minutes of our visit to Mtakuja Secondary School, which runs an education and mentoring program supported by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Johnson & Johnson. The girls, all with glowing smiles and sparkling energy, thanked us for the chance to learn and grow in a welcoming environment. Many of the students travel up to three hours EACH way, EVERY day, walking several kilometers back and forth to school as they watch small, crowded buses with adult passengers pass them by routinely. Children pay 50 schillings to ride the bus; adults pay 300. Looking to make as much as they can, bus drivers often ignore the children and pick up adults instead. I asked several students what motivates them to travel up to six hours roundtrip to school each day. Without hesitation, each said the opportunity to learn and to become a success.  On this warm day, classroom teaching included the typical subjects plus a health session on HIV/AIDS prevention and a leadership and empowerment lesson, complete with lively questions and answers. The teachers and our partners at AED do amazing work here, and the students said as much, and more.

Johnson & Johnson Burn Treatment Center  

Nearly 20 years ago, Johnson & Johnson worked with Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, to open the country’s first treatment center dedicated solely to handling severe burns. Many communities in and around Soweto use open fires or highly flammable fuels to cook meals and, as a result, many suffer severe burns from accidents.
This center treats approximately 1,500 people annually, many of whom are children – and some as young as 12 months. I had heard about this center years ago and had promised myself that if my travels ever brought me to South Africa, I would visit. This visit turned out to be one of the most emotional experiences I’ve ever had. The center includes a pediatrics ward for children recovering from scalding burns – many from accidents, a few from abuse. In one of the recovery rooms, I heard a baby boy – perhaps 12-14 months old – crying inconsolably, writhing in pain from burns covering half of his small face, neck and left arm. The parent in me took over … I approached the crib and reached for his hand. He grabbed my index finger and held tightly, as he stopped crying and began to smile. He brought me to tears, as I thought about the traumatic experience and circumstances that led this tiny boy to this place. I stayed with him for awhile, reflecting on what his life might have been had this center not existed. Surely, he would have died. Despite his misfortune and severe injuries, he will survive – and thrive – thanks to the work and passion of the center’s nurses and doctors. This place is recognized as a center of excellence in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, and for good reason. Literally, the center’s team has saved thousands of lives over the years. More angels on earth…

Last night I attended the Global Business Coalition’s (GBC) annual Awards for Business Excellence in New York where nine companies, including Johnson & Johnson, were recognized for their work in addressing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof – who writes extensively on his journeys to places most impacted by these diseases — served as the master of ceremonies, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon provided the keynote to an audience of high-ranking government officials and leaders from NGOs and the private sector.

As the evening unfolded and I learned more about what motivates people and organizations to do what they do to make REAL differences in this world, two things struck me. The first was to ask, “what more could I be doing to help?” And the second was to reflect on the collective impact that the nine honorees – and the nearly 20 other “commended” companies and dozens more NGOs – are having on the lives of so many people all over the world. Whether it’s providing insecticide-treated bed nets to children most at-risk of contracting malaria … or improving the speed and accuracy of TB diagnosis, especially for those with HIV … or preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, the work is far-reaching and life changing. No one organization, public or private, can do it alone, though.

Johnson & Johnson was recognized for work in HIV/AIDS philanthropy addressing the needs of women and girls and our partnership with mothers2mothers, in particular (learn more). Thousands of women and infants have been reached since our work began. Dr. Mitch Besser and Robin Smalley are co-founders of mothers2mothers, an NGO that provides education for South African HIV-positive pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease and trains new HIV-positive mothers to mentor others. Their work is truly extraordinary, and I’m humbled by what they do each and every day.

Though I’m obviously pleased to see our support for this initiative honored in this way, I’m even more pleased to see mothers2mothers, which has a meaningful impact on communities in South Africa, get the recognition that it so rightly deserves. For more on mothers2mothers, see my earlier post. And, if so moved, consider joining the cause to help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV with mothers2mothers and others such as the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Lured by the promise of a free drink, I joined PharmaMarketing’s John Mack last night for a meal and conversation at a hotel near Princeton. While there, I spoke briefly about JNJBTW. Okay — I’m not going to bore you with a recap of what I said, but I think it is was worth reiterating one blogging “aha” moments that I shared as everyone digested their chicken, flank steak and penne pasta with shrimp.

When I started JNJBTW, I thought my audience would be pretty much those who write about the business of healthcare — reporters, editors, healthcare bloggers — those folks. What I’ve found, after doing this for a year, is that the people reading this are, well, er, people. Doctors, nurses, consumers — employees and retirees — people who hate the company and people who support what we do — friends, neighbors, my father-in-law… well, you get the idea.

Now those who have been blogging for a while may think, “well, duh!?” but for me it was an important point — particularly since I’m often asked “who is your audience?” My answer, which many people scoff at, is that it is everybody — that I don’t define my audience, but that the audience defines itself.

Today, I’m sitting in the press room at the company’s Medical Devices & Diagnostics and Consumer Business Review. The title of this event is a bit of a mouthful, but then again, what’s being served up today is a generous serving of the Johnson & Johnson pie.

In fact, the businesses being discussed comprise about 59% of the company’s sales in 2007 – or about $36.2 billion dollars.

Some highlights are touched on in a press release that was issued this AM (and you can also listen in on the webcast if you’d like), but for the rest of this morning – and on into this afternoon — business leaders from the consumer, medical devices and diagnostics businesses will talk about the current state of their businesses and what’s on the burner for tomorrow.

As Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso outlined all of the company’s businesses to set the tone for today, I was struck once again by the breadth of Johnson & Johnson. Through it’s operating companies, Johnson & Johnson is the largest medical technology business in the world, the sixth largest pharmaceutical company, the third largest biotech company, the world’s largest seller of over-the-counter medicines and sells some of the most well-known consumer brands in the world – including many that are more than 100 years old.

It is perhaps that breadth of business that has helped the company to consistently increase sales over the past 75 years, post earnings increases consistently over the past 24 years, and increase its dividend over the past 46 years — all points that Dominic touched on this AM.

It may not be making headlines now, but for weeks all we heard about was how difficult it was to get relief to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar — for political and logistical reasons. When I heard about how our corporate contributions group had managed to send relief supplies, I just had to find out more about how we sorted all of this out. I reached out to Leila Mueller who, as Humanitarian Assistance and Product Giving Specialist for Johnson & Johnson, was responsible for working with different relief agencies to figure this all out, and asked her a few questions:

How do you choose which relief organizations to work with for an effort like this?

Johnson & Johnson has a long history of supporting disaster relief efforts, so we have strong relationships with international organizations like UNICEF and World Vision who have an established presence in Myanmar. We are also working with AmeriCares, Direct Relief International, Heart to Heart International, MAP International, and the Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) to bring our consumer and medical products into Myanmar. Trust is a huge component in a disaster relief situation because we rely on our partners to tell us what is needed and how we can help.

I understand that getting relief to the victims in Myanmar has been more challenging than most relief efforts — how did our supplies make it to those who needed them?

What else can be done now?

There are about 2.5 million people in Myanmar who now are homeless, so there is still much that needs to be done. With the help of our partners, we plan to continue supporting the relief effort and the rebuilding process — those agencies include AmeriCares, Direct Relief International, Heart to Heart International, MAP International, SIGN, UNICEF and World Vision.