The Smartest Launch We Never Made!

When Data Says "Go", and Context Says 'Stop!"

Why Brilliant Strategies Fail Without Context

It was 2010. I was tasked with assessing the feasibility and marketing strategy for a new cardiovascular medication.

For weeks, I buried myself in product manuals, clinical studies, and market analyses. I reviewed what other affiliates were doing and compared their strategies to their sales results. After countless hours of research, I presented my conclusions to my boss.

He shouted in joy, “Brilliant plan!”

It was a bold, new positioning that targeted an underserved market segment. I had built both the business rationale and medical justification to support it. Everything looked perfect on paper.

Then came his next question.
“So, what’s your launch plan? When do we start promoting this product?”

I stayed silent for a moment and replied calmly, “Never.”

The Look on His Face Said It All

He stared at me in disbelief. “Why not?”

I explained, “Companies that succeed in cardiovascular therapy have a particular way of launching. They go to market with massive investments, extensive scientific evidence, and a long-term mindset before even thinking about breaking even. That’s not how we operate. Our model is built for quick wins and fast ROI. This product demands patience and infrastructure that we don’t have.”

After a long discussion, he agreed to hold off until we could observe how other affiliates performed.

A year later, he came back from a regional meeting and said, “You were right. Management is roasting the affiliates that launched. They’re behind targets and struggling to justify the investment. I think we dodged a bullet.”

I smiled.
I had my eyes on the 3C’s.

The 3C’s of Competent Consulting

At Retina Group, we believe that sound strategy is never built on data alone. True consulting competency comes from integrating three essential resources, just as the human retina integrates multiple sources of light to form one clear image.

1. Core Data & Expected Deliverables

This is the foundation: facts, numbers, metrics, and goals. Your revenue targets. Your market share objectives. Your customer insights.

Most consultants stop here. They analyze the data, draw patterns, and make recommendations based on what the numbers suggest. But data is only one-third of the picture.

Data tells you what is happening. It doesn’t tell you why it’s happening or whether your organization can actually deliver on the insights.

2. Context, Capabilities & Circumstances

Context is what grounds strategy in reality. It includes your market dynamics, team capabilities, organizational culture, timing, and constraints.

Context answers questions such as:

• What is happening in your industry right now?

• What is your real capacity for execution?

• What external pressures or internal politics might shape outcomes?

• What cultural or market-specific factors could influence success?

Without context, even the best analysis leads to misguided conclusions.

3. Cumulative Experience

Experience turns information into wisdom. It allows you to recognize patterns, spot hidden risks, and sense when a plan looks great on paper but won’t survive implementation.

Experience reveals:

• Which “best practices” consistently fail in reality

• What early warning signs signal trouble

• How similar decisions played out in the past

• What shortcuts usually backfire

In the story above, experience helped me recognize that a “brilliant plan” without the right infrastructure and patience would become a brilliant failure.

Why All Three Matter

• Core Data only: You get accurate analysis with no real-world application.

• Data + Context but no Experience: You understand the problem but repeat costly beginner mistakes.

• Data + Experience but no Context: You use yesterday’s solutions for today’s challenges.

• All Three Combined: You get strategies that are analytically sound, contextually grounded, and practically proven.

How Retina Group Applies the 3C’s

When we work with clients, we begin with curiosity, not conclusions.

1. We gather your Core Data — metrics, goals, challenges.

2. We uncover your Context — through discovery sessions, stakeholder interviews, and organizational assessments.

3. We apply our Cumulative Experience — built from over 30 years across healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and complex multinational environments.

The result is clarity.
Solutions that work in your reality, not just on paper.