Kevin Lee was halfway through his presentation when the doubts crept in. The 43-year-old scientist at Glaxo Smith Kline, Britain’s biggest drug company, was pitching for the future of his research project, but the audience, mostly executives from the group, wasn’t biting. Not one had asked a question. “It was quite unnerving. I thought, have I done something wrong?” he recalled. Lee, who heads a team of 60 scientists fighting diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, needed a result. At the meeting last month, he was trying to secure a commitment from his employer that it would fund the team for the next three years.
