back to school
Last Tuesday, my boss, Steve Curran, and I visited Professor Walter Carl’s word of mouth, buzz and viral marketing class at Northeastern University. You can read Walter’s run down of the day here.
First, I have to say the fact that Northeastern University even offers this class is very encouraging. I was always very discouraged at BU as they were not as open to studying new forms of communication. Not only am I really happy to see a well-respected academic community give deserved attention to this area of communication, but I was so happy to find that the students in the class took the subject very seriously. They were all engaged in the conversation and asked some well-thought, in-depth and critical questions. Both Steve and I were impressed with the quality of students in the class and would be happy to consider any of them for an internship position at Pod Design. (send me your resumes!)
I was equally impressed with Dr. Carl. I had been following his blogs for about 6 months, but had never had the honor of meeting him in person. We were able to grab lunch after class and discuss everything from research to metrics to business models. Very educational. I find that some days it is far too easy to slip into a mirrored box at work, hanging out with great academics always helps to keep perspective. They remind me to think outside of my current spot and start asking some critical questions.
Preparing for this visit was also very healthy for me from a work perspective; It forced me to boil down what I do into a quick, 10 minute, synopsis. I was able to outline my priorities, justify my work and develop insight in the areas that are very important to my work but can often feel tedious or dull from day-to-day. It was also a great reminder of why I was motivated to take this job in the first place.
So, thank you to Dr. Carl and his class for a great experience!