Archive for the MBA Spin category
20SMF Episode #75 – The Final Episode…Sort Of
by Jared on December 15th, 2008
The final episode of the 20-Something Marketing podcast…sort of. Tune in to hear what’s happening.
Leave us your comments, questions and suggestions on the show notes!
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Three Things MBAs Can Learn From The 2008 Election
by Jared on November 5th, 2008
Originally Posted On OwenBloggers.com
Regardless of where you stand politically, I think we can all agree that the 2008 election turned “conventional thinking” on its head in way that very few events in recent history have been able to. As a business student and a huge fan of socio-political trend watching, I also find that there are really interesting lessons we as MBAs can take away from the election, no matter what discipline we’ve chosen.
1 – The Next Generation Has Arrived
3.5 Million new voters were registered this election spanning not only age but also ethnicities. In fact, according to national exit polls, 68% of voters that chose Barack Obama and 31% that chose John McCain were voting for the first time. To boot, turnout was as much as 89% in some states.
What this means for MBAs is that this election has marked the arrival of The Next American Generation culturally and demographically. Because of the strong impact this generation has shown in the election, what were once talking points for experts in finance, marketing, strategy and human capital will now become more like facts.
The lesson here is that the impact of this generation is no longer abstract for many of us, it’s reality.
2 – Stay On Message, Stay Authentic
If you had to pick a single word that described each candidate’s message, chances are that it would be “Change” for Obama and “Maverick” for McCain. Wait a minute, wasn’t it also “Change” for McCain as well? What about “Country First?”
The fact of the matter is that this election also proved a seminal rule about how consumers view authenticity and marketing. Because of the shifts that kept on being made in his message strategy, McCain lost a brilliant opportunity to capitalize on his own authenticity.
With the rise of new media and the Internet, consumers are becoming hyper-aware of who’s trying to get their attention and are becoming less forgiving to those they believe are just pandering to whatever they think they want to hear. The lesson here is to pick a message, whether in your marketing, strategy or in your mission statement that hits at the very core of your authenticity and then stick with it!
3 – The Black Swan Is Real
Even before you begin business school, you start to deal in probabilities. In fact much of modern learning is built on confidence intervals, majority populations/outcomes and marginal risk. What happens if an event lands in the long tail however, where the improbable becomes reality like it did in the recent financial meltdown?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls this a black swan and it hit this election like a Mack Truck. The point of a black swan is though it has a very very small probability of occurring, it’s impact all but wipes out the effects of all the “normal” and “predictable” outcomes.
The lesson here is that risk and innovation go together hand-in-hand and just because a scenario has a very small probability of happening, it’s effects should at least be considered in forward-thinking.
This election has been an incredible ride; one that has kept us glued to CNN for way more hours than some of us would like to admit. Now that its over, we have to ask ourselves “what’s next?” After all, we are all in this together and regardless of who you voted for, we all have to get jobs come May.
Technorati Tags: Black Swan, Election 2008, Financial Meltdown, MBA, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, socio-political, Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, voter turnout
Technorati Tags: Black Swan, Election 2008, Financial Meltdown, MBA, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, socio-political, Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, voter turnout
Heads-Up: Back In DC For Reaching Out, The Gay MBA Conference
by Jared on October 29th, 2008
Hi There Marketing Fans!
It’s been almost 6 months but I am finally getting back to DC for the annual Reaching Out for GLBT MBAs. Ever since I learned about the conference about a year ago I have been psyched up for this opportunity.
Given the fact that much of what I have gotten to talk about on this show about being gay and in business, you can imagine how great this going to be.
If you happen to be in town or are going to the conference, shoot me a message via the blog – I would love to meet up!
Best,
Jared
Technorati Tags: GLBT MBA, LBGT MBA Conference, Reaching Out
20SMF Episode #74 – Interview w/Dr. Mark Albion (Author of More Than Money)
by Jared on October 19th, 2008
Are most MBAs out to change the world through business or is it all about the money? Dr. Mark Albion has a new book out that might just answer that question and even suggest ways MBAs can do both.
The audio quality of the interview isn’t the best but its well worth it for the content.
Leave us your comments, questions and suggestions on the show notes!
Referenced Links:
- OwenBloggers.com
- Amazon.com: More Than Money: Questions Every MBA Needs to Answer: Redefining Risk and Reward for a Life of Purpose
- Follow Me On Twitter!
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A “thank you” card from the intersection of my dream internship and real life
by Jared on July 20th, 2008
If you ask me what it is that I have done with my new media experience while getting my MBA – I probably won’t have a single, decent answer. Oh, I have plenty of decent answers, mind you; I just haven’t found one that fits all occasions.
At first, I started off thinking new media wouldn’t be a good hook for the more traditional brand management MBA internships I was after. Then, I realized that new media MBA internships actually existed and tried to pivot my search in that direction and new media became my main selling point. Ultimately, I ended up wasting so much time figuring out how to market myself that April came around and I still didn’t have an internship locked down.
While most of my friends were signing great summertime commitments with companies like P&G and Deloitte, I was stuck trying to figure out if I could realistically pass off the title of “Barista” as graduate-level job experience. Then, it happened; my dream internship fell into my lap when I was least expecting it.
Granted, the experience did come with a few strings. Before I could take the internship, for instance, I would also have to spend a month coaching undergraduates in business strategy. What happened here was real life…apparently it happens, occasionally.
Flash forward to the last four weeks of summer: Most of my friends are either getting ready to complete their internships or have so, already. I, on the other hand, am only a quarter into my dream internship, trying to figure out how to cram 8 to 10 weeks of experience into just 4. Though I have to spend countless hours over the weekend working on presentations and creative briefs – literally turning out pages of the best marketing ideas I have ever had – it’s the reminder that this is real life that keeps me going.
In new media, when we step out of the digital-meta-wiki-blog-pod bubble, we’re sometimes surprised to find that the real world can, and will go on without us. The benefit I have found however is that my time in new media has made me more entrepreneurial and ready to face those glimmers of opportunity, no matter how strange or oddly they are presented to us.
For that, I am eternally grateful for my circle of new media friends and the people I have met along the way. Thank you.
Technorati Tags: new media, mba internships, surviving business school
How should KFC change its business model to attract 20-somethings?
by Jared on June 28th, 2008
(Some of the undergrads I coach, posing with the colonel at KFC’s museum)
One of the more interesting sides of my various MBA internships this summer is the chance to guide undergrads through several, strategic-level consulting initiatives. Of course, my favorites are the ones where we are able to find ways to get your input into their direction.
In fact, here’s your chance to weigh in on a project we’re working on for KFC: http://urlzen.com/6k
The team has structured a quick survey about Fast Food in general, and KFC in particular, that we would love to have your opinion included in. As with most the of the surveys I work with, I’ve encouraged them to get creative with the insights they want to gather. Help us get to a statistically significant sample size (for the purposes of this survey, they want 100 responses by Sunday morning).
Again, we need your input on a survey for Fast Food and KFC so take a moment to browse over to our survey page and let us know what you think!
Technorati Tags: Colnel Sanders, KFC, Owen Accelerator, Owen Graduate School of Management, Accelerator
How Elvis Helped Me Get My Work-Life Balance Back
by Jared on May 3rd, 2008
At about 5:30 this morning, my Treo buzzed me awake with a message from my friend and future roommate. She had decided against taking our planed trip to the Kentucky Derby Infield with the rest of our business school friends and wanted to know if that would affect my plans?
Not being the biggest fan of mud-filled fields of loud, drunken horseracing fans myself; I was inclined to agree with her course of action. The problem was that after weeks of intense work culminating in exams, I was counting on this trip to get me out of Nashville for the day.
After a couple of text exchanges, we agreed that a road trip of some magnitude was in order. Our destination, we decided, was Memphis. Only about 200 miles away, we could hit up Graceland, the Mississippi River and some of the best barbeque in the south – all while fulfilling the need to get us the heck out of here.
I have to say the trip was incredible from a lot of different angles. For instance, you know how they say, “getting there is half the fun?” Well, in this case the fun was discovering strange quirks about my future roommate.These quirks would include her affinity for singing along to Taylor Swift and her eerie ability to detect Wal-Mart stores from just about any distance. Seriously, it was creepy.
At the end of the day though, I was kind of left feeling that the trip had lacked somehow? We had a blast, we talked, we dove into some great ribs on Beale Street and yet I am still not feeling that the trip did the trick. Somehow, I needed more.
Business school, it turns out, essentially takes a lot more than hard work. It takes an almost maniacal identification with your chosen course of study. Simply stated; I didn’t have any work to do so even the most awesome road trip I have taken in years failed to validate me.
This is a problem that I think all of us have from time to time and though it’s not something to call a shrink over (yet), it’s still important to bring it to light. Honestly, as soon as I realized the problem, I was able to adjust my frame of reference. Instead of thinking of all the things I didn’t have to do – I looked for things OTHER than work that I could busy myself with this evening; writing my thoughts down on this blog being one of them.
The point is that just like “The King” and his life, you can’t let a job like getting drafted into the Army keep you from enjoying yourself. As I think back on today and the immense fun I had strolling the grounds of Graceland, I really am thankful for the ability to soak it all in. It turns out – that’s the only important thing; that I did it, enjoyed myself and get to take those experiences back with me whenever I do decide to get back to work. For now, I get to keep them to myself, and anyone that wants to see the photos.
That story being told; how do you approach this issue? How do you approach a problem like this of work-life balance?
Technorati Tags: beale street, elvis, memphis, road trip, work-life balance
20SMF Episode #71 – MBA Spin: One Year Down
by Jared on April 24th, 2008
On the last day of my first year of business school, I reflect on “what have I really learned?” as an MBA student.
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Technorati Tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, OwenBloggers, MBA, surviving business school, Vanderbilt