My Take-5 of #RapertMktg

I think a Take-5 should take 5 minutes. So, if I successfully contained my enthusiasm for this class and Dr. Molly Rapert , you shouldn’t be bogged down with reading. I will say, though, this class has been my favorite in my Walton College career, and Molly has been my favorite and most impactful professor. Here are my 5 takeaways:

Where Values & Purpose Met:

Compassionately Challenge Others Towards Positive Change. I can still remember the view from the top of Willard J. Walker Hall at daybreak as the sun burnt the dew off sleepy Fayetteville on that early spring morning. I was anxiously holding my values deliverable in my hand, waiting for our small group sessions to start. I was nervous to share the vulnerability that shaped my values and influenced the way I want to live my life. I was also very underdressed – it’s important to read blackboard announcements. I trusted Molly’s process, and I watched as my classmates and advisor, Hannah Brunner , MBA, recrafted the view that I had created of myself. By sharing with others, I watched as my values and purpose met for the first time. I will keep them both with me.

Authenticity Shines in a Sea of Same:

We are all special. Even as we walk down the sidewalk, we shine with our own radiance, walk with our own cadence, and carry with us an infinite amount of different intentions. I think the biggest disservice you can do to yourself and the rest of us is to fix that uniqueness into a different mold that’s not yours. A lesson from our executive guests was to stick out in the sea of same by being authentically you. I loved that advice. Too often we feel we have to be someone else to be successful. Before you go looking for the secrets of success in others, have you checked in with yourself yet? You have lived a unique life that taught you lessons others may have missed or didn’t learn the same way. You can do special things because you are special. Believe that and have the courage to be you.

Focus on the Customer. Focus on What Matters:

I love it when someone asks what a business is and then we, as business students, try and answer it. There are so many great answers that come from these bright business minds. We usually think beyond what a business actually is, though. A business is simply a group of people. Usually, it’s a group of people trying to solve a problem for other people while being incentivized by profit motive. You can get lost in the details and forget the core of what matters. If you ask an engineering student, they will tell you that business isn’t complicated; it’s just hard because of the social stuff. That social stuff is what business is; everything else supports that main function. If you want to get everything else right, start with the relationship with your customer, then involve and support your employees, and finally, translate that into benefit for your shareholders. By focusing on people, you can get the social stuff right, and then everything else will likely fall into place.

People Want to Help; Show Them How:

Molly tallied up everyone who helped craft our class this semester. The number totaled 501 people… plus Molly. Dr. Rapert asked us to take a moment and internalize that. 501 people we had never met volunteered time and effort to help people they’d probably never meet. How does something like that happen? I believe it’s because people have an internal craving for meaning. Helping others gives your time more meaning than anything else will. It’s just difficult to know where to help. Molly is the reason those 501 people had an opportunity to make a difference. She provided the direction and the ask. I have a hard time asking for help. I’m not sure why, but it’s difficult to admit I can’t do it alone. It’s profound to realize the amount of people around us that will help if they’re given the direction and the ask.

Molly Rapert Effect: the Small Things in a Big Way

I’m sure you and Molly are probably shocked I haven’t mentioned a single marketing technique or principle. I assure you I learned things. I learned about shopper’s journey, purpose-driven marketing, customer centricity, store walks, retail media networks, subcultures, identity loyalty, what a brand actually is, and I’m confident I know at least the direction the future of marketing will be in. These things are important and the reason we took this class together. They likely won’t be the same in 5 years, but it was important as we begin our career that we have a mastery of them. However, 15, 25, 40 years from now, I won’t remember any of it.

What will I remember? I will remember what Molly was teaching us as she taught us. Molly is the greatest example of small things in a big way that I have ever seen. I’ve known for a while that I want to be a servant leader. I just hadn’t found a real-life role model of what that meant, yet. Molly showed up to our class every day 30 minutes before class started. She placed our handwritten name tents on a table I’m sure she moved there, and only she ever used. It was positioned right before the door and had print outs that were thoughtfully cut out by hand that guided us through that day’s topics. She remembered our names, she smiled every day, she was invested in our lives outside of class, she was vulnerable enough to take feedback, and she gave everyone in the class dignity and the spotlight. She was an expert at delegation and communication. It was never about her but was always about her class.

I will remember the lessons of life and leadership from Dr. Rapert long after I forget what SOVI means. Funny thing is, we didn’t pay for those lessons. It was just who Molly authentically is, and it made all the difference. #rapertmktg