Never Stop Learning. What Teaching an Academic Course Taught Me about Business.

Five years ago I was in this same position, nearly finished MBA school with 3 kids at home, working full-time, traveling often for work & feeling constantly exhausted.

Fast forward to today - I completed my 1st adjunct professorship at the same school, Saint Mary’s College of California – School of Economics and Business Administration! Another life goal was achieved. I have been teaching and onboarding new employees for years at a business level, but to teach at a University? I just didn't know if I could do it. What I didn't realize until now is that all my real-life experience was valuable to the students and made for very engaging conversations!

Someone once told me to always select the harder path in life to forge ahead and so when the opportunity presented itself last summer, I said, 'Yes!' I thought to myself, I will figure it out before class starts.

The term just finished and I learned so much from the class. Hopefully, the students felt the same way.

Here Are Some Random Takeaways From My Experience:

1. It is never too late to learn. I went back to school at 39. Three people in the class of 14 are expecting babies! All in different stages in life and all have the courage to invest in themselves. They showed up curious, open, and positive. What a fresh breath of air!

2. Apply emotional intelligence to your practice. Not everything comes from your experience or background. Be accommodating to people's circumstances. If they show up on zoom from an emergency room instead of in-person in a classroom, they still get full points for attendance. This actually happened in one of our classes!?Talk about commitment.

3. Continuously ask for feedback: Be open with feedback & share it in a way that will enable not discourage. Key to help people grow. I asked for feedback from the students throughout and adjusted accordingly. This class was about them not me. I also chose to give feedback in a class forum vs. written. I wanted all the students to learn how I was viewing their work and the why behind my evaluation. Not all of it was positive but I delivered it in a way that challenged them. I wanted them to challenge me back if they didn't agree and do it in a respectful way. If you give feedback, give it in real time and do it in a way to inspire not discourage - I repeat.

4. Start small when it comes to measuring but always start somewhere. An estimate, attempt, anything is better than nothing.

• What does good look like?
• The north star?
• What is failing fast and moving on look like? Start with defining these basic metrics in business and/or school.

But never give up. Just because one idea didn't work out doesn't mean making a few changes won't result in success.

5. Customer Success & Marketing Metrics are intertwined. Teaching a data-focused marketing class confirms what I have believed for a long time. Marketing is dependent on customer stories, on personas beyond the buyer (they need user personas too!). Break down the silos between these two teams. They are more dependent on each other than you realize.?

Thank you Dr. Saroja Subrahmanyan for inviting me to teach this course & mentoring me through it, to Dr. Priyanka Shrivastava, PhD and Dr. Kimberly Legocki, for your guidance on what works well with MBA students and what doesn't, to Mark Jeffery whose book I leveraged for the class & who shared his insights on the book so freely, and most of all - to these soon-to-be graduates!

Your enthusiasm, questions, hard work, all made the experience so rewarding.

#growthmindset #leadership?#marketing #customersuccess #keepthriving