Reflection

When pursuing something new, it is valuable to take some time out partway through the journey to step back and reflect. An important element of strategic thinking is to reflect on what's working, what's not working, what you might change, and why you are doing what you are doing.

I will do that here for this newsletter.

I started this mini-project 7 weeks ago as a parallel outlet for insights and ideas alongside the strategy class I have been teaching in the Indiana University - Kelley School of Business MBA program.

It was an experiment inspired partly by Ryan Holiday 's newsletter "The Daily Stoic"

28 posts and 2100+ subscribers later, I feel it is a good time for a little reflection.

Objectives

I had a few objectives when I set out to do this:

• Connect with and educate current and former students in a different format
• Connect with other practitioners and academic colleagues interested in similar topics
• Create a practice of thinking and writing about a topic I care about in a disciplined and constructive way

What have I learned

• Former students seem to care much more about what I have to say than current students. The engagement and interest from former students has been significantly higher than current students - perhaps the insights are more relevant to them as they are working, maybe they have more time to engage on LinkedIn, or maybe current students have enough of me in the class.
• Many colleagues seem to care about and have commented on the newsletter - way more than I would have thought - and it has sparked more in-person hallway conversations at Indiana University - Kelley School of Business than I would have imagined, especially with colleagues I might not otherwise have chatted with.
• I have connected with some very interesting practitioners - but fewer than I would have hoped. One interesting connection for me is John Shoemaker - an alum of the Indiana University - Kelley School of Business and the current chairman of Extreme Networks . For many years, I was the recipient of the John and Donna Shoemaker Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship,?but John and I had never connected on LinkedIn. Yet, he started commenting on many of the ideas I shared here, and his insights were very valuable. Thanks, John!
• I have greatly valued the practice of daily thinking and writing that this process engenders. It has forced me to (a) think about some things more critically, (b) strive to communicate more effectively, and (c) push my learning and curiosity, even in an area where I already have a strong foundation of experience and insight.

Going forward

• I plan to continue the newsletter, even as the associated strategy class ends at the end of the semester.
• I will deviate into adjacent entrepreneurship and innovation topics -- especially entrepreneurial strategy and innovation strategy -- as I teach classes in those domains in the first quarter of 2025.
• I will continue to step back and take a break over the major holidays (e.g., between Christmas and New Year)

I welcome all others to comment, suggest ideas for posts, and even provide guest posts if you have something important to say.

Thanks for your support so far!