From Disney to Starbucks, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Don’t Let Complacency Derail Your Career – Kellogg Insights
Carter Cast, the Northwestern Kellogg Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and author of “The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers Are Made — and Unmade,” writes about how “Version 1.0” employees who “lack curiosity and avoid taking risks” may find themselves professionally derailed.
“You have to find ways to stay fresh, especially in this day and age with the massive rate of change in technology. Disruption is everywhere.”
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- Following a promotion, understand your supervisor’s expectations. “Ask the boss: ‘With this new job, what will I have done in two years to make you think that this was a good move to promote me? What are the key success metrics I should be aiming for?’”
- Increase your learning agility, or how quickly you develop and apply new skills by honing a discovery mindset. “[Force] yourself to acquire new skills that could help you down the road. If you work in sales, for example, you might take time to understand how the marketing team leverages its social marketing assets.”
- Identify your particular “area of innate resistance,” which Cast believes can stifle career growth if not addressed. He advises to spend more time being open to what you could learn than spending time and energy on what you already know.
- Cast advises Version 1.0 types to “adopt the ‘lean thinking’ mentality in order to refresh their thinking and test new ideas.”
- Networks that individuals can “rely on for information and assistance” are critical when jobs are constantly in flux. According to the article, “A strong, diverse network can help you bounce back after a challenge or shake-up.”
You can read more from the article here.
From Disney to Starbucks, Shewalter Doesn’t Shy Away From Big Challenges – Gies College of Business News
The U. Illinois Gies College of Business recently profiled Erik Shewalter (BADM ’14) who offers insights from his transition from Disney’s DTC streaming service to product management role at the Starbucks Rewards Innovation Team where he oversees strategy and innovation.
Shewalter spoke at length about a defining moment from his “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity at the Disney-branded streaming service where he realized how much he loved the work he was doing.
“One of the defining moments of my career will forever be one of my first meetings with Kevin Mayer (Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer and International). I came to the meeting prepared, and because I was so immersed in the data, I was able to share specific insights that influenced decisions like the choice to include Star Wars and Marvel content in the streaming service.”
One major reason Shewalter left Disney for Starbucks was to work alongside his fiancée Naomi Liu (FIN, BADM ’15) who works in food innovation.
“There are so many little perks that materialize every day, such as sharing a commute, or even sharing our networks (which is critical for succeeding at Starbucks). Also, we love to surprise each other by bringing the other person drinks and snacks throughout the day.”
Check out the entire Gies College of Business News interview here.
Rogers Park and Edgewater Businesses Becoming More Sustainable with Loyola’s Help – Quinlan School of Business
With the support of Loyola University’s Quinlan School of Business Experiential Learning Communities in Solidarity program, professor Nancy Landrum orchestrated partnerships with Smack Dab Chicago and Edge of Sweetness Bakery for her Sustainable Business Management class.
Teams from Landrum’s class “performed waste, water, and simple energy audits and completed greenhouse gas inventories” and then organized “cash mob” events to attract customers to the businesses.
According to the article, “Edge of Sweetness saw a 216 [percent] increase in sales during the cash mob, and Smack Dab Chicago saw a 51 [percent] increase.”
Edge of Sweetness co-owner Kate Merrill (BSN ’96) writes, “I was delighted and surprised by how thorough they were during the initial evaluation. They were also very proactive about what they wanted to do with the projects, which was very nice to see.”
Smack Dab Chicago co-founder Axel Erkenswick adds, “I was interested to see how in-depth the students went into their audits, including going through our waste. Energy conservation is important to me, because it shows customers that we are more than a McDonald’s. We are community driven and put our efforts into helping the environment.”
Read more about the Quinlan program here.
Jeff Sessions Learns Lessons from Notre Dame, and More – Chicago News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Chicago business schools this week.
Stop Flailing and Start Delivering – Kellogg Insights
Of the “five common issues that impede career progress” Northwestern Kellogg clinical professor of innovation and entrepreneurship Carter Cast writes about in his new book, The Right (and Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers Are Made—and Unmade, the one issue that people most frequently self-identify is struggling to keep up.
Cast writes, “Careers can derail when people don’t deliver on promises. This can be a real problem because fellow workers start to distance themselves when they think you can’t be counted on.”
Cast offers five suggestions for how to “get organized and get ahead.”
1) Be Clear on What’s Expected of You
“Being clear with your boss on what success looks like is really important for setting expectations and ensuring you’re aligned. What are your goals and objectives for the year? What are the key initiatives that map to those objectives? What are the timelines for those initiatives, and what sort of resources will you need?”
2) Understand Your Organization’s Workflow Process
Cast says creative types tend to “overpromise and underdeliver” because “their eyes are typically bigger than their stomachs.” To these folks, Cast says, “Decide which tasks will really move the needle for your organization, and focus on those first. You can’t treat every message in your inbox equally.”
3) Be Intentional about Prioritizing Your Work
Cast suggests “breaking your day into segments and tackling challenging work during times when you are sharpest and most productive.” For instance, if your brain is most active between six and ten in the morning, for instance, that may not be the best time to respond to noncritical emails.”
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4) Learn How to Say “No”
Cast writes that people-pleasers “tend to take on more than they should—their default response is, “yes, why not?” But learning when to say “no,” and learning to do it tactfully, is critical for preserving valuable time and energy.”
5) Look for Opportunities to Delegate
Cast says, “We tend to think the best person to perform a given task is ourselves. In many cases, you have to learn to let go a bit. Things won’t go exactly the way you’d like, but you have to move forward and avoid needless distractions.”
You can check out the full article here.
Larry Gies Urges 2018 Graduates to “Find Your Way” – Gies School of Business Blog
Madison Industries founder, president, and CEO Larry Gies used his speech at Gies’ recent Convocation ceremony, which honored the “1,824 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree recipients,” as an opportunity to inspire graduates to spend time pinpointing their passion for what they do—or their “why.”
Gies, who donated $150 million to the University of Illinois last year, thus, changing the name of the business school in his honor, explains, “Knowing your why is critical. It is the ability to connect the dots between what you’re doing each and every day and a higher purpose. Our why is what drives us, inspires others around us, and allows us to persevere during those difficult moments. To put it simply, when you find your why, you love what you do.”
Gies adds, “I was forty-five before I found my why.”
Find out more about Gies’ speech here.
I’m a Biblical Scholar. It’s Clear That Jeff Sessions Needs a Bible Lesson – Mendoza Ideas & News
Notre Dame Mendoza business ethics professor and former Jesuit priest Joseph Holt contributed an op-ed to a recent issue of Fortune in which he took Attorney General Jeff Sessions to task for his “use of scripture to defend the Trump administration’s immigration policies.”
Professor Holt writes, “Sessions is pursuing justice understood as the strict and impartial application of the law. That shriveled understanding of justice is captured in the statement by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: ‘In the United States, if you break the law, you go to jail and you’re separated from your family.’
He adds, “From that viewpoint justice and mercy are opposed, because mercy could impede the administration of strict justice. But tzedek [the Hebrew word for “justice”] and its derivative tzedakah (which is a commandment to give as an act of social justice), mean justice and mercy working in unison.”
You can read the full article here.
New Northwestern Career Video Series Tells You How to Own Your Career
The Career Management Center (CMC) at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management recently launched the “Own Your Own Career” video series aimed to develop brave leaders.
The series was created for prospective and current students, along with alumni, to discuss aspects of managing a career throughout its life cycle. The videos also touch on how Kellogg students can bring value to employers and demonstrate the qualities they seek.
The goal of the video series is not only to help students launch their careers, but also to help them gain the skills and mindset they need to manage their careers over a lifetime, explains Liza Kirkpatrick, senior director of the CMC for the full-time MBA program at Kellogg.
Kellogg Senior Director of Career Management Liza Kirkpatrick
“To that end, we enlisted some of the best minds at Kellogg to address topics that are foundational to owning your career—developing your network, career agility, resiliency, selling your career, and leadership.”
Kirkpatrick continues, “These quick videos tell a narrative about career management that will resonate with and be informative to a broad array of audiences, including prospective and current students.”
The first four episodes of the “Own Your Own Career” series are already online.
- Episode 1: Starting the Career Journey—The first episode highlights three different individuals: Liza Kirkpatrick, Adnan Rukieh, director of the CMC for the executive MBA and evening & weekend MBA; and Matthew Temple, director of the CMC for alumni career and professional development. Together they discuss how individuals can start their career right now.
- Episode 2: Professor Harry Kraemer on Networking—The second episode delves into the importance of networking, emphasizing the value of helping others so they might return the favor in the future. Kraemer talks about networking as a lifelong journey and a key to reaching the C-suite.
- Episode 3: Associate Dean and Professor Bernie Banks on Leadership—This third episode discusses what it takes to be an influential leader who inspires people to perform. Banks dives deep into the situational nature of leadership and how to get people to fulfill your expectations.
- Episode 4: Professor Carter Cast on Career Agility—In episode four, Cast talks about being self-reflective during a career transition. He encourages viewers to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to think several steps ahead when it comes to their career.
“The video series enhances and expands the CMC’s foundational work by highlighting faculty and industry thought leaders who can provide practical examples based on their experience of how to actively manage or own one’s career,” Kirkpatrick says.
“The series provides a roadmap for being proactive and present in your own career development and encourages students to continue asking the right questions to shape their career, not only while looking for a job, but throughout their entire career life cycle.”
