Dr. Neil Hair

It's just not enough that Ive finished a quarter with a fantastic group of students (both of them), I've been learning a great deal from them. I miss being in the classroom already (yes, that's right - I actually LIKE doing this). Accordingly I've spotted a couple of areas where I can add value in a number of new online presentations. One of them will be built on the reflections on the client-consultant marketing planning process, essentially a how to guide on what needs to be considered when youre putting together a marketing plan, thinking more clearly about your audience in how you write and compile this all important document. The second comes from the success of several of my Marketing Concepts graduate class in their online presentations. Here was a group of students who had never met (I made sure of that), had never met the real world clients they worked for, and yet still managed to come together and dazzle the audience with some highly sophisticated presentations that charted their efforts in class at - lets not forget - a very basic level. I learned a lot form this process and would like to share their effectiveness with future classes. So - a mini project for me - above and beyond all of the research Im doing this summer. Oh and I'll be using the latest in technology to deliver it. Move over Breeze… enter Adobe Connect.

I read with concern a recent decision by the UK immigration services to deny entry and citizenship to one of our own foreign legion 'Gurkhas' who'd won the Victoria Cross in world war two for his valor on the field in Burma. In fact I feel so strongly about it I wanted to blog about it. For those of you that dont know, the UK government decided back in the 1800's to enlist the support of a group of insurgents who fought viciously against the East India Company (British owned) for many years. In fact the British military establishment considered the 'Gorkhas' the fiercest combatants they had ever faced (the sort that openly laugh at the SAS and marines these days for eating their cornflakes out of bowls and dressing wounds). They continue to this day to serve the country - for instance in Iraq until recently they guarded the coalition provisional authority compound in Baghdad. These guys - in militaristic terms - really are the best out there. Dedicated, honest, loyal and above all else fierce. The 84 year old veteran wants to move to the UK for health reasons and I for one (who paid British taxes to support the national health service for many years) say simply - let him in. Not because he's earned the right, but because we owe it to him. I for one want this sort of a person living in the UK. It adds greatly to our national spirit the same way America supports the entrance of those who want to be part of American society. The difference in this case though, is that Gurkha Pun has proved his worth on the field. Time to prove our own off of it. Follow his cause here: http://www.vchero.co.uk/

Finally it's over. I can relax - grades in, courses finished, graduation over, ready for some much needed RnR. The two day celebration has been one of the best, I avoided major sun damage on Friday's outdoor ceremony, I saw Stan Hoi recieve his Eisenhart award, Tom Prey in his last before retiring, and most importantly my friend Milagros cross the stage getting her MBA!! Way to go Milly!! On the down side the college looses a number of great students - too many - most of them in the Marketing field. This year is particularly bad for it. Good luck Dan, Inga, Kaz, Greg, Heidi, Nik, David, Tamira, Akira, Steve, Ryan, Lazo, Ram, Isha, Nuno, and the list goes on - stay in touch and out of trouble. You'll be missed. Like I said last year around this sort of time, it's the only downside to the job.

We had a fantastic day on Saturday at the end of the quarter for my B2B E-Marketing class. A full production crew was on hand to record student presentations as they debreifed their clients. First off we had a team going live to China as the client was away on business visiting suppliers but didnt want to miss the action. The result was a crystal clear broadband reception complete with a live video and audio feed using the Breeze platform and a powerpoint presentation that the team of four had put together. The result was absolutely first class! The client extremely pleased and the professor VERY proud. Next we had two other projects with clients present to hear what the students recommendations. Again - a phenomenal success it must be said. The remaining teams present to their clients this week. It's what I love about teaching, applying the theory, experiential learning at a level where many educators believe it cant be done, and seeing students proudly presenting their efforts of a class that is, lets face it, only ten weeks long.

Guys, you did well. I'll miss you.

Amusing, Mars (a very popular confectionery in Europe and the rest of the world and Mick Jaggers favourite) announced at the beginning of the week that it was sorry - but vegetarians would no longer be able to eat its product because it was adding an animal based ingredient (rennet - taken from calves stomachs) - presumably to save some money leaving the corporate affairs manager to dish the dirty although Im not so sure of the companies motives. Today - just 6 days later, 6000 emails and many hundreds of telephone calls and the company has said sorry - 'we got it wrong' - 'we love the cheese eating peoples of the earth and even more so if they're OD'ing on our products and we will abandon plans for change'. The CEO this time offered her apologies and admitted foolishness. The result? People love Mars, bit of free international publicity, initial scorn and then lots of love for listening to peoples concerns. Call me a cynic but was this a publicity ploy? Could we be in the age of brinkmanship with free publicity the purpose? Fairytale endings meets corporate Britain? Back in the UK there's a lot of press this week about the art of saying a simple sorry to customers facing the inevitable telephone call centre. Simple truth isn't it? The two magic words may well be please and thank you, but being able to say sorry is increasingly the single most important. I say sorry to my wife every day. Why dont companies get it? Worried about the legal implications of a simple apology? WAKE UP!! Be more concerned about the death of a long term relationship people…

In 1999 I was cajoled into offering my services for raising money for the class gift. I'd only been on campus a few short months and already had a line of students wanting to pay $25 for the privilege of putting one square in my kisser. Even the then girlfriend (now wife) wanted in on the action. Yesterday I stepped up again having come second in a Saunders GMA (graduate management association) contest. Miracle Whip still tastes the same - awful. Will post the video in due course for the pleasure of all of my current students (call it stress release for those completing their projects). Pictures of the event are available on the Saunders COB site.

The Provost recently announced the 2007-2008 Provosts Award Winner for Excellence in Teaching and my good friends Tina Collison (College of Science), Bill Evans (Saunders College of Business) and Alex Bitterman (School of Design) were amongst the finalists. I had the pleasure of sitting on the committee as  last years winner and the competition was tough. In fact I think it may have contributed towards expensive dental work for me. I really enjoyed the class visits and was struck by the effectiveness of all of the finalist but especially my three friends. Tina is a remarkable teacher - she take's something that scares me half to death and makes it interesting (chemistry!!!). I am convinced she is without doubt a future Eisenhart propper winner! (Tina was also a finalist last year which just goes to show how consistent she is the classroom - if Chem is your thing - Tina is the answer). Well done Tina!! Tenure is surely in the bag!! Bill Evans, our own grown Accounting professor in the COB was also excellent in the classroom. As a marketer it is my birthrite to hate numbers and all those that play with them. Not Bill, I actually learned a formula whilst sat in his class for an hour. Impressive stuff. And Alex, the winner of this years award was - well plain and simple - sickeningly good in the class room. Extremely passionate about his role, he, like my other friends mentioned in this blog, is simply phenomenal at what he does. The atmosphere in class was excellent, students engaged, professor engaged. Im extremely proud that all three were given significant praise by the committee and Im even more pleased that I have gotten to know them.

Well done Alex, a remarkable job. Next round (or two) on you.

I recently upgraded an Athlon 1ghz machine to new specs following literally years of frustration. I'm pleased that I did. It's a four year ritual which (for me at least) starts in year 3 with a review of specs and then a period of mourning waiting for prices to come down. Last week my dream machine hit the right price point. I am now sporting a gorgeous Lian-Li server case with 2gb of Patriot ram, a screaming Intel e6600 duo cpu, a state of the art 8800 graphics card (easily the most expensive part inside of the new rig) and a 1000w power supply (she's hungry).

Putting machines together is my least favourite hobby. You loose about 2lbs in sweat when youre playing with such expensive kit. The wife looks on nervously as you attach your grounding arm band and you place the cats in a 2 mile exclusion zone. Shes even more nervous when it comes to powering up and playing with the bios. Thankfully, I am still here and very pleased with the result (despite it directly contributing to expensive dental work which I am convinced was brought on by the stress of the affair). In fact I wish I'd done this a year ago. The processing power for video is amazing. A one hour DVD used to take about 4 hours to process completely. Now it takes a little under 20 minutes. The new lightscribe DVD recorder is also effective. Clients will love the understated results. Whats most impressive though is the 8800 graphics card (512mb ram, over clocked of course - I know you love it when I talk technical). One of my biggest weaknesses is for first person shoot em up games like Battlefield2, F.E.A.R and the Call of Duty franchise. These games now take on a very disconcerting reality which for about a second leaves you wanting to negotiate peace rather than blast MEC forces into oblivion. Then the second passes and you sit there mouth open, cats back on lap, showing off expensive dental work.

There is nothing in the world so painful as a slow machine. If you find yourself looking around the room whilst waiting for tasks to complete or begin - then it is time to stump up the cash for a change and an upgrade. My old machine is much loved, and will with a partial rebuild form the basis of a new media centre in the lounge (which the wife just loves the idea of - not).

Interesting report from CNN on Duke MBA cheats. What's interesting about this case is that the professor noted unusual similarities in the overall responses to tests and decided to look back at previous submissions (smart move - grades can be changed retroactively). The result? Several students with ruined reputations, course fees wasted and no idea if they could have actually made the grade on their own. It makes for interesting reading because the story suggests the reputations will be tarnished for only a few weeks. For those who are expelled of course the ramifications are far worse. What they dont realize for those caught with minor infractions (I love that term - youre either a cheat or youre not) is that their details are also likely to be named at some stage, by those who didnt cheat. This stuff spreads quickly. A number of universities are moving towards the online anonymous naming and shaming of students suspected of violating honor codes. Once google gets hold of this - youre on record for life. Try explaining that on your facebook account.

Oh, and dont cheat. Ever

Ive worked on a number of research projects looking at personal branding. One looked at the differences with an honors student on personally branded web sites of marketing professionals (if you'd be interested in researching a similar study on newly graduated students please let me know - Im also interested). One of them explored the channels available for this.

Here they are: please feel free to add to these and comment.

• Personal Website: enough said.
• Your blog: these are extremely personal comments on life. What are you saying and about what? What are people saying about what you say?
• Avatars: the pictures you use as your personal calling card on MSNIM, AOL and AIM.
• Your ranking in search engines: admit it - you've googled yourself. What can you do to improve your listing?
• Your reputation in search engines: admit it - you've googled yourself and explored what others may have said about you. How do you manage your reputation as articulated by others?
• Your email address: ilovetoparty247@aol.com or something more appropriate?
• Your email signature: say NO to 'something very contentious and possibly very offensive'. Best leave this to the basic contact details.
• Your social networks: facebook, myspace or linkedin? Id go with the latter and keep the formers 'permission' based.
• Your comments on social networks: seriously, what are you saying about that party last week?
• Your channels, webTV and other: you like youtube. Dont we all.. what are you commenting on and what comments are you leaving? A little Big brother? Most employers will grab any chance they can to dig a little deeper than that stale resume.
• Your adoption and use of new technology: are you using these latest sites & technology or not? what does that say about you?
• Your wish list: oh yes - my favorite. That ole amazon wishlist. You wont believe until you see with your own eyes the kyle minogue fans out there…

Just a few thoughts for you, some more important today than others but that will change tomorrow. Any surprises here? Do let me know, anything missing? please especially let me know.

Neil.