Dr. Neil Hair

This quarter I managed to receive grant funding in support of my research program which essentially buys me out of teaching until the Winter. However, there is still a Professor Hair on the roster of Saunders faculty. A Dr R Hair rather than a Dr N Hair. My wife starts teaching Organizational Behavior in class and online in the fall and Im looking forward to seeing her in action. Dr R Hair shares a number of similarities with her husband regards teaching style and philosophy. Student centered, experiential, interactive, and - hopefully - fun. I've reminded myself just how much fun you can have inventing a course from scratch. It also reminded me of just how much work and preparation goes into designing what we both call - a good experience - in the classroom. We've had several long conversations about our pedagogical approaches and there are a few differences - mainly given the fact that OB is very different in nature to that of marketing. Shes really looking forward to it as well which I think is always a good sign. Its certainly making for interesting conversation and its reminding me of all the issues I faced initially when I started my teaching career - plenty of soul searching in terms of who you are and what you want to accomplish in terms of the classroom experience.

I was delighted to learn that my blog and site has been listed in the top 50 business professor blogs by http://www.mbaexplorer.com/. Site visits continue to grow as does my reader base. People often ask me why I do it. The answer is that I enjoy it and it helps me stay in touch with my network. It also serves many additional purposes - materials for class and corporate training programs, humor, keeping family and friends updated among them. You can check the report here.

It is with mixed feelings to report that Phil Tyler - my mentor and close friend has finally left the building. On Thursday evening Phil taught his last marketing class for us and I was there with his wife and my wife to greet him. Phil has been with the college for almost 40 years and has never taken a quarter off from teaching in that time. His plans now - he tells me - are to travel and take it easy. The allure of life without grading it seems, was just too much. Mixed feelings because I'll miss having him as a colleague (he hired me back in 1999 as a visitor) but I'm pleased for him and Carol that life 3.0 is about to begin. Best wishes mate.

This summer I completed my third online learning class at the MBA level using the Adobe Connect suite of products. I'm a passionate convert to the platform and so are my students and their clients. The course I teach mirrors the in-class version of Marketing Concepts;

• Office hours - twice a week face to face (in one of the Connect Meeting rooms set up specifically for it).
• Small study sets of no more than 6 students working for a real client needing marketing help.
• Secure team rooms where students meet with each other, me, and the client to discuss the project.
• Bespoke lecture materials streamed in Adobe Presenter format and MP3 for those on the go.
• Client deliverables include an online presentation (sometimes pre-recorded) and a live debrief session in their Connect Meeting room.
• and the usual levels of rigor and stress that tends to accompany one of my classes and then some.

The feature I enjoy most about Adobe Connect is the ability to record and archive live meetings. This takes the whole client presentation and debrief to a new level of usability. More people get to see it. What a I love most about the process is that a team of masters students can co-exist in a virtual space, deliver top quality marketing plans and present all of their hard work without ever having physically met either myself, the client or eachother in the process. Many of us have also travelled this summer whilst still being able to fully engage in this process. Now if that isnt REAL online learning then I dont know what is. Congratulations summer class of 08. A fantastic set of projects. YouTube video of these guys in action to follow…

So. Having successfully removed the excessive levels of zink protecting my little ginger skin from the sun today - my red head loving wife sent me a link to a Telegraph article that she found on Vogue. It seems that Vogue, in its fine wisdom of all things fashion, has decided to post for the 7th time in its 116 year history a 'glorious' picture of Karen Elson - on the front page. No doubt Karen's lovely pale complexion has been maintained by her similar use of SPF factor 50 (thats right - fifty in my case). Anyways, the world is said to be in shock. Several issues of note from the article: That there is a "red-headed reputation for being hot-tempered and being hypersensitive to pain" - a comment so absolutely rubbish that I flew into a violent rage before getting a headache - that we are "proud flame-throwers" (I particularly liked that one) and of course liberal smatterings of use of the word 'Duracell' (trademark infringement noted in the article by the way) and most imaginatively 'carrot top' and 'ginger nut' by the author Hannah Betts. I actually enjoyed reading it to be honest - but seriously - only 7 times in 116 years? What they need now are statistics demonstrating the hike in readership for the month of September. Buy it now and put Ginger back on the map! Oh and dont you pity the poor researcher that had to go back and count all the previous issues?

On Monday I got to watch my wife graduate with her PhD in management at Sheffield University in England. It was without doubt one of the best moments of my life. Its hard for others who haven't been through the PhD process to truly appreciate the utter madness, sadness, emptiness and all the other nesses that go with that process unless of course you've been a part of that journey with them (her mum for instance). To finally walk the stage and have the degree conferred is exhilarating. Id go as far to say it makes up for all the angst you go through in not quite knowing - even up to the moment of viva (oral examination) whether or not you might fail or pass. I saw my wife go through that madness just as she had seen me go through it - and the remarkable thing is - WERE STILL TALKING TO EACH OTHER!! Rose was one of just three people walking around in red amongst the 400 other people graduating (all wearing black). She looks - as Im sure you will agree - absolutely fabulous! Go Dr Hair!! Rose starts teaching Organizational Behavior at RIT's Saunders College of Business in the Fall.

An interesting article in the D&C today about a schools superintendent charged with 'filing a false instrument' (ie his resume) - suspended on full pay and benefits whilst investigations continue. This serves to my mind as a stark warning to all about the use of little lies (such as claiming to have worked as a State Trooper for 17 years) to help pad your resume for potential employers. In the UK the discovery of this act constitutes immediate dismissal from your post (no matter how good you might be). Their reasoning, if you lied to get the job, what have you been doing whilst ON the job? So what constitutes a lie and how can you avoid them? First off - you should have gone to Saunders College of Business. We give our students enough experience not to warrant a lie in the first place! A Saunders resume has the potential through classes, co-ops and volunteer work to be jammed full of experience - even before you start work. I counted at least ten classes recently where you can gain real world consultancy exposure that can (and should) be placed on your CV. Secondly - my advice is to stick to the facts of prior experience. Wax lyrical in the interview situation about the details but on your resume - a simple line of facts to support what you did and for whom. Thirdly - you know if youre lying or not about this experience the moment you put it down on your resume. Its clearly not worth the act of being marched off the premises by security with nothing to show for your 'last' experience other than a box of personal items.

Ive been presenting my ideas on Marketing Trends for 2010 for some time now to the great and good of Rochester. It's proved a popular session that I've run at a number of local conferences and in the UK. One of the key issues I explore in this is the business case for online social networks, the role of virtual worlds in innovating the provision of service / customer experience, and how to build and maintain a personal brand in this new era. Towards the end of summer I will be presenting 'Marketing Trends 2010' to the Greater Rochester Area Partnership with the Elderly - looking specifically at how marketing trends affect the business of elderly care. As with my classes - one of the key outputs I use to judge the effectiveness of the presentation is the extent to which there are concrete take homes for participants to then act on. The benefits of experiential learning shouldn't be the preserve of our students alone afterall. I also find it helps keep me honest - practitioners are always very quick to pick up on practical application, relevance and the measurement of the bottom line with my suggestions.

Presenting this evening to RIT Alums at the Rio Bamba in the city of Rochester. The nature of the presentation - exploring how you can use online social networks to enhance your career. Whilst many are talking about the role of facebook in extending social relationships very few have explored the notion that companies could benefit from enhanced online socially enabled professional relationships. Our work on value (with Vic Perotti) and exploring attitudes towards advertising (Sue Barnes) will be highlighted. Some key findings I want all my alums to think about:

Social networks are becoming relevant for careers;

• Generational and sub generational changes in usage and expectations of usage
• 98% incoming freshman part of a facebook RIT network BEFORE arriving on campus
• Extension of activity POST study
• Socially enabled career progression
• Socially assisted career success
• You are as strong as your network

Some steps I am now advising all outgoing graduates:

1. Don’t ignore the potential of online social networks regards career progression
2. Cover your bases – FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, LinkedIn Power be part of the movement
3. Stay current - there will be new opportunities and new platforms
4. Don’t go overboard with your look - FaceBook Professional is a movement
5. Use alumni relations for name hunts of old peers
6. Start groups based on social / work interests
7. Extol the benefits of the movement to managerial audiences
8. Don’t limit yourself to the social aspect

So, everyone's talking about purple. The street signs are suddenly purple - we even have purple cross walks. Which come in handy since there are lots of people in Rochester right now and not a lot of cars. The reason? Lupins. Too many of em. Rochesterians are pretty much Lupin crazy this time of year - the most Lupins in North America by all accounts. Enough to make a Monty Python fan very happy with life. I wont be going to the Lupin festival this year - Ive seen enough of them on campus and besides which I am still mourning the Magnolia blossom (a far more delightful sight in my humble opinion). Lupins. Loopy.