Preparing to Teach.

I’m a marketer by trade. Teaching is my passion. I’ll meet the next cohort for the Marketing Strategy & Product Policy elective two months from today and I’m excited already.

They are approaching the end of their MBA programme and will be curious when informed that we will transform their classroom into a boardroom; that they are the firm’s senior managers and internal directors, and their lecturer is the chairman. Some will be aghast when we insist on boardroom behaviour; that lateness or absence is not allowed without notice or excuse. Hearts will sink when they learn that the main text accounts for only 20% of the required reading. They may even feel like rebelling when they realise that regurgitating what’s in the Kerin & Peterson, Wilson & Gilligan, McDonald, Keller, or any other text gets them nowhere. This course is about solving real-world marketing problems through guided case study. The cases are mostly long and hard. The pace is quick. They are out of their comfort zone and failure is not an option.

By week two initial shock will give way to earnest preparation for tough individual assignments and final group presentations to a panel of industry experts who tell it like it is. By week three the fun begins. Questions are thick and fast. The study of marketing strategy is complex, and pride forces them to dig deep in search of right answers. And they must get it right.

Reminds me of spring training for the MLB season as I prepare to teach.