FYI: About me
Although my expertise resides in the very broad field of marketing, my particular interests as a marketing authority, really harken back to my career start as a young psychologist. Because of that origin, my first management inclinations in a business decision or problem are to focus on consumers--how they are served by an organization, how they react to change and innovation, etc. Beyond that, I find the matters of marketing strategy alway intriguing: who composes what markets, what are their various interests and characteristics, what shifts are taking place and why, how they are served by business and government. Ultimately, the issues for me as a management expert come down to how do the parties of any actual--or feasible--transaction benefit from from it--and how can that be made even better for either or, ideally, both!
Currently, I am on the Faculty of Marketing at Bryant University, just outside of Providence, RI; until a short time ago I spent most of my time as the Associate Dean of the College of Business; now I lecture and oversee the progress of my business students, write, conduct research, and serve as a consultant to firms nearby and far way. A long time ago, my arrival at Bryant occurred via a terminal degree from ASU and six great years at Northeastern University in Boston.
Before all of that, my early professional career was launched in healthcare, first as a practicing psychologist and then as the director of a large, psychiatric and community MH program in the greater Boston area. There I collaborated with a team of about 60 terrific professionals in an array of programs for adults and children on an inpatient and outpatient basis.
While in that role I learned how little I really knew and understood about managing an enterprise, prompting me to pick-up an MBA from Boston University on my way to the PhD program at ASU. That decision--first to get an MBA, and then to complete my doctorate--transformed a professional life that revolved around around Rorschach tests and Kleenex, to one centered on consumer and positioning choices, focus groups and storyboards. What a great decision that was for me--it is a terrific way to spend the hours and days of one’s career!
FYI: Personal reading list
Here are some interesting books I've read--or am presently reading--and think you'd find worth while as well.
SOUL OF A DOG: Reflections on the spirits of the animals of Bedlam Farm, John Katz,
Random House, 2009. A terrific book that explores whether animals have a "soul" in the philosophical sense of the term. Katz does a great job at making you feel you know him and his animals.
HOMEGAME, Michael Lewis, Norton & Company, 2009. Fatherhood told from a guy's smart, funny, wry POV.
MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS, The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder, Random House, 2003.
THE GOOD DOG: The story of Orson, who changed my life, John Katz, Random House, 2006.
HOW DOCTORS THINK, Jereome Groopman, Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
FINAL EXAM, A surgeon's reflections on mortality, Pauline Chen, Knopf, 2007.
FREAKONOMICS: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven D. Levitt & Stephen Dubner, HarperCollins, 2005. Well, if not everything, a lot of things.
THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, Garth Stein, Harper, 2008. A story of life told from the POV of an old dog.
IN DEFENSE OF FOOD: An eaters manifesto, Michael Pollen, Penguin, 2008. Great book if you care about living well, what you consume, and how to care for the most valuable asset one has in life. Very interesting book despite the author puts the obvious points right in the prologue: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
WHO IS MARK TWAIN?, by Mark Twain, [Kindle edition], 2008.
BARBARIANS AT THE GATE: The fall of RJR Nabisco, Bryan Burrough & John Helyar, Harper & Row, 1990.
HARRY TRUMAN'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE: The true story of a great American road trip, Matthew Algeo, Chicago Trevew Press, 2009. The previously untold story of the cross-country automobile ride taken by Harry and Bess, driving themselves--unaccompanied by the Secret Service. The first and last U.S. president to do so. It doesn't get much more authentic than this.
WEED MAN: The Remarkable Journey of Jimmy Divine, John McCaslin, Thomas Nelson, 2009.
TRIED BY WAR: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief, James M. McPherson, Penguin, 2008. This could be a book worthy of being the list of books about management.
FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS: The hidden role of chance in life and in the markets, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Random House, 2004.
THE THIRD OPTION [2001], TRANSFER OF POWER [1999], CONSENT TO KILL [2005], and EXTREME MEASURES [2009], all by Vince Flynn, Simon & Schuster [Audible editions]. Exquisite stories of suspense where good guys always win & bad guys don't.
FYI: Movie picks with a message
- Michael Clayton
- Finding Neverland
- The Emperor's Club
- Simon Birch
- Dead Poet's Society
- Hoosiers
- Young @ Heart
- The Pursuit of Happiness