MIST5720: The Last Blog

I’d do it in a heartbeat if I could retake this class. I have always been fascinated by Digital Innovation. Still, this class opened my eyes to understanding how this innovation will change how we do things in every aspect of our lives. The format and structure of the course are created in a way that encourages the student to go beyond the requirements of the class. In my mind, I took it as “You get as much as you put in the classroom.” This shows in the Twitter discussions, how creative the blog posts get, and the small-group discussions.

The course was filled with many ways to connect with the students in the classroom. The Twitter feed for the class was always filled with students asking each other about their perspectives on a specific topic or current news article. I also enjoy how we have time in class to further the Twitter discussion and dive deeper into the subject with input from Dr. Kane. I enjoyed the small-group conversations around the assigned Ted Talks because they encouraged us to think of what the speaker said and share our perspectives on the videos with each other. For my small group, our initial discussion starts with the Ted Talk, then transitions into a specific thing within the video that was discussed in more detail.

The Guest Speaker series was my favorite part of the class. It challenged the class to ask thought-provoking questions and get to the point about what we wanted to know about the individual. I noticed that when you ask blanket questions, you get blanket answers. The more you specify and structure your questions, the answer is also more refined, which leads to more meaningful takeaways from our guest speakers. For example, when I talked to Mark Mahoney about his career, he walked me through his entrepreneurship journey. I learned much about why people get into entrepreneurship, and Mark’s perspective was very refreshing. He said that he found problems and room for improvement in a space that he was most passionate about and decided he wanted to see what he could do to improve the area that he loved. At the start, he was not the most technically savvy person, but that did not stop him from finding someone who bought into his idea and made a product to help people fulfill a need.

Of all the speakers, my favorite takeaways came from Kelsey Bishop and BJ Shaknowski. First, Kelsey talked about why she became an angel investor. She said she wanted to learn from people who are also on a journey and being tapped in on alerts and news of other companies. That is something that she said she is willing to invest in and doesn’t worry too much about a return. She also gave great advice on ensuring we work on something we love. In entrepreneurship, if we aren’t working on something we are deeply into, there is more potential to fail due to burnout. She also talked about structuring our lives and that she should not be “should-ing” all over ourselves.
Our talk with BJ changed my perspective on career growth and advancement. He mentioned that he didn’t care about title changes and things like that. He was more into expanding his skill set. He focused on learning more about the company, and his ascension through the ladder took care of himself. He also discussed the importance of finding the right reward system that brings you the most satisfaction for a person’s work. An adequate reward system for me is more high-level, more considerable work. Knowing this, I will see if I am being accommodated and if my organization is rewarding my efforts by letting me move laterally and learn about how my work fits into the organization’s bigger picture.
The blog posts were a place where I could read about the topic that someone decided to write about and learn something new related to the issues we discussed in class. I particularly enjoyed reading the topics that were meaningful to the writer. For example, Chase Condra is very passionate about fitness and running, and his writing about the technology in the athletic space that tracks more information now than ever was fascinating to read. The level of detail and research that goes along with a topic that a writer is passionate about is a much more enjoyable read than just picking any random topic to discuss. As a result, I found something new about many more topics I could learn about during this class.

I am saving all of the Ted Talks that Dr. Kane assigned to us and will go through them all on my own time. It sure beats just reading an article and keeps me more engaged in the topic the speaker is writing about. How would the Twitter feed look for the following semesters? Is it going to be more AI talk? Is there a new champion in the Digital Innovation discussion? It would be cool to follow the feed even after the class to see how it evolves with time.

Thank you, Dr. Kane, for allowing us to speak to all these fantastic guest speakers and putting your social capital on the line. I hope we paid you back with thought-provoking questions to the speakers. You should also add that clause in the syllabus pretty soon; who knows which of us will be employee #12 for a company that blows up? (LOL) You can’t miss out on millions of dollars twice in one academic career. And thank you to the class for being willing to contribute to the discussion.