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Spending My Spring Break at Harvard Business School

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had over the last two years is the shift from being “the social media guy,” the guy that came up with the ideas and had to implement them to building and leading a team of digital strategist across multiple large client accounts. I’ve spent a lot less time implementing digital and social media and much more time coaching, mentoring and training my own team, clients and our partners on the dozens of account teams we work with.

One of the great parts about working at Waggener Edstrom is that being a private company our leadership believes in investing in developing their talent far more than most public companies do these days. As part of my personal development I was offered the opportunity to attend an Executive Education course on leadership development. Our HR partner sent over a lot of options for me to choose from and I eventually settled on, applied for and was accepted to the Leadership Best Practices program offered through Harvard Business School’s Executive Education department.

When I started this blog I was in the process of earning my MBA, which I completed 4 years ago. During that process and since then I’ve read a boat load of Harvard Business Review case studies and books. So I can tell you that I’m pretty freaking excited about going to Harvard (even if it’s just for a week) to learn from some of the best in the business. The professors teaching the program are amazing, including several well known published business authors like John Kotter and the Dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria.

As I’ve preparing to go I have to say that HBS has thought of everything. They’ve even thought of social media. They ask us not to tweet during class (they want our attention on class) but they have a Twitter account, a Facebook page and guidance on how to set up our own LinkedIn group for our class. From the HBS class site:

Social Media

Twitter - If you would like to tweet about your program experience, please visit the HBS, Executive Education Twitter website. Please do not tweet in class.

Facebook - Find HBS Executive Education on Facebook and share your program experience.

LinkedIn - Please recommend your program on our LinkedIn Company Page. You will be invited early next month to join the official HBS Executive Education LinkedIn group. As a member of this group, you can connect with more than 10,000 Executive Education participants to share your experiences, ask questions, and gain access to faculty insights and thought leadership.

If you plan to create and manage your own program-specific LinkedIn group, please reference the HBS Guidelines in order to create the group.

While I won’t be tweeting during class (I’m sure I’ll post a few on breaks and work in a few foursquare and Instagram posts) I do, of course, plan to blog about the whole thing. Ideally I’ll be posting at least once a day but we’ll  see what my workload and mental capacity is at after being in class all day. Wish me luck and stay tuned.

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About Tac

Social media anthropologist. Communications strategist. Business model junkie. Chief blogger here at New Comm Biz.

  • Jess Flynn

    Jealous, envious, will be living vicariously

  • Anonymous

    Congrats! Do you have any favorite Harvard Case to read? any around social media?

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    Thanks. Not specific to social media but “The Next 20 Years” from HBR is still one of my personal faves.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    Thanks Jess. I’ll find a good pizza place and have a slice for you.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com tacanderson

    Thanks Jess. I’ll find a good pizza place and have a slice for you.

  • http://www.newcommbiz.com/the-4-2-management-practices-every-great-companies-has/ The 4 + 2 Management Practices Every Great Companies Has | New Comm Biz

    [...] Business Management, Harvard Business School Tweet Today was the first day of class (see previous post for details as to why I’m spending my spring break in a dorm room on the other side of the [...]

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