What Type Of Person Thrives In The Higher Education Industry, According To An Associate Professor At IESE Business School
To thrive as a professor, a combination of teaching and research excellence is crucial. A good teacher demonstrates "good interaction with people," strong conceptualization skills, and the ability to connect theory to real-world examples, while a successful researcher possesses "intellectual sharpness," a knack for formulating insightful questions, and strong writing skills—the capacity to write "concisely, precisely, persuasively, interestingly, and elegantly."
Communication, Problem-Solving, Research, Writing, Teaching
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Iñigo
Associate Professor
IESE Business School
University of Barcelona, 2002
MBA, IESE Business School; PhD Anderson UCLA
Economics
Education
Education
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. To thrive as a professor, one needs to excel in both teaching and research. Strong teaching involves good interaction, conceptualization, and linking theory to real-world examples.
2. Successful research demands intellectual sharpness, the ability to formulate interesting questions and test hypotheses effectively, and excellent writing skills.
3. A successful professor needs to be a good communicator, a skilled researcher, and a clear and persuasive writer
Transcript
How would you describe people who typically thrive in this industry?
To thrive as a professor, we need to make a division. This may have been implied in many of these questions. Thriving as a professor means the full package, so to speak.
I would understand someone who does well as a teacher, but at the same time, someone who has done well in research. These two skills are not 100% aligned, though some aspects overlap.
The things that make you a good teacher are good interaction with people, good conceptualization, and the ability to link real-world examples and theory to students' lives and businesses. Your presence in the room is also important; you can pick this up if you are open and receive feedback.
Research is a little different. Intellectual sharpness, the capacity to find interesting questions, and smart ways to prove your hypotheses are key. In our industry, it's also very important to write well.
A good researcher can write concisely, precisely, and persuasively. They can also write in an interesting and elegant way. These are the elements a researcher needs to have.
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