Lou Barkan: Leading in the Digital Age

So when I had an opportunity to attend the February 2006 Professional Development Session, hosted by W. P. Carey's Center for Services Leadership, I took it. Led by Dr. Mary Jo Bitner, our delightfully pleasant Services Marketing professor who is recognized worldwide as one of the founders and leaders of the Services Science movement, the CSL is a leader in Services Science research, and hence, ASU has become one of a small group of universities to partner with IBM (IBM) in order to advance the work of Services Science, Management and Engineering (SSME).

It is noteworthy that services drive over half of IBM's revenues, 70% of GE's (GE) revenues and 70% of both the U.S. and Japanese economies, a point made by the featured speaker, Dr. Jim Spohrer (Director, IBM Almaden Services Research), who went on to observe that "the largest labor force migration in human history is underway, [and it is being] driven by global communications, business, technology growth, urbanization and low cost labor." Dr. Spohrer, who has a B.S. in Physics from MIT as well as a PhD in Computer Science from Yale (focusing on artificial intelligence) explained IBM understands Services Science as "the application of scientific, management and engineering disciplines to tasks that one organization beneficially performs for and with another." If you sense something different about this statement, it's because Services Science emphasizes the "for and with" -- a perceptual shift of customer relationships from ones of transaction to ones of interaction -- and implies the desire for longer term, strategic bonds with customers. One of the many interesting things to me is how convergent platforms have enabled these relationships to grow beyond established channels. The customer relationship increasingly will develop and grow across wider, more intelligent and more interactive ecosystems which in turn will provide unprecedented value, both for customers and producers.

If I walked in to the presentation with many questions about Services Science, I walked out an energized convert and newly-recruited soldier in the Services Science and Innovation revolution. I was very impressed with IBM's forward-thinking thought leadership in this area and was proud that the W. P. Carey program occupies such a prominent position on the worldwide Services Innovation mantel. Also, the inter-disciplinary nature of the discipline, which draws upon an intellectually fascinating combination of technology, business and social-organizational skills, resonates strongly with my personality, experience and desires. Services Science also enhances my understanding of the digital economy, in particular the Digital Home Movement – a real area of interest for me and one sector where it will be crucial for technology providers, MSOs, telecoms, satellite providers and content producers to employ strong leaders with focused and informed customer orientations.

After the presentation, I met Dr. Spohrer, who for all his intellectual firepower still has a very keen and warm sense of humor, and that occasion was very memorable. I also met and talked with Sara Moulton Reger, another Services Science IBMer who helped lead IBM's integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. That subject became the focus of her recently published book, Can Two Rights Make a Wrong: Insights from IBM's Tangible Culture Approach, which has been described as "a compulsive page turner" and "an alignment tool that is applied to…the Holy Grail of transformational change." As we talked, Sara described Services Innovation as the pearl oyster that takes a novel customer need – the irritant – and transforms it into a beautiful, sustainable treasure. Having been inspired by both Dr. Spohrer and Sara, I went home, logged on to Amazon.com and bought an advance copy of the book, which I look forward to reading as soon as it arrives in the mail.

As you might have guessed, that indelible image of the pearl oyster in my mind, I have targeted technology, media and entertainment companies in my internship search and hope to find a Marketing or Business Development role related to my interests in convergence, content and services. Companies such as IBM Almaden Research Center, Intel (INTC), Comcast (CMCSA); Cox Communications, Qualcomm (QCOM), Time Warner (TWX), Sony (SNE) and NBC Universal, top my list.

Here, I really have to acknowledge the tremendous amount of help I've received from our Career Management Center. In one way or another each of the CMC staff has contributed positively to my cause, but my direct advisor, Guy Groff (Executive Director, CMC), has really gone above and beyond the call of duty, as only a former U.S. Marine Corp. Master Gunnery Sergeant would. First and foremost, Guy is…simply a great guy, and we have established an enjoyable rapport with one another. Second, he's been very supportive of my career aspirations and also been a wellspring of encouragement. This has been invaluable, since the internship search, especially one as targeted as mine, can be a grueling and extremely frustrating process in which uncertainty and rejection play nagging roles. Third, he truly knows his business and has helped me make key adjustments in my presentation which now are beginning to pay off. His door has always been open for me, and he's even stayed as late as 9 p.m., on occasion, to help me prepare for an interview and strategize. In short, both his friendship and professionalism have been a great boon for which I'm very grateful.

As of this writing, I do not have a summer internship offer, but I'm confident that the next few weeks will bring good news. Either way, I'll be sure to let you know what happens in my next essay.

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