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Thank
you for your interest in my teaching philosophy and
my course offerings. Below please find an interview
that was published (in parts) in Schulich's student
newspaper The
Insider. It gives you a good overview
over my teaching activities at Schulich. Please do not
hesitate to get
in touch if you have any questions!
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Professor
Giesler, what inspired you to become a scholar?
The rise of music downloading around 1999. I was
working as a music producer and label owner and
had a lot of success. Then, one night, I discovered
my own music on Napster. I was only moments away
from calling in the lawyers but somehow I got in
touch with Philip Kotler and Robert Kozinets from
the Kellogg School of Management who invited me
to Chicago to explore the future of music entertainment
and of the creative industries in general. What
followed was a very exciting seven-year intellectual
journey between entertainment marketing practice
and theory, and production and consumption, that
culminated in my current position here at Schulich.
What is
your personal philosophy of education?
Well, first of all I believe in the total integration
of research, teaching and practice. They always
go together. Now that may sound like a truism but
how many professors are or have been leaders in
businesss and how many great teachers are really
pioneers in research? I seek to approach all my
work in light of this imperative, which is why I
seek to focus one a well-defined area where I can
have a handle on all three levels at once so that
I can constantly feed the new insights from practice
and research back into the classroom.
Second, complex problems have simple, easy to understand,
wrong answers. In a typical classroom setting, we
are constantly running the risk of obliterating
the magic of the market through oversimplification
and stereotyping. I seek to lure my students back
into the rabbit hole. When, after the class, they
suddenly question their answers, they are one step
closer to becoming a true leader.
Finally, I seek to look at education as a process
of constant intellectual renewal and growth in which
I can learn as much from my students as they learn
from me. So I don't just "give lectures;"
I rather experience the class discussions and case
projects as unpredictible journeys so that the actual
problem at hand and the process of addressing it
teaches us the lesson, not just the professor.
You’ve
developed an MBA elective course called “Entertainment
Marketing and Culture.” Can you explain this
course a little bit?
Sure. During the past ten years, I've found that
decision makers in the creative industries often
have little understanding of what constitutes excellence
in marketing. Entertainment marketing is different
in multiple ways because of the respective competitive
and industry structures, but also because of the
economic particularities of creative products and
the nature of their consumption. We develop a managerial
and socio-cultural understanding of the marketing
of creative products, services, and experiences.
Attention is focused on exploring the relationship
between technological, legal, cultural and competitive
changes and informed entertainment marketing decision-making;
the development of entertainment products, and marketing
strategies for motion pictures, music, games, themed
spaces, online entertainment culture and more.
Do your students go
into entertainment marketing later on?
Yes, absolutely! Many of my students have used this
course as a springboard for careers with Disney,
Viacom, MTV, Bertelsmann, BMG, Alliance Atlantis,
and many others. I'm currently building up a network
of alumni. The students who took the course before
and go into the entertainment industry will become
mentors for those who have an interest in the respective
sectors.
Can you explain how
the classroom looks when you teach?
I use an effective combination of real world marketing
cases, class discussions, fieldwork, simulations,
and guest speakers from the entertainment industry.
The cases refer to situations I was facing in my
own career or they derive from my current and past
research and collaborations with companies such
as Apple, Bertelsmann, or Viacom. The guest speakers
are from these and other companies, and they come
to Schulich to talk about their own projects as
well as to learn from the interaction with the students.
So you lay a lot of
emphasis on class discussions?
Yes, the total learning experience can only be as
good as each student’s individual contribution
and I constantly raise the bar. Students should
be prepared to make informed contributions and lots
of them. I expect them to bring their cultural knowledge
to the table and to be effective team players.
Many students refer
to you as a very generous mentor. Others praise
your fast email turnaround. How do you go about
these things?
I’ve had and still have very good mentors,
both in research and in the industry. I'm very grateful
to them because they have taught me to conceive
of scholarship as a form of gift giving. That's
why I don’t want to miss out on the exciting
projects of our students. So my door is always open,
and it’s such an honor to help students in
reaching their goals. As for email communication,
I try to get back to students as fast as possible.
That can be a challenge with all the traveling and
the fact that I'm writing a lot but I really try
to do my best. |
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| Teaching |
| Student
Voices* |
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"Professor
Giesler is genuinely concerned for the success of students
both inside and outside of the classroom. He has demonstrated
this inside the classroom by conducting an evaluation
of how the course is taught, and having analyzed the feedback,
has taken into due consideration all the suggestions offered
by the students for improving the course. Outside of the
classroom, he is easily approachable and always willing
to listen to and help students with issues that they may
have in the course."
"[Professor Giesler] creates a classroom experience
that revolves around critical thought. The atmosphere
is vibrant, alive, and exciting, because he is so excited
about the material. It makes everyone want to get just
as excited to the point that we forget that we’re
actually learning. His great experience in the field and
knowledge of current events makes the class up-to-the-minute
in content which is truly unique for a teacher to do."
"He displays his knowledge because he is able to
look at any case at all and give incredible ideas and
suggestions to the problems. While there may not be a
right answer, he applies his background, skill and enthusiasm
to come up with ideas that really make sense, and fit
with the situation at hand. I think his experience as
a consultant shows that he is a natural for the subject,
and his enthusiasm for every single case we look at comes
out and infects the whole class."
"He is without a doubt the next big thing at Schulich
(if he is not currently). I would not have been interested
in marketing without having taken his course, and it now
seems that I have a potential career in the field."
"[Professor Giesler] has gone out of his way to help
me both in and out of this course. He has provided guidance
for a group project I worked on, and met out of class
to discuss my career options. He has spent more time than
I could ever ask helping me find direction, and then asking
appropriate questions to focus my ideas. His experience,
enthusiasm and connections to the real world have been
an invaluable resource, and I know his pushing me to tell
a better story about myself will lead me to a more fulfilling
and exciting career, whatever path I choose."
*These student voices were cited from the nomination for
the 2007 Seymour Schulich Teaching Excellence Award. Please
find the complete list of student voices here.
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