STRONGBRANDS    Professor Tim Calkins, Kellogg School of Management

COVID 19 is causing disruption for brands all over the world. It is also sparking innovation. Recently I’ve seen this happen with the executive education branding program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Disruption and Innovation Perhaps my favorite topic to teach is defensive strategy. When competitors attack, brands have to defend aggressively. Failing […]

Last weekend I sat down and read through the student feedback from my spring quarter Biomedical Marketing courses. Reviewing student feedback is always a strange experience. There are the positive comments, and these are delightful. It is a pleasure to hear from students that they learned something and valued all the effort that went into […]

How do universities reopen in the fall? That is the urgent question at hand. This is a difficult issue. Most schools seem to be still figuring it out and not saying too much. Cristina Paxson, president of Brown, wrote a powerful editorial for the New York Times. Robert Robbins, president of University of Arizona this […]

I am now in my fourth week of teaching on Zoom; so far I’ve taught 21 class sessions and I’m starting to feel more settled. I also did a round of student feedback. Here are some observations on the transition. It Works My biggest learning is that Zoom teaching works. I can present material, answer […]

Like many professors, I’ll now be teaching remotely. Northwestern has cancelled in-person classes for a while and shifted everything online. The move brings up a lot of interesting questions about communication and presenting. I’ll share my learnings as I navigate the transition. Here are three initial observations. This Won’t Be Easy A few of my […]

This fall I tried a new approach to grading papers: recording audio clips instead of writing comments. I was amazed by the positive results. I think audio is an idea to consider for anyone who gives feedback, whether the feedback is on papers, proposals, or individual performances.   The Grading Challenge Grading is one of the […]

I recently taught a course in Denmark to a group of business executives, and in the process I was reminded of one of the most basic presenting tips: show up early. The Scene My presentation was scheduled for 8:30, so I arrived at 7:45. I actually got to the neighborhood earlier and enjoyed a cup […]

This week President Donald Trump provided an important lesson for anyone gearing up for a business presentation: only present rock solid data. The Mysterious Line During a press briefing on Hurricane Dorian, Trump held up a weather that featured what appeared to be a black line drawn by hand. You can see the chart here: […]

Over the past few months I’ve been traveling around talking about my new book, How to Wash a Chicken – Mastering the Business Presentation. I’ve hit quite a few cities along the way: Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, Toronto, Chicago and others. This week I’ll be in Atlanta and New York. The events have been great […]

It is time for resolutions; the start of a new year is a natural time to think about new goals and priorities. Even people who “don’t do resolutions” often become reflective as this time of year rolls around. The most common resolutions won’t come as a surprise. Number 1 on the list is apparently getting […]

My tennis game has not gotten better over the years. Indeed, anyone watching me play would probably conclude quite the opposite; I am getting worse as time goes by. The good news is that I’ve figured out the problem: my racquet. It is aging, so the flawed racquet is missing all the shots. It is […]

There is a pretty simple way to put an audience to sleep: Just present a collection of random facts and charts. You might start with a page showing sales over the past several years, then move on to margin trends, then a look at sales by region and product line. People might be engaged for […]