Books | The University Advancement Blog

25 Jan

3 takeaways from Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

As I’ve written about previously, we established a marketers’ book club on our campus in 2016, where each semester interested staff read a non-marketing book that has marketing implications and then gather at the end of the semester for a...
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7 Dec

Total marketing spend: The hard questions

The following is a post that I wrote earlier this semester for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. A corporate CMO expects to control her organization’s marketing expenditures. But universities operate differently. On most campuses – and especially...
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31 Aug

Are we asking higher ed advertising to do too much?

The following is an August 2017 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. In The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, author Kevin Kelly envisions a day when “the buildings...
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9 Jan

3 takeaways from Originals

This past fall semester I started a book club for marketers on our campus, and our first book was Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Wharton professor Adam Grant. Originals is full of unique insights, such as the creative...
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28 Apr

Back to basics: The benefit of the benefit

The following is an April 2016 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. Heading to the nearby Starbucks is usually a quick break to get out of the office between meetings (my wife...
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28 Dec

The rise of the (unit-level) CMO

The following is a December 2015 post that I wrote for Inside Higher Ed’s Call to Action marketing and communications blog. If you accounted for the types of activities that fill each workday, what would be the breakdown of substance...
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2 Jan

Book recommendations (updated)

Two years ago I wrote about the books that I give to our department to read for professional development. Each semester our directors read a book together and then take a long lunch near the end of the semester for...
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6 Jul

Being president versus doing president

Last month I attended the inaugural Ohio Student Affairs Conference at Wright State University in Dayton. As part of the conference, Rebeckah Hester (Indiana University East director of campus life) and I gave a presentation on breaking down silos to...
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25 Apr

5 questions with Larry Lauer

Larry Lauer, vice chancellor for government affairs at Texas Christian University, is one of the more thoughtful writers in our field. His blog reflects on lessons learned – about strategy, leadership, organizational process, and much more – over the course...
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11 Apr

Book review: Embrace the Oxymoron: Customer Service in Higher Education

This Friday Dr. Neal Raisman brings his expertise in the areas of academic customer service and student retention to Indianapolis to keynote the CASE Indiana spring conference. Two of Raisman’s books should be required reading of all advancement teams. I’ll...
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The University Advancement Blog

Rob Zinkan's thoughts and recommended readings on university advancement

Category Archives: Books