Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62215
Most students do a very good job of learning in the classroom, but they don't do as well in following what's happening in the world of business. I find that a lot of younger people think they know everything. But if you ask them what happened yesterday to General Motors, they'll say, "Well, I don't know about that." —Al Ries ness school area, decide who you want to go against and be the opposite of that school. That's the concept, although I'm not saying it's easy to do. If a business student wanted to become the best marketer and brand-builder in the world, what early experience do you think would prove most valuable to him or her? Most students do a very good job of learning in the class- room, but they don't do as well in following what's happen- ing in the world of business. I find that a lot of younger peo- ple think they know everything. But if you ask them what happened yesterday to General Motors, they'll say, "Well, I don't know about that." If students want to be really good in this business, they be really good, students have to read the business press and the newspapers—The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Economist, The New York Times, USA Today. I subscribe to five newspapers and maybe 200 or 300 magazines. I don't think there's a magazine of any note that I don't read. It also seems, then, that another challenge for stu- dents is not only being up-to-date, but also being 22 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 have to pay the price, which is spending a considerable amount of time every day reading about what's happening in business around the world. Students must be able to form opinions about what's good and bad through observation of what companies are doing or not doing. Unless they're up- to-date on what's happening with the larger companies in the world today, they can't really form a good conceptual approach to marketing. And in marketing, things are constantly changing, so to