Dear Reader,
This week's guest author, Scott Rick, is a marketing professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Rick routinely teaches courses on consumer behavior, judgment and decision making, and marketing management. His research is interdisciplinary by nature, and he has published in premier journals spanning marketing, psychology, economics, and neuroscience. At the University of Michigan, Scott has won awards for both research and teaching. His new book, Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships, is a research-based guide for couples looking to improve how they handle money, so they can live a happier life.
Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Tightwads and Spendthrifts, send an email with your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Welcome to the book club, Scott Rick…
My Big Green Suitcase
At research-oriented universities, interviewing for a professor position often involves a two-day "campus visit." There are meals with faculty members, one-on-one meetings, and a "job talk," where you present your research and face some tough questions about it. An optimist might say, "You get so many exciting new perspectives on your research!" I might say, "Sure...but you also get so many opportunities to make a bad impression."
Back when I was on the "rookie" job market, I was known for traveling with a big green suitcase, which I would have to check before boarding flights. My hair was long in that era, and my motto was, "I might try to look like Eddie Vedder, but I travel like Diana Ross." Part of the issue was indecisiveness--I wanted to keep my outfit options open. And, of course, I had to make room for my own hair dryer. A hotel-provided Conair wasn't going to work with what I had going on.
The big green suitcase would occasionally lead to some awkward moments. At one campus visit, a very fashionable professor picked me up at the airport in his beautiful Porsche convertible. My suitcase did not come close to fitting in the trunk, so I sat with it on my lap during the long, top-down ride to the hotel. It proved to be a bit of an impediment to our getting-to-know-you conversation! I'm just glad I was able to hang onto it on the freeway.
But the biggest problem with the big green suitcase was the time Delta lost it when I was traveling to the University of Michigan. (Incidentally, I was confused how something that big could get lost--I mean, what are we going to lose next, the Statue of Liberty?)
Job candidates are normally dressed formally, and I had plenty of that in my suitcase, but I had flown in the most casual attire possible. I arrived the night before my job talk, and there aren't a lot of late-night clothing stores in Ann Arbor. One of the professors very sweetly took me to CVS to at least find an ill-fitting UM hoodie to wear the next day.
Counterintuitively, this all had a relaxing effect on me. I thought, "Well, I'm not getting this job, so I might as well have fun with it!" At the time, I needed to loosen up a bit, and this incident was a blessing in disguise. It was a great visit, and I got the job! All thanks to my lost (and eventually-recovered) big green suitcase!
-- Scott Rick
Enter the drawing to win one of three copies of Tightwads and Spendthrifts, send an email with your preferred shipping address to: [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
[email protected]
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