Faculty and Insights

I'm Anita Rao, I teach the introductory marketing course, at Booth here. It's called Marketing Strategy. All teachers over the course of my educational life, including, I think my parents and my elder brother, who have instilled in me this need to be curious, to always ask why, and to be critical in my thinking. And I try and do this.

I try and encourage my students to also behave that way, to always ask why, when they see something not to take it for granted, and also to be critical in their thinking. But what I like to emphasize, and this is very inspirational to me, is that the same framework that we teach about marketing, that is fundamentally everything starts from the consumer. That same framework applies to a product that sold in say, the 1970s, as well as something that is sold today in the market. And I think once students get that, it's like an aha moment for them, and that's very exciting to me.

I was reached by one of my students recently who had taken the class. What the student said was particularly insightful. And I think the idea was I completely did not know this was what marketing was about. I thought I just thought this would be a class about understanding why selling is important. But then this was very insightful in understanding that it not just applies to a product or a service, it even applies to a day-to-day, my own job and how others are evaluating me.

And the idea is what is it that the person you're talking to, and it could be a consumer, it could be an interviewer, what is it that they might be looking for? And is there an unmet need in that person's mind that you can fill?

Students asking questions, being engaged in the discussion. That is super interesting, not just for me, but I think keeps the class lively. And the more lively it is, the more discussions and new ideas are made.