50+ Creative Director Gets Schooled

Nice young man in the college ID office: “Are you faculty or staff?”
Me: “I’m a student.”
Young man: “Say what?”
I’m getting used to it.
I’m a 50+ advertising Creative Director and full-time student. Why?
I’ve been in the business 30 years but I’ve still got a lot to learn.
I found that out BIG time last year when I was invited to be a Professional in Residence at Quinnipiac University. Teaching Advertising and Creativity was one of the most complex challenges of my career. And the most rewarding.
Who knew that I’d love teaching and even be kinda good at it… Sure, I’ve been mentoring others throughout my career. Which is why I founded Speed Mentoring and spent 3 years of my life helping grow The 3% Conference.
But mentoring is one thing. Designing and delivering an effective, enjoyable semester-long curriculum is another. To be a truly great teacher, I need to immerse myself in teaching methods and dig in to all of the different Advertising and PR disciplines, roles, trends, and thinking.
My second act.
To be a full-time, real deal Professor, I need credentials as well as street cred. At the very least I need a terminal* Master’s degree.
Lucky for me The City College of New York’s Branding + Integrated Communications program is right in my own backyard. Warning — shameless promotion ahead.
BIC is a program. A laboratory. A think tank. And a training ground. It’s also extremely diverse. In fact, CCNY is so diverse it defies pie charting.
What I learned in 1 year versus 30.
30 years of advertising taught me how to solve business problems with ideas and nurture the careers of others. 1 year of teaching taught me that as a Professor I can help students 1) be the change they want to see and 2) be more business ready from the start.
And that’s why I’m getting schooled.
*A degree is considered “terminal” not because it’s so difficult it kills you but because it is the highest degree awarded in a given field.
