Voyage is the annual publication of the CWU College of Business. Whose mission is to "create a positive, enduring impact on business and society by serving our diverse communities through collaborative education, contemporary research, and engaging partnerships."
VOYAGE CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS • SUMMER 2021
CWU College of Business Voyage is an annual free publication. Issue date: July 2021. Address: Voyage magazine Central Washington University College of Business 400 E University Way Ellensburg WA 98926-7487 © 2021 Central Washington University. All rights reserved. Views expressed in Voyage do not necessarily reflect official policy of Central Washington University. CWU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Jeffrey Stinson, PhD, Dean Coco Wu, PhD, Associate Dean EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Emily Wilson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS/EDITORS Alejandro Alcantar (’22), Barb Arnott (’09), Bret Bleggi, David Leder, Richard Moreno, Emily Wilson GRAPHIC DESIGN Barb Goll PHOTOGRAPHY David Dick (’97), Department of Public Affairs stock, and others as credited. VOYAGE
Central Washington University is an EEO/AA/Title IX Institution. Alternative format: DS@cwu.edu. COMMENTS: Emily.Wilson3@cwu.edu UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION AT: cwu.edu/alumni/update-your-information or Office of Alumni Relations 400 E University Way Ellensburg WA 98926-7508 Email: alumni@cwu.edu Call: 509-963-2160 or 1-877-846-2287
TELEPHONE: 509-963-2930 cwu.edu/business
The Central Washington University College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Only five percent of business schools globally earn the coveted, quality-assurance designation. The continuing accreditation validates the work of the College of Business to link students with current and emerging trends and practices.
Contents
SUMMER 2021
FEATURES
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Building Better Small Business Owners Entrepreneur program trains independent thinkers who can turn their interests into careers. Shining a Light on Hidden Bias College of Business acts on students’ calls to be more inclusive. Emotional Intelligence Helps in a Crisis Having empathy for others during a pandemic is a true sign of leadership. Digital Marketing has Exploded Pandemic has accelerated consumer adoption of digital tools by several years. Keeping the Supply Chain Intact Alumni help troubleshoot pandemic-related challenges.
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A New Way of Doing Work Q&A with Wendy Cook on leadership during the pandemic.
IN THIS ISSUE
IN ADDITION 3 Dean’s Message
4 CB Again Ranked Among World's Best 5 Parks Begins Distinguished Professorship 22 New Grad Chronicles Pandemic-era Job Hunt 23 Meet our Newest Faculty: Yurim Lee 24 Wildcats Juggle Studies and Student Government 26 Student Restores Women in Business Club 27 New HR Scholarship Helps Students 28 Philanthropy ON THE COVER: Linae Myhand graduated magna cum laude in June, earning bachelor of science degrees in business administration and economics. “This past year has been the hardest of my life,” Myhand told the class of 2021 during a heartfelt commencement speech in which she admitted the distance and isolation took its toll. Myhand’s friends and classmates helped her feel heard and helped her understand she wasn’t alone. “My biggest take away from this year is that we’re not alone,” Myhand said. Read more about her journey to a job on Page 22 . COVER PHOTO CREDIT: ANNA CORTES
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Central Washington University COLLEGE OF BUSINESS LAUNCHES NEW DIGITAL MARKETING MINOR
Digital marketing encompasses all marketing efforts through digital media. Businesses around the world leverage search, social media, mobile, email, and other digital channels to connect with current and prospective customers.
Students will learn about: • Social, search, content • Digital analytics • Artificial intelligence in marketing • Design and digital marketing • Digital marketing strategy
Prepare for a career as a: • Social media and content specialist • Search engine marketer • Digital marketing analyst • Digital marketing strategist • Green economy/healthcare representative • Entrepreneur
No. 1 in-demand skill for high-growth jobs.
cwu.edu/business | cb@cwu.edu | 509-963-2930
Dean’s Message
Hello Wildcats: Wow! What a year. As I am sure is the case with many of you and your organizations, we have learned, adapted, and innovated at an unthinkable pace. While recognizing the challenges, trials, and tragedy associated with the pandemic and racial division, this issue of Voyage will focus on the positive outcomes gained in these turbulent times. Our mission and goal of launching students toward a better future remains the same. How we meet that mission, however, has been forced to change. We share many of these stories throughout this issue. During the pandemic, we changed not just how students learn (almost fully remote in the College of Business), but what students learn, to prepare them for the critical challenges facing industry. Important functional areas, such as digital marketing and supply chain management, became even more critical to many businesses. And leadership skills become even more important as we teach the next generation of Wildcats how to handle uncertainty and adversity. Within the pages of this issue we share our experience over the past year in these programs. I am extremely proud of our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners for their resilience and accomplishments. We have also invested heavily in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity (EDI) initiatives, taking a leadership role on campus. While there is much work still to be done, I extend my thanks to our students who have really pushed us to do more than talk about EDI in light of the Black Lives Matter protests and the violence and discrimination against Asian and Asian American communities. We have expanded access to the Emotional Intelligence certificate, in part to help address the barriers facing our students and alumni who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Please know we are committed to continuing this work. Reflecting on the challenges of this year, I am inspired by the many positive innovations, learnings, and accomplishments. We will build on these as we move into a post-pandemic environment. Go ’Cats!
Jeffrey Stinson
Jeff
Jeffrey Stinson, PhD Dean, College of Business
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS MISSION We launch students toward a better future by engaging them in industry-relevant, student-centered programs driven by strong partnerships between students, faculty, staff, and business professionals.
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News
College of Business Again Ranked Among Worldʼs Best
In March the CWU College of Business (CB) received continuing accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), joining about 5 percent of business schools globally that have earned the prestigious designation. CWU was among 73 business schools that received continuing accreditation this year by AACSB, a global nonprofit association that connects educational institutions and businesses in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide. “This is important to our students and their parents because it is an assurance of learning and that students are going to have qualified faculty in the classroom,” CB Dean Jeffrey Stinson said. “When our graduates start their careers or pursue graduate work, this accreditation can help open up some doors that, perhaps, might not otherwise be open.” Following a virtual campus visit in November, the AACSB review team identified CB’s Career Advising and Tutoring (CAT) Center as a best practice, and further commended the college for its Industry Leadership Board, peer and
alumni mentorship programs, and initiatives to support diversity and inclusivity. “They met with the same groups of people, asked the same questions, and held all of the same meetings that they would have had on campus,” Stinson said, adding that CB had to record and upload a tour of its facilities. “I think the virtual visit made it a more technical review against the standards.” CWU first achieved AACSB accreditation in 2010. After initial recognition, schools undergo comprehensive “continuous-improvement” peer reviews every five years to reaffirm accreditation. Stinson said CB is transitioning toward becoming a “mature accredited organization,” and he expects to meet or exceed the organization’s gold standard for college business education in the years to come. But he also knows the hard work is just beginning. “As we now look ahead to 2025, we won’t be able to meet the standards at the same level we are now,” he said. “We will have to demonstrate improvement.” Stinson pointed to CWU’s
“This accreditation can help open up some doors that, perhaps,
might not otherwise be open.”
JEFFREY STINSON
investment in faculty, staff, and services as a reason the college was able to retain its AACSB accreditation. “At Central, this means students get to learn from qualified faculty at the undergraduate level, in relatively small classes,” he said. “And, it means that we provide graduate students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies for career success.”
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News
Parks Begins Distinguished Professorship Role
“Receiving the Kuolt Distinguished Professor of Business role is a tremendous honor, and I’m very grateful to be in a position to share
CWU Professor Anderson Parks assumed his new role as the Kuolt Distinguished Professor of Business on January 1. The focus of the
professorship is to help College of Business (CB) retain a faculty member with business experience who can connect the college and others at CWU with industry. CB Dean Jeffrey Stinson said the appointment will allow Parks, a management professor based at CWU- Lynnwood, to amplify the impact of his teaching and other activities that connect the college and classroom to industry. “Professor Parks is a great match for the Kuolt Distinguished Professor in Business,” Stinson said. “With his wealth of industry experience, his ongoing commitment to sharing that experience in the classroom and with the university community, and his
outreach to industry through his ‘Emotional Intelligence for Professionals’ training, he will be a great ambassador for the College of Business and university in this role.” Parks began teaching following a career in global management with The Coca-Cola Company. After guest lecturing at Bellevue College and teaching at Edmonds Community College, he began leading a marketing and management course at CWU-Lynnwood in 2017. Parks’s classes are infused with his experience from leading strategic management, marketing, and planning for Coca-Cola’s largest corporate customers across Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim.
“My passion is to help build self- aware and mindful leaders.” ANDERSON PARKS
what I’ve learned in my business career with students and industry,” Parks said. “My passion is to help build self-aware and mindful leaders, and I’m excited to continue that work in a broader and more impactful way.” Originally established in 1990 as the Milton G. Kuolt II Distinguished Executive-in-Residence Professorship, the honor was renamed in 2007 as the Kuolt Distinguished Professor in Business. It is named after Milt Kuolt II, the founder and former president and chief executive officer of Horizon Air. Kuolt also was named a CB Distinguished Alumnus in 2002.
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S M A L L B U S I N E
By David Leder Growing entrepreneurship program trains independent thinkers who can turn their interests into careers
and build on those ideas,” he said. “You need to be smart at something else first, and then turn it into something bigger based on your expertise.” Jimmy Mulinski is one recent CWU Business graduate who found a way to merge his passion with his work. The 2019 alumnus has always enjoyed working on cars, so he leveraged his love for auto detailing and started Detail Company Seattle during his senior year. Only two years after rolling out his new venture, Mulinski is servicing high-end cars for customers across the Puget Sound area. After overcoming some challenges over the past year due to the pandemic, business has been booming throughout the spring. “At first, I was afraid of what might happen,” he said about March 2020, when the statewide shutdown order went into effect. “But after a couple months, I realized that I could still work on cars without much face-to-face interaction. So, I just kept at it, building up my clientele. Now, I’m booked out for at least a month.” Mulinski said his first entrepreneurship course at CWU helped him decide on a business idea that suited his interests and his background. With help from the faculty and some outside advisors, he developed a business plan in the spring of 2019, and decided to start spreading the word about Detail Company. “I just started putting out some marketing, building a website, and growing my social media presence,” said Mulinski, who would hitch a trailer to his old Subaru Legacy and drive to Seattle for detailing gigs while still taking classes in Ellensburg. “I would stay up until 2 a.m. every night, just grinding it out,” he added. “But I really believed in my idea, and I knew I could hit some new clientele with my marketing efforts. For me, it was just being aware of my situation and knowing what my skills were. Two years later, it has become my full-time job.”
When starting your own business, you can’t rely on hard work alone. Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires more than just blood, sweat, and tears. You must be emotionally invested in your product or service, or you may end up like 20 percent of U.S. businesses that fail after the first year (30 percent after year two). The entrepreneurship program at CWU intends to make sure its students are the exception. Director Bill Provaznik and his colleagues know that developing future small business owners requires more than a couple of years of management and accounting classes. Preparing entrepreneurs for the real world is more about training independent thinkers who can turn their interests into career opportunities. “This program is all about innovation,” said Provaznik, who started the entrepreneurship minor in 2016 with the help of Roy Savoian, former College of Business dean. “We’re looking for people who have a specific interest that they’d like to explore and then turn it into something using their expertise. Being
an entrepreneur is more than just starting a business; you have to be passionate about what you’re selling.” After five successful years of offering the minor, the College of Business will be introducing a new BA in entrepreneurship this fall. Enrollment has been promising so far, with about a dozen
students committed to pursuing the entrepreneurship degree as a second major. That means artists, musicians, and educators will be commingling with scientists, engineers, and accountants—a dynamic that Provaznik is very excited about. “We look forward to working with more students who can take what they’re already interested in
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E S S O W N E R S
“I really believed in my idea, and I knew I could hit some new clientele with my marketing efforts. For me, it was just being aware of my situation
and knowing what my skills were. Two years later, it has become my full-time job.” JIMMY MULINSKI (' 19)
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New Way of Thinking Believing in the value of what you’re selling plays a key role in developing a lasting business plan. But long-term success also depends on your mental approach. Provaznik and his advisors, such as Roland “Sandy” Wheeler, know from experience that you won’t get very far in business without forcing yourself to think outside the box. “When I got involved with the program, I just wanted to teach kids how to think differently,” said Wheeler, who is best known as the founder of Bowflex. “The best way I could get them to understand it is that owning a business is not a 9-to-5 job. “You have to know that there are going to be trials and tribulations—and also a lot of risk involved,” he added. “That’s why it’s so important to find something that drives you—that you love—because if you don’t, you will give up when times get tough.” Wheeler pointed to Mulinski as the prime example of a student who combined his CWU business knowledge with an unconventional business plan—on-location car detailing—to establish a niche in a competitive industry. “He’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing today because he was able to think beyond the traditional business model and build things up over time,” Wheeler said. “Most of the students in the program go work for someone else for a few years before they really get started, but Jimmy had the passion and the expertise to make it happen right out of the box.” Mulinski said he owes a great deal of his success to the time he spent in the College of Business, around professors, mentors, and advisors who know what is needed to build a winning concept. “The program helped me find something I’m passionate about and then gave me the tools, the time, and the mentorship I needed to build my own business,” he said. “The more you put in, the more you will get out of it. But
if you can take constructive criticism and be honest with yourself, you can create something you’re really proud of.” Building a Foundation During the program’s first five years, more than 60 CWU students have started businesses, securing 35 business licenses from the state of Washington. Provaznik said many of the student-run businesses have either closed or are dormant, but that doesn’t mean his students haven’t been successful. He views the entrepreneurship program as the start of a long journey that may take years to produce a winning idea. “You just have to learn from the experience and build something new,” said Provaznik, who also leads the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I4IE). “It might be your second or third idea that really takes off. But you have to go through the process and make some mistakes. It can take a while, but our students leave here with the tools, the skills, and the mindset to be successful.” Another recent program graduate, Grant Lawson (’19), said working with Provaznik and lecturer Lawrence Danton for two years helped him develop an entirely new approach to his career than when he started as a finance major in 2014. While Lawson and his project partners chose not to pursue their business plan after graduation, he left Central with the knowledge and experience he will need if he ever returns to his small-business roots. “My mindset now is completely different than it was before, and I attribute most of that to the entrepreneurship program,” said Lawson, who works as a certified public accountant at Tieton Capital Management in Yakima. “Even though I didn’t continue with my business, I tried. And just by going through the process, I realized that many things we think of as being insurmountable—like starting a company, building a network, or hustling your way into a job—are actually not that difficult at all.”
39.4% saw new business opportunities during the pandemic. Opportunities related to digitalization, health and well- being, local vs. global business focus, sustainability, and new business models.
61% of entrepreneurs saw the existence of their significant decrease in trading activities, meaning the jobs of 3,162 entrepreneurs and their 41,578 employees are at risk. business under threat due to a
30.6% of businesses surveyed were well prepared for the pandemic by having online trading and/or delivery in place pre-COVID.
21% expanded into
68% of entrepreneurs
changed plans for their business in response to the pandemic.
online trading and/or delivery in response to the pandemic.
Entrepreneurship d
Source: King’s Business School, King’s College London research impact paper: Entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey of more than 5,000 entrepreneurs in 23 countries that represent 3/4 of the world’s economic output. PHOTO BY CDC ON UNSPLASH
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Jimmy Mulinski can work on cars without much face-to-face interaction, which has helped his business over the past 16 months. “So, I just kept at it, building up my clientele. Now, I’m booked out for at least a month,” he said. PHOTO COURTESY OF JIMMY MULINSKI.
Lawson hasn’t given up on the possibility of starting another business someday, but even if he stays on his current accounting path, he could see himself becoming a chief financial officer at a startup someday. Those aspirations all took shape during his time as a CWU student and mentor.
“Entrepreneurship is more than just going through the motions of starting a business,” Lawson said. “It’s all about changing your thinking from the traditional ‘graduate and get a job’ mindset to becoming more of a problem-solver. The projects we worked on forced us to think outside the box, and I still use those principles every day in my work.”
48% of entrepreneurs see their business surviving the crisis.
48% of businesses did not use online trading and/or delivery options.
38% expect their businesses to grow and be even larger than pre-pandemic.
46% of entrepreneurs believed the pandemic could have a positive impact on their business in the long-term.
70% of entrepreneurs expect to create new jobs over the next five years. (Past research indicates such expectations are a good predictor of actual employment growth over time.)
65% of entrepreneurs felt they can easily bounce back from adversity and cope with setbacks, uncertainty, and stress from the pandemic. Entrepreneurs in the USA, Australia, Sweden, and the UK had the highest resilience.
uring the pandemic
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Shining aL By Emily Wilson
This experience was shared anonymously by one of more than 250 College of Business students who participated in a survey that focused on racial equity challenges within CB. It was distributed during spring 2020 amid national social justice protests in response to the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Other survey respondents described obstacles faced by students who speak English as a second language; a lack of resources and faculty and staff support around mental and physical health; and the difficulties of working full-time while balancing academic coursework. “[The survey] was a clear indicator that, while our student experience was probably on par with most of our peer institutions, our students were hurting … and that we needed to do more to support them,” said Dean Jeffrey Stinson. “Simultaneously, many of our students were engaged in the protesting and asking us as a college, faculty, and staff to explore our role in supporting equity, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI). We knew we needed to do more than just issue a statement. We needed to take action.” After reviewing the survey data, CB faculty and staff resolved to push past complacency and enact initiatives which would have positive and long-lasting impacts on the student experience, both emotionally and educationally. Under Stinson’s leadership, a new CB Diversity and Inclusivity Steering Panel was formed. Among its first tasks was designing and distributing an inclusivity workbook to faculty and staff. The College of Business Diversity and Inclusivity Workbook, which was released in September, consists of seven training modules, including Bias in the Classroom and Workplace, and Sustainable Diversity and Inclusivity. “You don’t want to rush this kind of work, and yet you also want to meet the needs of the moment,” said Erica Holley, associate professor of management and chair of the CB Diversity Committee. “Our goal was to create a meaningful training that would increase self-awareness and empathy, and, most importantly, would keep the challenges faced by our students at the heart of our work.” Self-awareness and empathy steered the development of the book’s structure, said Anderson Parks, Kuolt Distinguished Professor of Business.
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Light on Hidden Bias
“CB will continue our membership in the PhD Project in the hopes that these students will pursue academic careers and join our faculty ranks in the future,” Stinson said. To ensure this momentum around EDI initiatives remains sustainable and is embodied throughout the student experience, the CB now issues student diversity surveys on a quarterly basis, in addition to offering continued training for faculty and staff and improved hire
“The original intent,” Parks said, “was to combine self- awareness with bias and empathy to deliver a pathway towards advocacy and allyship. The flow of the modules was designed to be more of a journey from introspection to action. We began with creating awareness of bias/values, then moved to curiosity and empathy, and finally onto creating sustainable advocacy/allyship.” Response to the workbook so far has been overwhelmingly positive, though Parks anticipates the committee will need to add more time for discussion for each case study throughout the modules. The committee is optimistic the training will make positive change throughout CB. “My hope is that self-awareness around hidden bias and hidden triggers is increased,” said Maxine Lennon, secretary senior of the Department of Management and steering group member. “I hope, via this knowledge, conflict is reduced, and diversity and equity is increased in the CWU workforce, [both] among the student population and in the community at large.” Delores “Kandee” Cleary, vice president of inclusivity and diversity, is impressed by what she has seen of the workbook so far. “CB has been on the forefront of EDI work in and outside the classroom,” Cleary said. “[The workbook] is great and includes some very valuable tools to increase competency and develop skills to work in a diverse world.” Stinson also charged CB’s Diversity Committee with nine objectives for the 2020-2021 academic year. They include increasing visibility around scholarship opportunities, especially funds created specifically for underserved students, and increasing peer and alumni mentoring opportunities. To supplement these in-house efforts to promote inclusivity, CB has partnered with Edquity and the PhD Project. Edquity is an app which helps students manage personal finances and find emergency resources. All CB students have free access to Edquity. The PhD Project provides funding for students from underrepresented populations to pursue doctorial education.
and search procedures to better recruit and retain diverse talent. The workbook training is also being adapted into a student- centered version. “Survey findings revealed that student-student issues were a significant problem,” reflected Stinson. “Providing training and professional development to our faculty and staff was going to be insufficient for the types of change we want to see in the college, so we immediately began planning how to extend training and resources to our students. “With financial support from Boeing,” Stinson continued, “we piloted a student version of EDI training to our Dean’s Council students in April. It is an interactive, scenario-based training again rooted in the lived experiences of our own students. We are hopeful that a successful pilot will lead to a full CB student body rollout of the program in the 2021-22 academic year.” As the college moves forward, staff and faculty keep in mind the anonymous student feedback from the summer survey: “Don’t tokenize. Don’t expect students to do the work they are not getting paid for—you are. Create scholarships for students of color. Have more careers for them. Check in with them more. Meet their needs.”
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By Richard Moreno
meetings and trying to set boundaries between work and personal time. “Having empathy for others during a pandemic is really a true sign of leadership. Leaders are able to adapt and connect with their employees,” he explained. “When you’re able to understand what other people are feeling and communicate that effectively
A crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic is the perfect time to utilize emotional intelligence in your life or in your working environment, according to Anderson Parks, a marketing and management professor at CWU-Lynnwood. “When you think about emotional intelligence, the components of it are foundational in a way that can help you manage through something like the current pandemic in a healthy way,” Parks said. “It helps you deal with those kinds of events that you don’t have control over, while at the same time staying grounded and knowing who you are and what your values are.” During the pandemic, there have been challenges for every employee, Parks said, particularly regarding remote work, which for some has involved a plethora of Zoom-style
to other people, with a genuine offer to help, that builds very strong and authentic bonds.”
“He [Parks] taught me that you can always find something positive in every situation. It is easy to forget to live your life during the pandemic. But I now have the skills to identify my emotions
and find ways to get my life back.” HANNAH SMITH ('21)
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Why Emotional Intelligence? Parks has been teaching about the importance of empathy, self-awareness, self-management, and relationship management in the workplace—key elements in emotional intelligence—at Central since 2019. He previously had a successful career in global management with The Coca- Cola Company. He first became aware of emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient or EQ, several years ago after he experienced a life-altering health scare. “At that point in my life I was operating like a ‘bull-in- a-china-shop’ mentality,” Parks explained. “I was very aggressive, ego-driven, focused on titles, material possessions, all of those things that you associate with a person who has a Type-A personality. “I was diagnosed with early stages of prostate cancer. I was successfully treated, so no problems there, but the physician who was treating me said I was really
young to be diagnosed with prostate cancer,” he continued. “He said something in my lifestyle probably triggered that genetic switch. His recommendation to me was that I learn how to decrease the stress in my life and he encouraged me to learn to live from a place of integrity.” Parks said he soon began working with a life coach, who had him focus on determining his core values. He said that process led to his exploring emotional intelligence and becoming more self-aware of how he related to others and went about doing his job. He also began to practice mindfulness meditation, which is becoming aware of things that trigger an emotional reaction in a particular moment, and then, without interpreting or judging, learning how to relax his body and mind, which helps to reduce stress. “It completely changed my career trajectory,” he said. “I found I was more impactful in terms of my results. I was calmer in terms of the way I approached people. I was a lot more empathetic and the biggest benefit was that I was also more at peace with myself.”
REESE SIGMAN, MUSICAL THEATRE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID DICK
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Sharing EI with Others Because of his belief in the efficacy of emotional intelligence, he said it was then he also decided that he would like to share what he’d learned with others. He said in the beginning he wasn’t sure if that meant becoming a consultant or teaching students in an academic environment. While still working at Coca-Cola, Parks began teaching marketing and managing at CWU-Lynnwood in 2017. About six months later, he retired from Coke and transitioned to teaching fulltime. Soon after, Jeffrey Stinson, Dean of CWU’s College of Business, who was familiar with Parks’s work and interest in emotional intelligence, supported Parks and Liz Fifield ('18), a former student who is now a talent acquisition leader at Boeing, as they began to develop a course on the subject. Fifield, who co-teaches emotional intelligence classes with Parks, is also a strong believer in its effectiveness in the workplace. “According to The World Economic Forum, emotional intelligence is no longer just a ‘nice to have’ skill. It is ranked one of the top 10 skills necessary to be successful in today’s workplace,” Fifield explained. “Emotional intelligence is a great tool to use in the workplace when navigating through conflict and/or complex situations. “By being aware of your emotions and those of others, you are able to effectively communicate in tough situations and successfully manage relationships,” she continued. “Open communication builds a culture of inclusion where everyone feels safe to speak and share their ideas, which is more important than ever in today’s workplace.” One of their students, Hannah Smith, who graduated this year with a bachelor of science in personal financial planning,
said Parks’s class taught her how to navigate life’s challenges, which became especially acute during the pandemic. “He taught me that you can always find something positive in every situation,” Smith said. “It is easy to forget to live your life during the pandemic. But I now have the skills to identify my emotions and find ways to get my life back.” Closing the Equity Gap with EI Another thing Parks is especially passionate about is helping students of color learn leadership skills, such as emotional intelligence, so they can succeed. “I’ve accepted an assignment at the university as a faculty fellow in the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and so one of my other passions is to take this emotional intelligence work and expand it to business professionals of color,” he explained. “This past March we did a workshop, targeted to business professionals of color, and we had attendees from companies including Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Microsoft,” he said. “What I’m doing now is pulling out segments of the EI course to do mini-workshops that will help build the skillset of business leaders of color and ideally close the equity gap that we have.” Additionally, Parks was recently named the Kuolt Distinguished Professor of Business (read more on page 5). “This position will help me to connect theory with practical application, which is what I do in the classroom,” Parks said. “This will allow me to take our emotional intelligence work out to the business community. It includes not only teaching this to any type of professional, but also having some targeted training to business professionals of color with the idea of helping to close the equity gap by building up leadership skills.”
according to Daniel Goleman, author of the 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ , considered the first serious study of the subject. 71 percent of hiring managers in a CareerBuilder survey said they value emotional intelligence in an employee more than IQ. 67 percent of all abilities associated with strong job performance were related to emotional intelligence, according to Goleman. 59 percent of employers would not hire someone if they had a high IQ but low EI (emotional intelligence rating), according to CareerBuilder.
Emotional Intelligence is increasingly being recognized as essential to being a successful business leader, according to Rhett Power, writing in Inc. magazine. Leading businesses, including Amazon, Google, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Tesla, BMW, and FedEx, have embraced the importance of instilling emotional intelligence into their corporate cultures. 90 percent of what sets high performers in a company
apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge is emotional intelligence,
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“Analytics can be
“About 70-80 percent of online sales gain will remain in grocery shopping even after the lockdown is ending,” she said. “People who were not familiar with technology and didn’t have a choice but to get familiar with technology, they found that certain things could be done quite frictionless.” Their views are echoed by students like Kahlia Mafua, a marketing major who helped launch the CWU Digital Marketing Club last October. The organization, which now has 20 student members, meets twice a month via Zoom, brings in guest speakers, collaborates on projects with nonprofit groups, and helps members build digital marketing profiles. “Even before the pandemic, online shopping on sites like
O ne of the biggest impacts of the pandemic has been the acceleration of consumer acceptance of the digital world, according to a pair of marketing professors in the College of Business. Both Sayantani Mukherjee, who teaches digital marketing, and Terry Wilson, who teaches management and marketing, agree the pandemic has made consumers far more willing to dabble with online tools for entertainment, shopping, medical appointments, and other services. “The pandemic has accelerated consumer
intimidating, but they are a big part of what’s going on in the industry, and you have to understand how they work.” KAHLIA MAFUA
use and adoption [of digital tools] by several years,” Mukherjee said. “It’s a huge transformation, on the leading and cutting edge of where business is going, and I find it not only interesting but also a responsibility to familiarize my students with that landscape.”
Wilson echoed her comments, noting “it has made customers more familiar with using digital tools, which made companies more willing to use digital tools.” As an example, Wilson said ordering groceries online and picking them up at the curb was something few would have done prior to the pandemic. However, with many shifting to working remotely and shopping online, consumers quickly adjusted to grocery pick-up services. “What might have taken five or 10 years normally, the pandemic accomplished that in one year,” she said. “Not everyone is a digital native. It educated all the people who weren’t innovators, who weren’t early adopters of digital technology, and gave them more familiarity, more security, and more confidence in using them because they had to.” Mukherjee added that in some cases, such as online grocery shopping, research indicates a significant number of consumers are continuing to use the service even after pandemic restrictions have been relaxed.
Amazon and Zappos was just huge,” Mafua said. “But now, things are completely amped up. More companies are beginning to see that their reach is much greater online because there’s this huge global market that you can enter now.” And it’s not just marketing students who understand the power of digital marketing. “One member is an accountant who wants to own her own business. Another one wants to go into social media,” Mafua said. “We also have graphic design and ITAM (Information Technology and Administrative Management) students. The club has really opened people’s eyes to what is out there.”
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Fast-Growing Field Digital marketing, which Wilson describes as anything that involves an online experience, whether through a website, phone app, virtual reality set, or other electronic device, was a fast-growing industry even before the pandemic hit. Over the past year, the digital marketing space has absolutely exploded, boasting an estimated 2 billion users worldwide. In response, businesses of all sizes, many of which were already shifting resources toward online marketing, were forced to invest in digital marketing if they expected to remain viable. “Given this online behavior, companies are now investing in customer-facing digital interfaces as well as automation, data integration, because this is really the
space where they are able to create superior customer experiences,” Mukherjee said.
She noted that in 2020 the World Economic
Forum and LinkedIn ranked digital marketing as the top skill required for health care and green jobs as well as in consulting and marketing. This demand motivated the creation of the digital marketing minor last fall, which already has more than 100 students enrolled. Mafua, who intends to become a digital marketing specialist, has learned to embrace analytics during her time in the program. “Analytics can be intimidating, but they are a big part of what’s going on in the industry, and you have to understand how they work,” she said. “I have learned what all of these metrics mean, and now I’m learning how to drive those metrics.” Since the measure of success in digital marketing— or any marketing—is creating a customer, there are plenty of opportunities in the field for content creators, artists, innovators, and those interested in the technological side, according to Wilson. The field is wide open. “I tell my students there is a huge space in digital marketing for people who have a passion for something and are creative,” Wilson said. “It’s part art and it's part science.”
Both she and Wilson say the shift in consumer attitudes towards digital commerce provides plenty of job opportunities for students.
“During the pandemic, digital marketing budgets actually increased while overall marketing budgets decreased to support digital transformation. Companies pulled budgets from trade shows and face-to-face events and allocated them into digital marketing to reach customers,” Mukherjee explained. “I just think that right now, without integrating digital technology, it’s very hard for any business to thrive,” she continued. “It’s absolutely critical for our students to understand the digital space, and it has become a basic skill required across a number of different industries and verticals.”
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR HAS GONE DIGITAL
Q More than a quarter of small businesses (28%) have tried targeted advertising on social media or sold products or services online (27%) , according to Visa’s global Back to Business Study .
M According to consumer research commissioned by Visa, social media accounted for one in four online purchases in the United Kingdom during the first six months of the pandemic. Social media purchases, “coined swipe up” shopping, is expected to grow in popularity.
X 82 percent of surveyed small business owners adopted new technologies to meet customers online and in-app, according to Visa’s global Back to Business Study .
r 49 percent of surveyed people now prefer to shop online, according to Visa’s global Back to Business Study . a Global business- to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sales are expected to reach $4.5 trillion this year.
w 59 percent of shoppers say being able to shop on a mobile device is important when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from. G 49 percent of users say they use Google to discover or find a new item or product.
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And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it has one of the highest demands for future jobs. While every business or company can benefit from digital marketing, Wilson said smaller businesses probably need it the most because they have limited resources. She said service- related businesses in particular often have a difficult time telling their story but digital marketing can provide the tools, such as video, to show what that business can do for a customer. Consequences of the Digital Shift Mukherjee said a consequence of the growing acceptance of digital communication and commerce is the increasing awareness of the power of the digital world not previously imagined. “As the focus shifts to well-being post-pandemic, people are starting to see that inclusive and diverse marketing practices are paramount. Digital marketing is important because it can make empowering conversations accessible to underrepresented communities. Topics can go viral very, very quickly in the digital space,” she said. “So, there is the potential for leading positive growth but also there is the likelihood of increasing polarization.” She said consumers and governments are becoming “hyper-aware” of political and social implications in the digital space, especially when that content goes viral, and are demanding more in terms of accountability from corporations and companies.
“I think digital is touching the needs and the desires of people to form a collective whole when they are social-distancing and in lockdown,”
she continued. “People are isolated but at the same time they are also being much more mindful about the well-being of the community as a whole.”
Mukherjee said digital platforms, like Clubhouse, are already bringing people together in ways not previously imagined. She said she was recently on Clubhouse and participated in a forum during which activist and actor Ashton Kutcher answered questions from aspiring actors across the US interested in getting into the film industry. Locationally, people can access this type of conversation from just about anywhere. “Who would have imagined that sitting in your own living room, you could get that kind of intimate conversation with a Hollywood A list star in the physical space, right?” Mukherjee said. “And that has always been the digital utopia—democratizing content and empowering voices to fuel creativity, growth, and transformation.”
DIGITAL MARKETING SKILLS ARE IN DEMAND
x Over the past year, there has been a vast increase in demand for marketers with social skills, with paid social media rising in demand by 116.4 percent , according to LinkedIn.
8 Demand for social media advertising has increased by 45.9 percent over the past year; proficiency in Instagram is up 28.4 percent ; and social media optimization has grown by 26.2 percent .
Marketers have also improved
c Skills in digital and data have been rising sharply since the onset of the pandemic, with eight of the top 10 most in-demand skills relating to marketing expertise, such as ad serving ( 84.6 percent ), analytics ( 46.1 percent ), and web content writing ( 30.3 percent ).
V LinkedIn’s list of top 10 in-demand jobs includes digital marketers with SEO (search engine optimization), social media, and content marketing skills. SEO drives 1,000 percent more traffic than organic social media.
their e-commerce skills by 6.9 percent over the past year, with 13.3 percent of marketers now possessing this skill.
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Keeping the Supply
By David Leder
Sara Tompkins (’11) For Sara Tompkins, née Dunn, the pandemic has proven the importance of having people in place at every step of the process. Tompkins works as a business technical analyst and IT project manager for PACCAR Parts. One of the biggest challenges her company has faced in 2021 is finding enough workers to keep US operations churning smoothly. “The pandemic showed us how critical the human element is,” said Tompkins, whose trucking supply company has been manufacturing trucks for companies that deliver inventory to hospitals, grocery stores, and retailers across the US. “You can have all of the material in the world, but if you don’t have the people to move that material, you really can’t function.” Finding personnel to perform the job isn’t only a problem for PACCAR Parts. Labor shortages continue to plague every phase of the global supply chain, and many are expecting the status quo to continue for the foreseeable future. Whether it’s procuring raw materials, finding enough manufacturers to produce parts, or hiring workers to assemble those parts, many businesses are still trying to establish a rhythm for the latter half of the year. “We use a lot of the same raw materials as other industries because they all come from the same root sources,” Tompkins said. “Resource constraints affect everyone, and then when you finally get the supply chain loaded again, you run into the human constraints.” But even with all of the shakeups, Tompkins says PACCAR Parts has managed to come through for its customers. “We played a critical role in the survival of the nation by making sure our trucks could deliver essential products on time,” she said. “We needed to make sure our trucks were working properly so they could move whatever freight needed to be moved. … It has been pretty stressful at times, but we are proud of the job we have done.” In her current role, she manages the relationships between business partners and the technology systems they utilize. “Our success comes down to how we manage our data, use our data, and leverage our data to make sure we get all of the right parts to the right dealerships on time,” Tompkins said. “It can get pretty complicated, but I really enjoy it.”
If there is one thing the business world has learned over the past year and a half, it’s the importance of a functioning global supply chain. The pandemic created disruptions across every industry on every continent, and the effects are still being felt—from manufacturing to distribution to delivery to consumption. Three CB alumni who work in supply chain management for large corporations have been in the midst of this once-in-a- generation quandary, relying on their experience and relationship- building skills to help their companies weather the storm. There’s no telling when the global supply chain will return to pre- pandemic stability, but they say their organizations will emerge stronger and nimbler.
a real-time case study in supply chain
“We introduce the concept of supply chain orientation as part of the core business curriculum,” said Smith, chair of the Department of Finance and Supply Chain Management. “The concept encourages students to consider scope when evaluating business decisions. A decision that improves department performance may adversely affect operations across the rest of the company and beyond.”
Over the past 16 months, the ripple effects of the pandemic have pushed entire industries and national economies to the brink. For CWU Associate Professor Carlo Smith and his colleagues, visibility of these events are helping connect the dots for Central’s business students.
Carlo Smith
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Chain Intact Alumni help
overcome pandemic- related challenges
Sean Wanigasekara (’13) Sean Wanigasekara works as a senior manager of omni-channel inventory management for Levi Strauss Co. Based in San Francisco, he is helping Levi’s manage challenges such as disruptions in raw materials and manufacturing, as well as the dramatic slowdown in retail sales in the US from the global shutdown. “I think Levi’s has come out of this better than most of our competitors, especially in the denim market,” Wanigasekara said. “We had relationships with a lot of third-party vendors—some for over 30 years—and we continued to build on them. Because, at the end of the day, supply chains are all about relationships.” No matter what he encounters in his work, he knows he can fall back on his years of supply chain management experience to produce results. “No matter where you work—Levi’s, Boeing, Amazon, or Starbucks—the foundations and the fundamentals are all the same,” said Wanigasekara, who came to Central from Sri Lanka on an International Student Merit scholarship. “You can use these skills in business, economics, analytics; the opportunities are endless. If you can build a broad spectrum of knowledge, it’s surprising how much common ground you will find.” Wanigasekara credits the College of Business with giving him a solid baseline for how the business world works. While he didn’t focus on supply chain management at CWU (he earned dual degrees in economics and public relations), he came away with a well-rounded view of how businesses around the world are interconnected. He believes his personality has been just as important in carving out a niche in his field and climbing the corporate ladder. “No matter how much you know, or how good your GPA is, you have to have a certain kind of personality,” Wanigasekara said. “When you work for a multinational organization, you mingle with a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures, and you have to be able to relate to them. I’ve seen a lot of brilliant people fail at this because they couldn’t figure out how to make those personal connections. In a position like mine, that skill is my greatest asset.” Smith pointed to the media coverage of the events of the past year and a half, which illustrate the vital importance of supply chains. Early in the pandemic, the whole world became acutely aware of shortages of personal protective equipment and other essential goods. “I suspect everyone was concerned when toilet paper became scarce on store shelves,” he said. “When it gets this personal, students and their families get motivated to understand how
Antonio Sanchez (’10) Similarly, Antonio Sanchez pointed to his ability to build connections with people across industries and cultures as the most important element of his success at The Boeing Co. over the past nine years. “Once you get out into the world, it always comes down to relationships,” said Sanchez, who manages a logistics and warehousing group for the multinational airplane manufacturer. “But you have to get out of your comfort zone and show people that you’re willing to get to know them. There’s a lot to be said for learning to connect with people.” Sanchez said he had to work on his interpersonal skills before thriving in an international business setting. The Selah native, who earned degrees in supply chain management and Spanish, said it took him a few years to find his footing in such a socially minded profession. “I’m an introvert by nature, so I had to get to the point where I could work better with others,” said Sanchez, who is based at the Boeing headquarters in Mesa, Arizona. “If you are closed off and don’t have the means to develop relationships with people around the world, it’s going to be harder for you.” Today, Sanchez manages a team of 14 procurement agents in Boeing’s indirect supply chain division. “I didn’t set out to do this; I was planning to be an English teacher,” Sanchez said. “But I remember being really intrigued by how the supply chain works, and my instructors at CWU helped break it down for me. Then, something just clicked and I started getting more into it.”
supply chains must react to such events.” Smith hopes recent media coverage might inspire more students to consider a future in supply chain management. “There are so many complexities when it comes to supply chains,” he said. “You have to figure out the moving parts, and you have to do it in a manner that’s cohesive. Every organization does things differently, but the basic goal is the same: delivering value to the customer.”
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