Margrette Newhouse
In Pursuit of Extra Credit
Margrette Newhouse - In Pursuit of Extra Credit
Business Strategist. Board Member. Executive Advisor. Wife & Mother.
Over the course of my professional career and personal engagements, I have enjoyed the intersection of business, community and impactful engagement. A lifelong learner, I enjoy working with others to frame possibilities and make the connections to bring the opportunities to fruition.
According to the Gallup Strengths Based Leadership work, my most recent assessment highlights the five most dominant strengths:
Strategic. Activator. Learner. Achiever. Significance.
Join me as I aggregate the resources and insights that I find interesting in the elements in the next chapter of my career - growing in my mindset as a business strategist, dedicated and engaged board member and trusted executive advisors. I might also try my hand at writing original content regarding themes I find relevant for organizations, boards and leaders in this ever dynamic world. (another variation on a theme from my years as professor!)
Expect perspectives on the topics of trends, business strategy, leadership and organizational best practices for engagement and governance - and a few surprises along the way.
What I am Following
So Many Great Resources.....And Only So Much Time!
Podcasts
So What's Next? Hosted by Andrew McGee
Podcast Promo Description We constantly find ourselves asking important questions about the future. "So, what’s next?" seeks to create moments of meaningful connection between young alums, the world around us, and our alma maters, CSB/SJU, by discussing timely topics and providing insight into some of our biggest questions. The podcast focuses on helping our community navigate the future as we know it by delving into the stories of professionals who have succeeded in their endeavors.
Margrette's Take Expertly hosted by Andrew McGee, a member of my Spring 2019 Advanced Global Strategy class. Monthly installments - a must listen, whether you are a CSB/SJU alum or friend as a terrific collection of faculty, community and alum insights on issues facing not just "young alums" but anyone who is a life long learner.
What I am Reading - Audible Cue
Antro-Vision by Gillian Tett
Book Promo Description
While today’s business world is dominated by technology and data analysis, award-winning financial journalist and anthropology PhD Gillian Tett advocates thinking like an anthropologist to better understand consumer behavior, markets, and organizations to address some of society’s most urgent challenges.
Amid severe digital disruption, economic upheaval, and political flux, how can we make sense of the world? Leaders today typically look for answers in economic models, Big Data, or artificial intelligence platforms. Gillian Tett points to anthropology—the study of human culture. Anthropologists learn to get inside the minds of other people, helping them not only to understand other cultures but also to appraise their own environment with fresh perspective as an insider-outsider, gaining lateral vision.Margrette's Take One of many "unorthodox" approaches to my teaching Advanced Global Strategy as the Capstone at CSB/SJU for many years was the focus on the first many classes on "curiosity" - broadening one's perspectives through asking questions. Warren Berger, author of another terrific book "A More Beautiful Question" used the framework of the "Holy Trinity of Questions" - Why? What If? and How? in how one could continue to practice exploring and learning more about the world - and its people. In addition, understanding "WHO" is your customer is foundational to building strong strategy. Anthro-Vision highlights the particularly important element of taking a liberal arts mindset of "watching and engaging" as part of one's research best practices (there is much more behind the Big Data critical for business and organizational success) Written from the point of view of a trained PhD anthropologist turned Financial Times journalist, Tett illustrates the power of observation and culture with multifaceted examples. A great stretch to perspective seeking.
What I am Reading - The Hard Cover Version
We Came, We Saw, We Left - A Family Gap Year by Charles Wheelan
Book Promo Description Charlie Wheelan and his family do what others dream of: They take a year off to travel the world. This is their story.
What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre–COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to"—and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic—We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family’s gap-year experiment.
Margrette's Take In one of my very last classes, one of my students asked "How many books do you read in a year?" The answer is when you combine my Audible reads and hard copy - its a lot, and mostly nonfiction. (and full disclosure not close to the stacks I also have in cue to be read in my office!). This book caught my eye at Barnes and Noble as written by Charlie Whelan, Dartmouth professor, know more for his nonfiction books including Naked Economics and Naked Statistics. A fun read - and technically still nonfiction as a memoir - when his family had the almost perfect window to travel the world over nine months to exotic as well as friend based destinations. Inspiration on what it might look like if you had the open ended ticket to "see the world".
Where I have BEEN Lately
Travels - Near and Far for Business and Pleasure
Business
Bosnia & Herzegovina - CSB/SJU Entrepreneur Scholar Adventure December 2022-January 2022
Pleasure
New Mexico - Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque - A Family Vacation!
Celebrating family college graduations (Ben - Master of Science - Mathematics, Northern Michigan University and Jerome - Bachelor of Arts - Computer Science and Finance majors) warranted something special to celebrate - so we adventured together to a place we had never been before, New Mexico! Terrific food, enough adventure to keep things interesting (and modest morale impacting hiking - OK, will admit the mountain hike for the fly fishing expedition wasn't disclosed when I made the arrangements!) We had a great accomodations
Pleasure
Northern Italy - The Dolomites!
Completely under the radar of most people's travel to Italy are the stunning Dolomite Mountains. The rock formations are beyond verbal description - and the hospitality and relaxed vibe of the extreme Northern Italy region (almost Austria) was outstanding. We had the opportunity for an extended visit to my son Ben, who had the opportunity this Fall to play for HC Pusteral in Bunick, Italy as well as John & Jerome the bucket list trip to the Milan/Monza F1 Race. Booking your next trip to Italy, be sure to venture to the extreme north (four hours north of Milan) to experience this amazing place!
Top Tools
Here I Share My "Top Tools" for Professional and Business Efficiency & Fun!
LinkedIn - App & Website
Love, Love this platform and app - my chosen platform for my "Roledex" (I know dating myself, some don't know what this is!), spotlight platform on student, alum and friend accomplishments and programs and professional development. Easy to navigate - and I preferably use the app version on my phone. Students would joke their aspiration was to be in one of my posts sometime during their college career! Be sure to be a part of my LinkedIn network to explore how my connections - which i personally know 95% of of - could help you!
Caribou Coffee - Preorder App
My youngest son has a nickname for me "Zips" (short for Zippy - Zippy efficiency) - which makes me a constant connoisseur of apps and strategies to make my life - and especially errands more efficient. Coffee pickups is one of them, especially with a group that has very particular coffee orders. Easy ordering, payment integrated in the platform - perfect when I have a few errands stacked and can just run in to grab and go.
Dropbox - All Platforms
I admit - I am a paper gal, but I am trying to be better on the electronic storage and organization front. Cloud based Dropbox has been a tool that I have used for years - pre-Google and Teams storage. In the cloud, I can use any of my devices - and even those of others - to access my files efficiently. Also is the backup integration to my Remarkable 2 - more on that in another post!
Current Work and Possibilities
Let the Next Adventure Begin!
Margrette's Contact Info
Would enjoy hearing from you!
Email
margrette.newhouse@outlook.com
Phone
612-209-7629
Instagram
© 2014