Northwestern Master of Science in Communication

Bob is the CEO of Radicom, Inc. and a Co-Founder of VOCEON Chicago, LLC,  companies that work in advanced communications technology for public safety agencies and commercial clients. Radicom, Inc. is currently installing the 911 communications system at O’Hare and Midway International Airports. While furthering his career at Digital Equipment Corporation, he completed his undergraduate studies at Roosevelt University before moving on to the Master of Science in Communication program at Northwestern.

Why was MSC the right program for you?

Well, I was working full time at Digital Equipment Corporation at the time, so I was definitely looking for close proximity as I needed to stay in the area and I was also definitely looking for an executive graduate program. There are a few of them, at Elmhurst College and Lake Forest College, for example. However, the reputation at Northwestern was a significant draw for me.

I went to some information sessions for various programs, including for the Kellogg MBA Program, but I didn’t care for the atmosphere of Kellogg. It was significantly bigger and definitely a more dog-eat-dog and hyper-competitive environment. When I came to the information session for MSC, I knew I preferred the size, the curriculum, and the culture.

Despite the fact that I’ve been with tech companies for 40 years, I am not very technical in my skills. I’ve worked primarily in finance, administration, operations – people skills sort of things. When I came to the MSC program, I was responsible for the management of 20 to 30 employees and I was far more interested in how best to lead and communicate well with each of them to foster their growth and productivity, than to advance my knowledge of corporate finance or marketing, such as you’d gain from traditional MBA programs. What you find is that 80% of your time and energy, if you hold a management position, is spent managing people, so finding how to best communicate, motivate, and work well with them is critical. The other stuff you can learn on the job. That’s why this degree worked better for me — my role was never technical, it was more operational. 

What is something you’ve learned that has made an impact on your professional and/or personal life?

Everything in life I’ve learned boils down to problem solving and decision making. One of the most important things I learned in the program was ‘equifinality’, which loosely translates to ‘there are lots of ways to skin a cat’.  It contends that there is no single correct answer or method to tackle a problem. In a team situation, the faster you come to the conclusion that your way isn’t the only way, the better off you’ll be, and that’s when you get into really collaborative types of thinking. We tend to look at things and think we know the correct solution…that we naturally have the right perspective on it, but oftentimes that thinking leads to less than optimal results than might be gained by stepping back and getting more viewpoints from teammates.

I’ve developed a more collaborative working style, which the MSC program has always encouraged. In addition to personal assignments, we had group projects which allowed for perspective sharing and new ways of approaching a problem. Because I’m not technical in a very technical company, that’s been very valuable for me to have. I often need to rely on people who have a more thorough understanding of the product.

What was your favorite aspect of MSC at Northwestern?

Definitely my classmates. They’re something you take with you. I have very close friends from the MSC program that I continue to see regularly. When I got into this program, I realized interacting with my classmates was going to be very different than as an undergrad. In the MSC program everyone wanted to be there in every class, everyone was smart as hell, and their experiences were fascinating so it made for an exceptionally stimulating experience. I learned as much from my classmates as I did from my professors, just in the way they approached things.

Also, as a member of the board of the alumni association, I get to be involved with all things that go on with MSC and constantly meet new people throughout the MSC community, locally and abroad. We organize regular events and get together three to four times a year.

What advice would you have for anyone considering the MSC program?

Be a sponge for information from your professors and especially from your classmates. It’s a very high-level student that you’re going to be in the MSC program with and you need to take as much advantage of that as possible. I feel fortunate that I had the class I did. We had such a wide variety of business experiences, from banking to manufacturing to law, and it was really interesting because people would come to the table with a perspective with which you would never have thought.

As an example, there was a woman in our program named Jeanette Yep who was in ministry in Massachusetts. She came at our curriculum from a completely humanistic approach to problem solving, whereas in business the bottom line and economics are often the driving force in any decision being made. Her perspective was unique for me in considering ways to solve problems.

Holly Jones is the Director of Alumni & Parent Relations at Iowa Wesleyan University, where she is responsible for engagement, development, and communication. She received her undergraduate degree in history from the University of Iowa in 2010 and just completed her second quarter in the MSC program.

Why the MSC program at Northwestern, and why at this point in your career?

Immediately after completing my undergraduate degree, I started working on a university campus, which introduced me to the field of higher education. Flash forward several years later and I found myself working in the university advancement office, focusing on fundraising and alumni and donor relations. A little over a year ago I felt like it was time to advance my career by advancing my studies. I always knew I wanted to get a master’s degree, but at the time I hadn’t decided on the best route to get there. I considered studying nonprofit management, going to law school, or getting a degree in higher education, but eventually I decided on communication because it encompassed all the things I loved about my professional work up to that point. A communication program was the right choice not only for me but also the work that I was doing in higher education philanthropy.

I did a lot of research on the programs that I was looking at and when it came to the MSC program, I remember reading through the blog and interviews of current and past students and they captured my attention. The MSC program stood out to me because of it’s theory-based and practical application approach to learning. As a working professional, it was important to me to enter a program that was rooted in communication theory but also fostered learning through discussions with classmates and the opportunity to immediately apply knowledge.

Also, the program was broad yet specific. It was broad in that it wasn’t just focused on digital communication or something narrow in the field, like many communication programs. The program offered a true taste of different elements of communication, which is what I was looking for. However, the specific learning themes of the program, managing complexity, collaborative leadership, and elegant communication, informed me what I could expect to learn as a student in the program.

What is something you’ve learned so far that you’ve been able to apply in the “real world”?

In Professor Leslie DeChurch’s class, Leading Collaboration, we studied teams. Every week I was able to go back to my team at Iowa Wesleyan and think about lessons I had learned in class, how they applied to me and how I could be a better team member. The class pushed me to reexamine leadership skills and strengths in myself and in my team members. I find myself pausing and reflecting more about the broader context in a situation and how I communicate with my teammates, and as a result, strive to be a more thoughtful leader.

What is your favorite aspect of MSC at Northwestern?

The relationships I’ve formed, both with classmates and professors. I’ve had so many a-ha moments in class and enjoy discussing those moments with professors. We had a lecture on rhetoric one week in Professor Randy Iden’s class, Foundations of Strategic Communication Management, and I realized my interest in studying rhetoric. After class, he recommended books on rhetoric as well as future classes in the MSC program that I would enjoy. All the professors are approachable and are eager to support you in taking your learning as far as possible.

As for my classmates, we have a fantastic cohort. I find, both inside and outside of the classroom, that we have meaningful and engaging conversations that I really value. They’re so much fun and I look forward to seeing them every week. The relationships that I have formed have defined and positively shaped my experience in the MSC program.  

Can you speak to the importance of diversity in your cohort?

The diversity of the cohort truly gives us depth. We all come from different professional backgrounds, regions, and positions. Every person has a distinct quality that they bring to the cohort and it’s really amazing to see how all those qualities come together. But, we have the common thread that we’re all learning and going through an experience together. The way our classes are set up, we have the opportunity to interact with all of our classmates, which only highlights further the diverse strengths of our cohort.

What advice would you have for anyone considering the MSC program?

In deciding to do this I knew it would be a commitment, especially as I’m commuting 4.5 hours one way from Iowa every weekend, but I am that passionate about advancing my career and my knowledge. I knew it would be one very intense but rewarding year and it’s been so worth it. I don’t even mind the commute because I know that I’m going to learn something interesting every week.

Go into the MSC program with excitement and mindful preparation for the year ahead, because it goes by really fast! I can’t believe we’re already through our second quarter. The program has been really transformational for me. It came to me at the right time in my life, and the impact of the learning and relationships are truly invaluable.

Jacob currently works as the Leadership and Organizational Development Consultant for  Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where he supports a population of 5,000+ individuals, providing one-on-one coaching and group workshop facilitation to clinical and non-clinical leaders.  Jacob leverages his experiences in education, the performing arts, and corporate learning and development to his work.  As a performer, Jacob has sung as a backup vocalist for musical artists such as Josh Groban and Patti LuPone, at venues including The United Center, The Chicago Theater, and Chicago Symphony Center, and as a recording artist on Netflix’s Sense8.  In the education space, Jacob has served as an educator and guest lecturer for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students throughout the Midwest. As a Learning and Leadership Development Consultant, Jacob has worked with organizations ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies in the technology, healthcare, non-profit, and fashion/apparel industries.  

Why was MSC the right program for you?

One of the reasons I decided to go with the MSC program was that I liked the diversity of thought that was in the room. I loved that my cohort was such a diverse group of people, from early careerists to seasoned professionals. The program provides you the opportunity to gain perspectives from individuals in many different industries with varying years of experience, which really challenges you to think differently and try to grow as individuals. As a leadership development professional, I work with people in sales. I work with physicians. I work with marketers. And to hear, in my classes, the perspectives of individuals who are coming from these different industries and different stages of life was fascinating for me and helped me learn how to articulate particular leadership development messages to these different types of audiences.

Did you have a favorite class?

Professor Michelle Shumate’s class on non-profit leadership is the one I consistently use the most. In fact, I just recently taught a class about influence and motivation, and the majority of my research came from that class.

I decided to take the class because at the time I was consulting with a lot of startups. I found that startups and nonprofits are actually pretty similar — they’re both externally funded, and both types of organizations are very cause-driven. Individuals at startups are there because they truly care about their mission and they truly care about what they’re creating, and typically are focused on maximizing their resources and funding for that purpose.

One of the things I found so impressive about Professor Shumate was that on the first day of class, she told us, “I have a syllabus prepared, but I want to hear from everyone about what they are looking to get out of the class.” After that, she ended up changing over 60-70% of the curriculum to focus on things that we were really interested in learning about, even building brand new topics. That was so transformational — I have never had a professor so invested in their students’ development and learning goals that they would create a class so highly tailored to what we were looking for.

What is something you’ve learned from the class that has made an impact on your professional life?

One of the things from the non-profit leadership course I remember being most impactful — it was like a lightbulb went off in my head — was a great exercise about motivating and empowering our employees. There was a case study and the questions were, what can we do to really make an impact on people we work with as leaders and managers? When there’s a situation where certain individuals are acting out of line, what do we do? Everyone came up with great ideas on how to handle the situation. Professor Shumate said to us, “Did you come up with this idea because that’s the best idea for them, or because that’s what you would want your manager to do to you?”

That was an eye-opening moment for me. So often, we want to become the types of managers that we would want to have ourselves — for example, I don’t want someone who micromanages me, so I would give my direct reports a lot of autonomy. But in reality, your direct reports might want to check in with you, or prefer additional details, etc., I realized that managing is all about tailoring your style to the specific individuals that you’re leading and getting to know those individuals to figure out how you can better support and nurture them. Even now, a few years later, I’m still seeing the impact that that class has made on me.

What advice would you have for anyone considering the MSC program?

Once you’re in the program, encourage yourself to step outside your comfort zone. Take a class that you maybe might not have gravitated towards originally — it might push you and make a major impact. MSC is a safe-to-fail environment. This is your place to take risks and try something new. Because we only met once a week 40 times a year, which was such a finite period of time, when we were together we were all incredibly focused on learning and growing as much as possible. No one was checking emails from work or addressing other commitments and responsibilities. For me, those Saturdays were really my time to be selfish and focus on learning, growing, and expanding my boundaries.