What makes your research meaningful to you?
- Working with subject matter that I am very interested in. Furthermore, it is inspiring to be able to do research on these issues, and figure out step by step how things actually work. I have worked within the creative industries for so many years, and I can see the glowing commitment, and all the creativity that exists there. Therefore, I hope my research can help make the everyday life of those who work within the creative industries a little easier.
The same thing goes for storytelling. It's exciting to see how creative competence, of which there is so much within creative industries, is relevant and can be used in other businesses as well.
What is the biggest obstacle you've overcome in your professional life?
- I think pracademics such as myself can have a tendency to fall between two stools. From an academic standing point, as things are today, we have “wasted” most of our lives outside academia. Unfortunately film production and festival attendances don´t count in regards to academic publishing. On the other hand I feel very close to the creative industries. This inside knowledge would have been hard to gain elsewhere.
Could you tell us about your teaching?
- This semester I had my first class in an Executive Master of Management program within the use of storytelling as a strategic tool. Many of the students have backgrounds from the communication industry, but we also had entrepreneurs, financiers, and people working within insurance. It is very interesting to work with such a broad group of people. Furthermore, it has been exciting to see how all these people can learn about storytelling, and thereafter use these skills within their own areas of profession.
This semester we also had an exciting cooperation with Aalto University Executive Education in Finland, through a Nordic program called Business of Culture. Leaders, primarily from the cultural industries in the Nordic and the Baltic States, attend this program. I had the opportunity to lead a module at BI where I teach transaction cost economy, and how students can use this theory to think more strategically in their work.
I am also the Associate Dean for the bachelor programme in Creative Industries Management here at BI. I therefore supervised many students with their Bachelor thesis this semester. It's very exciting to see what the students have learnt, and what they are able to do at the end of their studies!
Lastly, what is a fun fact about you?
- I have a fear of heights, despite this I got myself an USHPA Certification as a paraglider! Unfortunately that did not cure my fear of heights…