That mindset started my thinking about the intersection between academia and the media industries and allowed me the chance, through the project I worked on at MIT, to consult with several companies, attend industry events, make contacts, etc. Really, the job at Peppercom came about through that network. I found out about the job through someone else who was contacted for it, wasn’t interested, but passed them along to me. And–this is key–it was a company who was really looking to collaborate with me in defining the job. I just consulted with them at first and, seeing it was a good fit culturally, we built the position from there.

I suspect it will remain a bit of an unusual position, but there are also precedents set now. So I think it’s becoming less unusual than it once was. One could point to how anthropologists, for instance, end up with in-house research jobs, etc.

One key is that online communication has given ways for academics and people outside the academy to connect on similar interests and ideas in a way that wasn’t as easy to happen (especially for those of us not based in NY or LA and not attending similar types of in-person events) a few years ago.

On the other hand, I do take a bit of pragmatist, “will it make a difference?” approach. There are certainly times where I’d advocate a client do something differently but know they don’t have the budget, the bandwidth, the understanding, the right people in place, etc., to do it, and I’ve thus not spoken up. I’ve consciously tried to bring ways of thinking into our firm–and to see it disseminate out to our clients–in ways that I think will cause positive change, but I also don’t want to be too preachy, either. So, for instance, I don’t ask for a retraction if a client uses the word “viral;” or throw something if I hear someone say something about “leveraging influencers;” even as I try to educate others on why I think such terms are problems.

In that way, it’s perhaps like the philosophy many of us would suggest for teaching: that collaboration needs to set a tone where people aren’t afraid to interact with you; that you commit to learning from others as much as you think you have to teach them; and that you don’t shake fingers at people when they do something that run counter to what you think is right (unless it’s a blatant ethical or moral violation), and lose any chance of people listening to you in the process.