“I loved giving the session to the students, although it is quite daunting! Presenting in front of an ExCo board; fine. All day long. 120+ students who you have to win over, be relevant to, without being condescending… that’s a tough gig! I was so impressed with the students’ engagement, though, and how they really adapted to the task. I would definitely love the opportunity to return in the future.’

Dan Reed, MSc Marketing and Advertising, 2010,Head of Digital at KPMG

How can we rethink problems, find innovative solutions and improve customer’s experiences? These were some of the issues alumnus Dan Reed (MSc Marketing and Advertising, 2010) helped students at the Hull University Business School navigate when he returned to campus on Wednesday 18th February. We were treated to a fantastic session in which Dan talked about some of his own career experiences and set an interactive group task so that students could put their learning straight into practice.

Dan is Director, Head of Digital at KPMG where he leads a multidisciplinary team driving digital transformation across marketing and technology, and he began by talking about what digital transformation is using examples from his own career which has seen him work at Barclaycard and Adobe, and examples from popular culture of when transformation might have helped a company adapt to a changing world.

The students were then set a task in which they were asked to imagine they’d been tasked by a high street bank with tackling falling engagement with their app by younger customers. Using the techniques from design led thinking that Dan had set out (abstract laddering; rose, thorn, bud; and affinity clustering) they had to begin the process of breaking down the problem, finding a way of re-engaging the hypothetical customers with the app, and identifying opportunities that the problem itself might open up.

After the task, Dan participated in a ‘fireside chat’ with current student Duke Dafe who asked searching questions to help students get insights from Dan that would help in their own career development.

The two discussed a range of topics including AI, networking, how to stand out from the crowd and what transferable skills might help across a range of industries and job roles.

One of the key take aways from Dan, though, was the importance of authenticity and working well with others.

‘People enjoy working with people. Being a nice person, being someone that people enjoy working with is so underrated. Hold your true authentic self and take it forward.’

Dan is just one of the alumni who have returned to campus this month to share their experiences with students, and the impact of him and his fellow volunteers is one that has been recognised across the institution.

‘Alumni voices play a vital role in shaping our students’ confidence and aspirations,’ said Dr Fiona Walkley, Head of Marketing, Management and Business Strategy in the Business School. ‘Engagement with our Alumni is a key part of the Business School’s approach to Authentic Business Learning. Hearing directly from someone who was sat where they sit now is inspiring and shows them that they are part of a powerful professional community. We are fortunate to have generous alumni like Dan whose contributions create meaningful experiences for our students.’

‘I hope they got several things from the session,’ said Dan. ‘First and foremost, I hope that they saw themselves in me. These roles, and these organisations, are attainable to future graduates such as themselves. I talked about how I had ‘no right’ to be in the roles I’ve been in – i.e. coming from a lower socio-economic background, from Sheffield, with no business connections. Which leads me to my second point I hope they took away: the power of LinkedIn. Yes, there is still an element of ‘who you know’ and LinkedIn is that real leveller – it allows anyone to know anyone. Build authentic, meaningful connections – not just when you ‘need’ them.’