- Hello, I'm Tom Campbell coming to you
from the LG Digital Studio
at Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies
In Focus today, making a great technology manager.
I'm joined by John Taylor, Senior Vice President
of Public Affairs and Communications at LG Electronics USA.
John, welcome to Georgetown.
- Thanks for having me and I'm so glad to be here
in the LG Digital Broadcast Studio.
(laughs)
- I've never seen opportunity for our students
like this ever before.
Technology is the buzzword.
The artificial intelligence, augmented reality,
Smart Cities, you name it.
I mean, it's phenomenal.
- Absolutely.
And, I have to tell you, it's so exciting to be
at a company like LG that's involved in all
of those areas and more.
- So what do you see for our students?
What do you see right now?
- Well, it's amazing horizon out there.
And I never would have imagined
when I was an English major in Liberal Arts program
that I would be so deeply entrenched in technology.
But it's such an integral part of our lives today,
and I think it's an amazing career opportunity
for managers, even a non-technical person like myself.
I work with hundreds of engineers,
but I don't have the engineering degree in the room.
- [Tom] Right, but technology management, right.
- Absolutely.
- Right.
And the thing is, John, you take...
I mean, you've done so much.
You're on the Board of the Customer Technology
Association.
It used to be called, by the way,
the Customer Electronics Association,
they produce the CE I show you on that board,
as well as many others.
But you get more of a global view of what's happening.
So what does that mean to our students?
I mean, opportunity's like never before, right?
- Absolutely.
If you look at some of the areas you mentioned
at the beginning here,
things like Smart Cities and sustainable technologies
for cities and interactivity,
autonomous cars,
AI, all these various areas
are transforming our lives
and there are a lot of great companies
and consulting firms and other opportunities
for employment after graduation
that are looking for very sharp students,
like those graduates that we produce here
at Georgetown.
- That is a very good point, John.
Let me ask you a question, then.
So for our students, how do they make that connection?
We talk about networking, being involved
with these corporations.
I mean, for example, LG is more than...
Yeah, you're an electronics company,
but you're the technology company.
Looking at all that.
In fact, even the screens that we have
in the studio are the LG screens,
not to do a commercial,
but the point being
is that how does a student make that connection?
I know you've had many openings in technology management,
so how does one open that door?
- Well, there's...
Thankfully, at a place like Georgetown,
there's already this built-in amazing network of
alumni and sponsors.
And we would urge students,
in both of the graduate level and the undergraduate level
to tap into internships early on
to dip their toe in a variety of different areas
to really find what is the right fit.
- Because there's so much available today,
there's no question.
- Absolutely.
- It used to be that glass ceiling.
I had students tell me, "Well, gee, you know,
how do I get on a board position?
How do I get to report to someone that's an authority?"
Well, today, the technology people are right there,
either on the board, or as a chief technology officer,
or, I mean, you name it,
there's so many opportunities, John, it's...
- You don't have to be a technology expert
to play a big role in the technology industry,
in the various parts of the ecosystem
that make up the technology landscape today.
- You know, you meet a lot of people,
so I wanna know what is the most important skill
that someone should try to focus on
and develop to grow in this category?
- Well, it's a...
- Somewhat of a broad question, but what...
- I think that whether it's in technology or management
in general, I think the starting place is...
the ability to listen and learn.
I mean, one of the things that I've always drawn on
from my background in the Liberal Arts major
was the learning how to learn,
and always being inquisitive and never stop learning,
because there's just so much.
It's such a fast-paced area of technology today
that, you know, as long as you listen and learn
and continue to...
And find mentors.
And there are many great mentors in my career,
including yourself.
- [Tom] Thank you.
- Who I've looked up to for many, meany years,
that you continue to learn from
and continue to find ways to grow your career.
- Well, one thing when you spoke to our students,
you talked about self-branding.
That's important, isn't it?
Self-branding.
- It is.
I'm not a social media maven, by any means,
in my generation but...
I think...
- How you're perceived,
how people see you as a person.
- How you position yourself.
- Yeah.
- And I think that's one of the great things
about Georgetown, that you have this great jazz
with education and people come away from here
with a great sense of self,
and a sense of giving back.
Giving back to the community, as well.
- And there's so many areas, John.
Let me take a look.
Some of our students are looking at maybe having
a federal job, working for the government.
Some in private sector.
Some in nonprofit sector.
And I'd met a number of students ...
Get ready for this
that wanna have a startup company.
They've got an idea in their brain,
they wanna start a company.
Look at Oculus, for example.
You and I met the founder who got over a billion dollars,
remember that time?
In CES, he was sitting on the floor, eating tofu
and, "Hey, look at this thing."
And there's a big, medal thing goes over your head.
He sold it for a billion dollars.
- Yeah, and it's a pretty fluid job market these days,
unlike myself, who's basically been at the same company
for three decades.
People move around a lot.
And I think we all know people that have moved
from the private sector into government and back
and from corporations into startups.
I mean, this is what...
If you follow a trajectory
of your passions about technology,
and be on the leading edge of trends,
I think amazing opportunities are out there.
- Well, this is fabulous.
Now, technology's always been a large part
of your background, John.
And a lot of our students wanna learn how to
formulate a plan.
How to use the resources, how to create your strategy.
Any thoughts on that?
- Well, it's...
We could for days about this.
(Tom laughs)
But I think developing the strategy is, you know,
first and foremost, it's important to listen
to your customers and understand what the needs are.
And that's not...
We talk a lot about technology and innovation,
but it's not technology for technology's sake.
It's how do you impact customers' lives
and your customers' needs
by implementing technology?
- Absolutely.
Well, John, let me ask you.
What do you see as far as the students,
what the future is?
What are some of the opportunities you see?
You touched on it earlier a little bit about,
whether it be in sales, engineering,
social engineering.
What do you see?
What is going to be hot the next...
Say the next five years?
- Well, digital marketing, as well.
This technology
is such a broad platform
that it touches all of the business areas
that you might wanna get involved in.
Certainly, in IT.
IT managers are focused on a lot of new areas,
like cybersecurity is extremely hot these days.
You look at product development, digital marketing.
I think people coming through school today
who are already very steeped in social media
are gonna be well-equipped to serve companies like ours,
to help communicate about innovations and technology
to consumers, as well.
So, you know, when you think of technology management,
it's not just managing engineers.
It's how do you tell a story,
how do you help your customers and your business partners
understand the value that your organization brings
from a technology standpoint.
- John, I could talk to you for hours about this,
so let me just wrap up with one thing here.
I know LG's known for like the all LED screens, the TVs.
But you're in many other areas.
Give me just a fast overview of some
of other areas you're involved it.
- And we're seeing a lot of convergence today.
I mean, a company like LG, I think is uniquely
positioned because we have hundreds of connected
appliances and everything is connected to Wi-Fi
and the internet and they talk to each other and...
- [Tom] Right, cellular phones.
- And at CES in 2018, we're gonna do a deep dive
on artificial intelligence.
- [Tom] Really?
- And deep learning, and how these technologies
can really transform your life.
So we're not just a TV company,
we're an appliance company,
we're a mobile phone company,
but all of these things are coming together
in a connected lifestyle.
- Oh, this is fabulous.
Hey, John, thank you so much for sharing your insights
with us today.
It's been a pleasure, really, to have you here.
- [John] Thank you.
- And thanks to everyone watching out there,
stay tuned now for more from the LG Digital Studios
at Georgetown SCS, thank you so much.
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