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Noah Askin
Asst Professor of Organization & Management at UC-Irvine | Music & Creativity Enthusiast | Culture Advisor | TEDx Speaker
Professional Background
Noah Askin is a dynamic and esteemed Assistant Professor of Teaching Organization & Management at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. With a robust teaching and research portfolio spanned over a decade, he has developed a profound understanding of various organizational dynamics and innovative practices. His expertise encompasses critical areas such as organizational culture, leadership dynamics, creativity, networking, and change management. Dr. Askin is dedicated to guiding individuals and organizations alike in optimizing their creative potential and effectively navigating complex social landscapes. His work is characterized by an interdisciplinary perspective, which combines elements of psychology and sociology to foster deeper insights into organizational behavior.
In addition to his academic responsibilities, Dr. Askin directs INSEAD's Product Management Executive Program, where he imparts valuable knowledge and facilitates strategic thinking among professionals engaged in product management and innovation. He has consistently been at the forefront of management education and has been recognized as one of the Thinkers 50 Radar List, which highlights some of the most influential management thinkers across the globe.
Education and Achievements
Dr. Askin's educational background is a testament to his commitment to understanding complex organizational systems. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Organizational and Economic Sociology from the prestigious University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Here, he delved into the critical interplay between economic behaviors and organizational structures, laying a strong foundation for his future academic endeavors. Prior to this, he completed his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Harvard University, where he cultivated his interest in human behavior and organizational dynamics.
Throughout his career, Dr. Askin has held several significant academic positions. His previous roles include Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, where he contributed immensely to advancing research and pedagogical approaches in management. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD, making substantial contributions to the discourse around organizational design and innovation management. These positions further enriched his experience and expertise in the field, allowing him to teach and inspire the next generation of leaders.
Professional Experience
Dr. Askin's impressive career also includes notable roles outside academia, such as his tenure as a Partner at Revolution Careers and Regional Manager at Revolution Prep. His experience as a Consultant at Monitor Deloitte (formerly Monitor Group) equipped him with vital insights into data analysis, management strategies, and client engagement, which he now leverages in his teaching and research. Additionally, he served as a Financial Manager at Let's Go, where he honed his financial acumen and management skills.
Dr. Askin’s diverse experience across various organizations, combined with his deep-rooted understanding of organizational behavior, positions him as an incredibly valuable resource for both students and professionals in the field of management. By merging theoretical frameworks with practical insights, he strives to create learning environments that inspire innovation and creativity across numerous organizational contexts.
Contributions to Research and Practice
Noah’s mission extends beyond the classrooms, as he actively seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and practical application. His research focuses on critical questions surrounding leadership effectiveness, the nurturing of creativity in organizations, and the mechanisms needed to drive change successfully. By disseminating his findings through academic publications and industry workshops, he aims to provide rigorous and relevant insights to both scholars and practitioners in the business realm.
Noah Askin is determined to inspire and cultivate the next wave of thought leaders who can adapt to and thrive in the ever-changing landscape of organizational management. His passion for education, commitment to fostering creativity, and an unwavering belief in the potential of individuals and organizations alike continues to impact many, as he leads them toward innovative solutions in an age of complexity.
Achievements
- Recognition on the Thinkers 50 Radar List for his influence as a management thinker.
- Development and directorship of INSEAD's Product Management Executive Program, fostering innovation among professionals in product management.
- An influential academic career with teaching and research roles at renowned institutions, contributing significantly to the fields of organizational behavior and management.
Highlights
New practitioner article
A structured approach to building your "Personal Board of Directors!"
If you've been in class with me for any session on networks or networking, you know that I often talk about the importance of mentors for your network development. I specifically talk about building a "Personal Board of Directors" (h/t Gibson Biddle) that helps you cover more bases than is feasible with just a single mentor. Plus, focusing on only one mentor puts a lot of pressure on that relationship.
To help you go about this in a more structured way, I have teamed up with Cor Dubois--who runs workshops helping people build their Personal Boards--and written a piece for California Management Review Insights (link below). Building on Cor's own frameworks, we offer a structured approach that answers the "when" and the "how" of building your PBOD.
Please give it a read and share with anyone you think might find it useful!
#networking #mentorship #leadership
NEW PAPER ALERT
“Feature-Based Structures of Opportunity: Genre Innovation in the American Popular Music Industry, 1958 to 2016”
I’m very excited to share a paper just published in American Sociological Review with my incredible co-author, Khwan Kim. We discover the conditions under which innovations are more likely to arise in a market, showing that both producer decisions and consumer preferences, encapsulated in product features, are pivotal to understanding and predicting (genre) innovation.
More specifically, we look at 25k songs from the Billboard Hot 100 over nearly six decades and identify a pattern of “feature-based structures of opportunity.” Put simply, new music genres emerge following periods marked by diversity in one feature dimension (lyrical) and homogeneity in another (sonic), suggesting a nuanced interaction between differentiation and conformity in the market—a mix of the fresh and the familiar that resonates with audiences and that presents opportunities for artists & labels.
And in case focusing on the Hot 100 isn’t sufficiently convincing, we show that similar patterns exist across a bigger, more general sample of songs from the wider music industry.
But what does it all mean beyond the realm of music? For academics, it’s a call to look at the textures of market structures through a different lens—one that sees product features as critical indicators of innovation potential. For practitioners, the implications are clear: innovation is not some wild spark in the dark. It can be cultivated, anticipated, even strategized. By aligning product development with consumer receptivity and the market landscape, businesses can compose their future successes with artistry and (some) precision.
Link to the (ungated) paper in the comments below.
#music #creativeindustries #productfeatures
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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