The Early Worm Joins The Nest - Digging For Worms, the DR4WARD Journey Continues (post 2 in a series of 2 posts.)

This is post 2 in a series of 2 posts.

In Digging For Worms, the DR4WARD Journey Continues (post 1 in a series of 2 posts) I covered that my role at Syracuse University as the Social Media Professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications is changing. I also shared what led me to Syracuse University and a few of the successes I have enjoyed as part of the Newhouse team along the way and my Keep Digging for Worms and 4Ward Philosphy. 

I am sharing the next stage of my journey and where I am headed next, in part two in this series.

The Early Worm Joins The Nest

I am thrilled to share that I will be "joining the nest" at Hootsuite, a social media management system, and will be serving as Director, Education Strategy, as part of an amazing and talented Customer Success, Community and Education team at Hootsuite. (Hootsuite has over 9+ million users and is used by 744 of the Fortune 1,000 companies. It integrates most major social media platforms and social analytics as well as over 100 other business and communication applications.)

I will continue to be part of the team at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University teaching as part of the Advanced Social Media Strategy Certification program (The first online industry-focused social training program with industry and academic collaboration). However, I will be stepping down from teaching my regular social media classes that I developed including:  Social Media for Communicators, Social Media Theory and Practice, and the SU International Digital and Social Media Study Abroad Program at Cannes Lions.

Vision, Mission & Culture

Hootsuite's vision is to revolutionize communications and our mission is to empower customers to transform messages into meaningful relationships. The Hootsuite culture is built around a passionate, egoless team having fun building something bigger than ourselves. The Hootsuite team values are based on hardworking, collaborative, resourceful, egoless, and innovative team members that value passion in all we do, leading with humilty, respecting the individual, and building a better way.

Let's Blow Shit Up! #BSU

B.S.U. is an acronym for "blow shit up." In the early days of Hootsuite is was widely used by CEO Ryan Holmes as a mantra to get people excited about what they were working on. "Let's blow shit up!" is used by all departments across the company-- in emails, chats, parties, even town halls, and by everyone from the newest intern to top VPs and executives. And eventually, in true fashion of a social media company, it was made into a viral hashtag: #BSU. 

Keep Digging For Worms!

When I was nine, I started my first business selling night crawlers on Cowan Lake, a small, quiet lake near Rockford, Michigan where I grew up. The spirit of learning,  entrepreneurship and building realtionships that inspired me as a nine year old has inspired me throughout my career and still guides my decisions. I still sign off all of my blog posts with Keep Digging for Worms! to remind myself and motivate others to roll up our sleeves, dig in, and push forward. My 4Ward (sounds like "forward") philosophy of helping others to look ahead by connecting and learning from the best and moving 4Ward by preparing for what's next is part of Digging for Worms. Click here: to read or watch the complete Digging for Worms! story

The Next Step: Same Challenge, Different Lense - Vision, Mission & Culture Meld

In my role as Director, Education Strategy, I will be be responsible for conducting on-site and virtual training as part of Hootsuite's enterprise education services as well as lend my expertise to strengthen Hootsuite's brand promise to deliver the most recognized and trusted industry-leading social media education and training on the planet.

The journey is not over, but just beginning. Hootsuite's vision to revolutionize communications and mission to empower customers to transform messages into meaningful relationships combined with my Keep Digging for Worms and 4Ward Philosphy make this an ideal fit.

Besides, how lucky can one guy be to work for two great organizations that let you bring your dog to work!

Please join me on the next stage of my DR4WARD journey from the Hootsuite nest!

I look 4Ward to your feedback.

and as always... Keep Digging for Worms! and "Let's blow shit up!" #BSU

Dr. William J. Ward aka DR4WARD

Director, Education Strategy,Hootsuite

Social Media Professor, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University

Comments

[Sarah Roche]

Congratulations! What an incredible opportunity!

[twitter.com/Tom_Collins]

Congrats, Bill! Proud to say we knew you when we were all just starting out in this social stuff.

Love Hootsuite, too, so I'll be thinking of you during our #BlogPawsChat tonight. Hootsuite is the only hope I have for keeping anywhere close to the speed of the tweet stream on these things! Tough on us old guys with slow fingers! ;-D