Five Questions with Josh Wexler
In our Five Question series, faculty at the University of Kansas School of Business share their insights, experiences and advice for students.
Professor of the practice and Innovator-in-Residence Josh Wexler is an East Coast native with experience in teaching, building and leading product design and development, and entrepreneurship. He is the head of insights and strategy at Tetra Insights.
Wexler has worked with Deepak Chopra at Chopra Global as chief product officer, led a team that conceptualized and built the SoulCycle At-Home Bike. He also ran product and design at Splice, a music software company. He has taught undergraduate and master’s classes at New York University and Harvard University.
He leads the Boundless Creativity series, a six-weeklong workshop that fosters creativity, problem-solving and critical thinking in all capacities. Wexler will also lead the AI Startup Toolkit: Getting Started in 60 Minutes as part of the second annual Startup Jayhawk programming.
What got you interested in your field, and what is the most rewarding part of being involved in it?
I would say that my field is technology and product management. I started my career at Deloitte and left it to start a little tech startup and quickly realized that it wasn’t going to work because I didn’t understand products. That started my journey on how to do product, how to be in product management and how to design interfaces and user experiences. I always loved the idea of helping people at scale, and I think using tech to do so is fun. Building products that help them in some way — be more creative, be more fit, help their well-being, etc.
The most rewarding part is the people who have come to work for me and what they’ve said afterward. I love the people development side of things and taking people that are good or great and making them even better.
What is your favorite part about being a Jayhawk?
I haven’t been one that long, but I love being here. It’s fun to be around students and the energy here. The entrepreneurship program is great to be part of, and the people are phenomenal. I have a connection to the area because of my wife, so I had a preexisting connection to KU. I am really excited about the future of Kansas and the Midwest. I think it has assets that will be valuable in the coming years. People move and want to come back, and KU can be at the forefront of that. I want it to be the driver of economic development in the region.
What would you see yourself doing if you weren’t a professor?
I love teaching. This is my retirement plan, and I get to do it before retirement, which is such an honor and privilege. It’s so much fun and fulfilling. It’s the best part of my career. But if I had more free time, I would be a musician. Lawrence is a cool vibe for that. There are some fun and quirky things around here.
What advice would you give your college self?
I would tell my college self to take this co-curricular. It’s the critical thinking skills that you can learn and the people you can be exposed to help hone those critical thinking and people skills. I think we all can get sidetracked about the specifics, but what I missed was how important the structure of critical thinking is. I would have loved to learn about creativity.
If you could require students to read one thing before graduation (outside of your class reading), what would it be and why?
“The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin. I think it’s the best book about how to live a creative life that I’ve ever read. He does a lovely job explaining that creativity is just not for artists and designers. He brings intentionality to the creative practice and helps you realize that you should have one.
