Meet Dr. David Roach
Our Meet Your Professor series invites you to meet some of the faces behind the Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. We’re pleased to introduce Dr. David Roach an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management.
Tell us about yourself!
I’m a mechanical engineer by profession having spent the first decade of my career as an automotive engineer with General Motors focused on multi-functional engine development. I remember going to meetings in Lansing, Michigan and sitting in a boardroom with about 100-200 of my colleagues. As a young engineer I was fascinated with the interactions in those meetings and developed understanding of how to manage complex technical projects. In attendance were always a group of consultants, and it seemed to me that their only function was as translators between the technical and business functions of the organization. This changed my entire career focus, since I saw this as my new path. After obtaining my MBA, I moved to the consulting side, where I’ve managed this complex relationship across multiple industries such as giftware, biotechnology, and medical devices just to name a few. I’ve been and continue to be a business owner and I have several patents to my name, some of which have been recognized as best-in-class innovations in their respective categories. I began teaching part-time at the university in the mid-1990s, before joining the faculty as the inaugural director of the entrepreneurship centre in 2004. Since then, I’ve taught entrepreneurship and innovation courses almost exclusively at the graduate level to masters and PhD students, apart from the Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s capstone course.
What courses do you teach?
I teach capstone MBA courses, including BUSI 6002 – New Venture Creation, BUIS 6007 - Innovation Management, BUSI 6942 Applied Topics in Business II through Creative Destruction Lab. At the undergraduate level, I teach MGMT 4901 as the Capstone for the Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In the past I’ve also taught the BMNG 5310/20 The Business of Biomedical Technologies at Dalhousie University’s School of Biomedical Engineering. I also teach other entrepreneurship and innovation courses throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States.
What is your favorite thing about teaching innovation and entrepreneurship courses?
I believe this is what I was meant to do and enjoy the feedback I receive from students on their learning. The delivery of these courses is a lot of work, and I strive to keep the curriculum fresh and relevant to the changing workplace. Through it all, I continue learn a lot and I think the students do as well.
When I decided to pursue teaching as a career, at first, I did not contemplate doing a PhD. Instead I decided to learn from top faculty and educational intuitions from around the world such as MIT and Harvard through their executive courses. My motivation changed about a decade later when I decided to integrate this body of the work into my PhD and subsequent academic research. My belief is that teaching people theory will not help them in the long run, however an understanding at a theoretical level is necessary to avoid traditional pitfalls as a practitioner. I strive to balance that fine line between theory and practice.
Why is innovation and entrepreneurship important for students in your Faculty?
Most people will get involved in an innovation project at some point in their career. Not teaching students how the process works I consider a failing of most business schools. They confuse creativity with innovation management when in fact they are two very different things. Creativity is a very small portion of a successful innovation management process. You need to think of creativity as the tip of the iceberg; it is the most visible and easiest to manage, but 90% of the process goes unnoticed. If not managed properly, the iceberg will not float and any gains from creativity will be wasted. Similarly, the entrepreneurship process will inevitably fail if the innovation process cannot deliver a commercially (or socially) viable solution. My favourite quote is that “a poor innovation concept can rarely be converted into a successful product or service”. This is why innovation is like baseball…if you’re hitting 0.300 (i.e. 30%), you’re a superstar! Superstars are not only talented, but are 100% focused on the process rather than the activity.
When you’re not teaching, you’re...
I enjoy playing competitive hockey and play about 3 or 4 times a week, typically averaging between 100 and 120 hockey games per year. I’ve also taken on a new hobby during COVID when I found a WWI model airplane my wife gifted me many years ago in our attic. Since then, I’ve gotten into the scale model community and enjoy researching, replicating, and painting models. My airbrushing techniques have improved significantly during COVID!
An extra-curricular I&E activity or offering that you would recommend?
If you’re interested in entrepreneurship and innovation you should get involved with as many extracurricular learning opportunities as possible. You’ll learn aspects about yourself, such as your. strengths and weaknesses, but you will also get a stronger sense of what this path is all about. I’d recommend trying as many activities outside of formal courses as you can. Dalhousie offers a wealth of these opportunities.
One word of caution, however. Never mistake the “pitch” for the business! Anyone can pitch…few can successfully manage the innovation-entrepreneurship interface.