Elizabeth Walker

In the early stage of my career, I worked as a writer and editor. I had no specialist knowledge relevant to the industries in which I worked (social science research, mail processing, telecommunications), but my English Literature Studies had given me skills to sort through complexity, to discover what the intended audiences needed to know, and to express content with clarity.

I went on to manage teams of content creators in a global telecommunications equipment company. As the company grew and changed, my scope expanded. I led geographically-dispersed and multi-cultural teams through the stress of re-organizations, acquisitions, and a massively disruptive merger. Studying literature had given me communication skills and a broad understanding of people and motivation. I supplemented that with an MBA to explore topics like leadership, organization behavior, and change management.

Looking back, I would say the thread that runs through my studies and my career is curiosity about how people develop, how they influence one another, how they perceive and respond to opportunities and challenges, and how they cope with stress and conflict.

Literature is the most multi-disciplinary of disciplines with elements of philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, history, cognitive science, behavioral science, commerce, economics, geography, physical sciences … what does it not touch? I chose to study literature because I wanted access to all of that. I’ve never regretted it. The world needs more English majors.