Does your internal structure reflect the way your colleagues think or the way your audiences think? In a recent survey, we learned that alumni identify with their fellow alums more on the basis of activities or experiences they shared in college (a sport, a dorm, a major) than on the year they graduated or where they currently live. So the alumni department reorganized its staff around those affinity groups, and they've been able to program and communicate more successfully and increase participation. More evidence that the first fruit of research is empathy.



