Blog Archives
If you could speak at commencement…
“Members of the Class of 2012…” Those words are going to be uttered by college presidents and deans, and commencement speakers over the next few weeks. It has been 15 years since I graduated college. It’s a day I remember like it was yesterday, though. Bill Cosby’s wife, Camille, spoke at Temple University’s commencement ceremony at the Spectrum in Philadelphia that day. It was inspiring. Mr. Cosby even got up to say a few things.
After seeing blog posts and tweets about student friends that were graduating, I began to think. So I posted this on Facebook on Thursday.
I didn’t initially plan to make a blog post out of these, but the responses were wonderful. So, I share with you what friends in the social space would tell a graduating class.
@MattLaCasse- Your profession is likely practiced in every state in America, and most everywhere else in the world. Your happiness will be more dictated by where you are than what your job is. Do your job someplace that makes you happy.
@JBMHR (Jeannine Brown Miller)- ”Listen” to the direction that you are intended to be going..if you keep running into obstacles..stop and reassess where you are, what you are doing and determine change necessary to remove some of them. If we keep doing the same thing that isn’t working, we will get the same results (the old insanity thing). Embrace change, recognize that challenges bring lessons and blessings, and be open enough to be able to find the good in all that comes your way!
@JoshfromMaine (Josh Morris)- You don’t choose a life, you live one. There are no such thing as limitations, only fears. Pursue a position based on people, profession and location, and paychecks will come. Don’t get cable.
@BigGreenPen (Paula Kiger)- Don’t fool yourself into thinking you have all the time in the world/don’t think you are above doing the unnoticed little work to get familiar with an environment you want to be a part of.
courtesy: Temple U. Col. of Liberal Arts
@PaigeHolden- Stay in your own lane. You only start to doubt yourself when you worry about what everyone else is doing. True success has nothing to do with conventional measurements like position, wealth or winning thing. It has to do with finding a balance that works for you, and only you.
(I liked the honesty with Rachel Donner’s answer) @RMiriam- The next 6-8 years are pretty much going to suck. You’ll be at a frustrating entry-level job with lots of work and no authority. You’ll likely drift away from most of your college friends, and have to establish new relationships. Don’t let it get you down and doubt yourself. You’ll get through it and be better off for it, knowing much more clearly who you are, where you want to be and the path ahead.
And finally… @Buffalogal (Nicole Schuman)- You cannot plan every aspect of your life. Embrace change!
What would I tell a graduating class? “People are going to tell you that you can’t. You can. People are going to doubt you. Don’t doubt yourself. Most of all, you will be faced with adversity. Don’t turn away from it. Take it head on and conquer it. The only way you’ll grow is if you face failure, doubt, and negativity. Why? Because all those things will make you stronger. It’s up to you to use the failure, doubt, and negativity, and make it positive. Go with confidence.”
I’d love to hear what you would tell a graduating class. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Defining PR Sparks Debate… and that’s good!
One of the great things about social media is that it allows you to have a fluid discussion about hot topics and trends. PRSA is currently asking PR pros to help define PR, through its “#PRDefined” campaign. Last week, I read Mark Schaefer’s blog titled, “Marking the 100th Anniversary of the PR Profession’s identity Crisis.” Mark mentions the campaign and why more time is needed to define PR. It certainly raised my eyebrows, but wanted to see what others thought.
Thankfully, friend and colleague, Kevin Manne (@k3v2) read the post. Kevin, who works in higher ed social and new media, recently passed the exam for accreditation in public relations. We discussed Mark’s blog via Twitter and both mentioned Edward Bernays’ definition of PR, which is mentioned in Mark’s blog.
We moved the conversation to email, where Kevin said he felt Bernays’ definition is still fairly accurate. “Though the tools and channels which are used for public relations may change,” Kevin said. “The fundamental profession remains the same. With social media, now more than ever we have the ability to truly build and maintain two-way relationships with our publics.”
Kevin added that he thinks the issue is it can be difficult for those outside of PR to understand exactly what we do.
That’s one of the reasons PRSA felt it was time to better define our field. I reached out to Keith Trivitt (@keithtrivitt), the associate director of public relations for PRSA. I thought it would be good to get the ideas behind the #PRDefined campaign.
“What we are trying to establish with #PRDefined is a dictionary-like definition that addresses this issue of clarity of public relations’ most common precepts,” Keith said, “while allowing for flexibility for individuals and organizations to add their own value points and context to a common definition.”
While Bernays’ definition is still valid, the #PRDefined initiative, according to Keith, will help modernize the definition of public relations, in order to better address the current and future role and value of public relations.
I understand where Mark Schaefer was coming from because, I, too, originally asked, “Why are we still trying to define PR after all these years.” But, Keith made a good point to me, to which I agree wholeheartedly. People taking issue with the campaign is good because it adds to the discussion. “We’re confident that whatever new definition the profession chooses will be roundly supported by much of the profession,” Keith said. The vote will take place publicly in mid-January.
The response to #PRDefined has been overwhelming. According to Keith, in just the first two weeks of the initiative (Nov. 21–Dec. 2, 2011), which coincided with the crowd-sourced submission phase, PRSA received more than 900 distinct definition submissions, 16,000 submitted words to define public relations and nearly 30,000 page views of the “Public Relations Defined” website. There were also dozens of blog posts and business and trade media articles written about the campaign, including an endorsement of the initiative by PRWeek Editor-in-Chief Danny Rogers.
My take? Let’s continue the discussion and debate, even after PRSA comes up with its definition. Bernays’ definition holds up well as (hopefully) will the society’s. If both mean a better understanding of PR, that’s a good thing.
Let me know your thoughts on PRSA’s #PRDefined initiative and how we define our field, in general, in the comments.
