Archive for Professional development
Confessions of a closet introvert
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my favorite blogs, www.repmanblog.com, posted recently about “introverts making a go of it in professions dominated by extroverts.” Blogger Steve Cody admits that he has taken improvisation and stand-up comedy to get over his innate shyness.
How many of us in public relations are actually introverts and not extroverts? In her post this winter about her shyness, blogger Dushka Zapata writes that “according to the Meyers [sic] Briggs type indicator, an ‘extrovert’ and an ‘introvert’ are defined based on where they get their energy. An extrovert is ‘energized by the outer world of people and things’ and an introvert is ‘energized by the inner world of thoughts and ideas.’”
This difference must be what makes some of us PR people gravitate towards writing (my favorite) and some of us towards event planning (would rather have a root canal). What part of PR do you hate? That will probably tell you a lot about which side you fall on, introvert or extrovert.
Graphic from http://myers.team-technology.co.uk
Many social media books are just re-hashing Alvin Toffler’s 1970 theme, and that’s good
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Does this sound familiar? “…a time phenomenon, a product of the greatly accelerated rate of change in society. It arises from the superimposition of a new culture on an old one. It is culture shock in one’s own society. But its impact is far worse.”
This is the theme of many new social media books on the market now – the disruption of society, the inability to adapt, the loss of the industrial age as replaced by the information age as replaced by an even faster information age.
Yet, Alvin Toffler wrote these words as long ago as 1970, when his groundbreaking work “Future Shock” was published. He points out that “for most Peace Corps men (a bit dated gender reference there!), in fact most travelers, have the comforting knowledge that the culture they left behind will be there to return to. The victim of future shock does not.” Read More→
What are you wistful about?
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Wyeth's "Christina's World"
January 1, 2010 is now just a few weeks away. One more year gone. What are you wistful about? What do you want to accomplish?
The most tormented I’ve ever felt was when I worked as a secretary at an ad agency in Providence in the early 80s. The son of the owner would come in every now and then, and he was working towards his law degree. The kid had the brain of an avocado, but I knew that soon he’d be outearning me by a ridiculous amount. It made me wistful.
I decided to go for a master’s degree in communications. It felt right. I applied for some very obscure scholarships, and was successful. With my new degree, I went from $5.00/hour to $26K a year.
What are you longing for?
Six essential qualifications of a “social media manager”
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Laura Kinoshita
Today’s guest post is by Laura Kinoshita, a senior communications consultant overseeing healthcare campaigns with Hafner Creative Communications. Laura moved to Hawaii in 2001 to work with astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. Before that, she was managing supervisor at Fleishman-Hilliard. Laura is a member of PRSA and the International Social Media Association. Follow Laura on Twitter at @lkinoshita.
Six Essential Qualifications of a Social Media Manager
According to the job boards, you’ll soon be working with a ‘social media manager.’ Harrah’s Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Starbucks and even SAP are all recruiting for social media managers. Read More→
