Your Career and You: "Check Your Voicemail"

Okay…today (Thursday) got off to a rollicking start with rain coming down in buckets, me with a splitting headache…and a 10 a.m. dentist appointment on the books. Bus was 15 minutes late, but I walked like the proverbial “bat out of hell” and made it to the dentist’s office just three minutes after 10.

Only to be gently asked… “You do know your appointment’s for 11:00?”

As anyone who reads this blog from time to time knows all too well, I readily and somewhat cheerfully admit to not necessarily being the most organized and focused human on earth.

Margaret (my long-suffering and relentlessly-understanding wife) told me on Tuesday when I got home from school that she had saved a message from the dentist’s office reminding me of my appointment.

I looked at my Outlook calendar and saw that I had dutifully entered the appointment back when it was scheduled…for 10:00 a.m.

No need to check the message. I had it scheduled.

Which brings me to today and the fact that I’m sitting in the waiting room writing this…since I have an hour to kill!

What’s the point of all this, Kirk?

We’re all busy. We all have more on our respective plates than we can sanely handle. But that’s not someone else’s problem. It’s ours, and we have to take control.

Simple…sort of. “Baby steps.”

Keep a calendar…with you at all times!...and make sure you enter your appointments, to-dos, classes (regardless of whether you’re a student or a teacher).

And, if someone follows up to confirm an appointment, double-check your calendar to make sure you have the correct date and time. (Note: This is a “do as I say, not as I do” piece of advice!)

Why is this important? Couple of reasons, one of which should be obvious based on the fact that I’m now at 45 minutes and counting on my “early-ness” for my appointment.

More and more, we are relying on electronic communication to schedule things. The obvious problem is that there is no longer a “paper trail” that we can use to double-check. It’s either stored in our fuzzy little brains or stored in bits and bytes on a computer.

The inherent danger in this virtual existence is that, sooner or later, the chipmunk’s going to get tired, the computer is going to crash, and life, as we have comfortably gotten to know it, will come to a screeching halt.

It’s okay if you blow off a get-together with friends or family (not really, but I’ll let you have a “gimme” on this one).

It’s NOT okay to blow off a meeting with your boss, potential internship supervisor…professor (listening, Curry College PR students?!?).

Being on time…for classes, for meetings, for just about anything (Margaret and I were late for our own wedding!)…is an indication of professionalism and goes a long way toward creating a favorable impression that will pay dividends in the future.

So…organize your life. Get control of your calendar.

Check your voicemail!

’Nuff said.

“The horror of that moment,” the King went on, “I shall never, never forget!

You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.”

Lewis Carroll, “Through the Looking-Glass” [1872], ch. 1

Your Career and You: Enthusiasm Rocks!

Fall semester at Curry College, where I oversee the Public Relations concentration and teach most of the PR courses, has gotten off to a rocking start. Great classes. Engaged students. It's going to be fun!

I've also had a series of invigorating conversations as well with friends, some now-graduated and working as well as others just on the brink of graduating, that really got me going. The takeaway for me was the energy and enthusiasm all exhibited during our chats.

Bobby has been out in the working world for a little more than three years, and his resume already displays some very cool experience as a public relations professional. He currently works for an international hotel/resort chain and is having the time of his life.

Erika and Katie are seniors, both (to my dismay) graduating early and heading off to make their respective marks in the world as budding PR pros.

Erika is closing out her time at Curry College with three awesome internships and as president of the Curry College Public Relations Student Association.

Katie, as I learned during the Communication Department’s “New and Transfer Student Welcome” event, will embark on her sixth internship this semester. O.M.G.!!!

What all three have in common is a budding yet already unbridled passion for the public relations profession...its many challenges as well as its numerous opportunities,

They’ve all experienced enough to sense that PR…as much fun as I say it is in our classes…can be maddeningly frustrating as well as deliriously exhilarating. Every day is different with the various situations that pop up; every day is the same…ditto.

What remains a constant for me as a PR professional-turned-PR professor is the love that I have for the field of endeavor that has been my life’s work and the passion that I try to share with my students…all of whom I view as the next generation of communicators.

Not all of the folks who pass through my classes will work in public relations. In addition to those who have gone into pure public relations positions, others are making their respective marks in television or radio or on the stage as budding actors and actresses or in higher education administration…the list goes on and on, with me smiling all the way!

I keep up with these wonderful people through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, email, phone calls, lunches…you name it. But we remain connected, and I continue to be amazed at their enthusiasm for and pride in what they are accomplishing.

And that’s the “secret” to success in this life…enthusiasm for what you’re doing and pride in what you’ve done. Of course, it helps to be reasonably good at what you’re doing, and I’m happy to report that these young superstars are just that…good at what they do.

Make mistakes? Of course! I manage to thoroughly bungle things once in a while (a LOT according to some sources!). But they…and I…learn from these boo-boos and move on.

I hope you will be this lucky at some point in your life...doing something you really enjoy doing, working with people you really enjoy being around, and making a difference.

And when you do...let me know. Enthusiasm rocks!!

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays: First Series, Circles" [1841]

Your Career and You: "There is no 'I' in 'We'"

The thought hit me tonight as I was mentally reviewing projects that I'm involved in that I'm not the only person with some "skin" in one or more of these "games."

The reason I mention this is my feeling that some of my own friends are feeling a little lonely as they pound the pavement in search of a job or an internship or whatever.

It's easy to feel like there's no one else in the immediate galaxy who you can turn to when you either are unemployed after having worked a while or are just embarking on that foray into the professional working world.

But you're not in this alone, as I try to reassure my students both at Curry College, where I oversee the undergraduate Public Relations concentration and teach most of the PR courses, and at Regis College, where I teach part-time in the graduate Organizational and Professional Communication area.

Don't get trapped in the "I can't find/don't have a job" quicksand. Instead, try to think of it as a team effort in which you can and should turn to your friends/teachers/mentors for some help/advice/reassurance...how can we help you get through this?

Why? Because, again as I've said a bazillion times before..."We care."

I love it that a friend/former student connected with me a couple of days ago to ask my advice on a cool job offer that she's considering. It's moving her into a little higher level of involvement on the PR side of things, and she just wants to make sure she's heading in the right direction with some ideas she has.

Sure, she could just wing it and hope that she gets it right...and she most likely would. But she's thinking like a professional and asking others... members of her extended "team"...for advice.

It's funny (not "funny ha-ha"..."funny strange") how we so often tend to think after completing a major life-step like graduation from college that the connections we made...the friends we so treasured...the teachers for whom we developed respect...are no longer valid.

They belong to "then," not to "now."

Nothing could or should be farther from the truth. In my world at least, a "friend" is someone I can turn to half a century later for advice. Should be the same for you.

So get out of the "I am in this all alone" syndrome and accept the "Together, we can get through this" mantle of reassurance.

We're a team here...and there is no I in we!

"You don't live in a world all alone. Your brothers are here too."
Albert Schweitzer, On Receiving the Nobel Prize [1952]

Your Career and You: "Do the Right Thing"

I've been doing a lot of writing lately...letters to the editor, blog posts, online comments...about the importance of ethics in life...in business...in public relations.

It's a topic that my undergraduate Communication (and Management) students at Curry College, where I oversee the Public Relations concentration and teach most of the PR courses, as well as my graduate students at Regis College, where I teach courses in the Organizational and Professional Communication program, hear almost daily.

Although some folks like to wax eloquent on the "deeper meanings" and stuff of the term, I tend to be pretty pragmatic and realistic.

"Do the right thing"...for society, for your organization, for those who have an interest in your organization, and for yourself.

I'm a public relations professional. Belong to the Public Relations Society of America and serve on the Society's national Board of Directors.

We have a Code of Ethics that I embraced when I joined PRSA back in 1981. The Code provides clear guidelines on what constitutes "good" public relations practice, covering interactions with the client/employer, the media, and the many publics (stakeholders) who have an interest in what your client or employer does for a living...and how you, as the public relations "go-to" person, should communicate with them.

Is it easy abiding by these standards? No!

Why? Because not everyone with whom you will come in contact understands or accepts them. For some folks, it's like Admiral Farragut... "Damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead."

And that's ok...in general. You should be focused on the goal..."eyes on the prize."

But don't let yourself be tempted to "bend the rules."

Why? Because I've been around and doing this stuff long enough to know that it will come back to haunt you. Don't know when. Don't know where. But it will.

Many professional associations (I would encourage you to research the associations representing your area of interest and join the one that best meets your needs) have a Code of Ethics that identifies the actions that should and should not be taken by professionals in that field.

I've looked at a number of Codes over the years and, while the language in each is specific to that particular area or industry, the overall message is the same: "Do the right thing."

But it all ultimately comes back to roost on your shoulders. You will be the one faced with the situation. You will be the one responsible for action. So you will be the one who has to decide whether or not to do what the situation suggests doing.

I know that sounds vague as hell. But ethical challenges don't come charging in on a mighty steed all dressed in shiny armor. They're hiding in the closets of your professional life, waiting for you to turn out the lights and start drifting off to sleep. THEN they pounce!

It's at that moment that you have to make your decision...and you have to be able to justify it, both to yourself and to those to whom you ultimately are responsible...client/employer, media, publics (for those of us in PR).

You have to be able to say, with confidence, "I choose to take this course of action because I believe it's the right thing to do."

"It appears to me that in Ethics, as in all other philosophical studies, the difficulties and disagreements, of which history is full, are mainly due to a very simple cause: namely to the attempt to answer questions, without first discovering precisely what question it is which you desire to answer." - George Edward Moore, "Principia Ethica [1903], preface

Your Career and You: "Placing the Blame"

The chain of events on Capitol Hill these past few weeks provides a good, if unfortunate, lesson in "grown-up-ism." Or, sadly, how not to be seen as such.

From my own perspective...a slightly crabby (today) soon-to-be senior citizen who would like to someday retire...our elected representatives in Congress have demonstrated to an excruciating degree the lack of professionalism that can...and does...derail countries and companies.

'Nuff said. The takeway whether you are just starting out in your career or are well past the novice stage is this: Don't attribute your own shortcomings to someone else's actions.

Blaming "the other guy" has become a national pastime for our country's leadership. "I'm blue, you're red; therefore you're wrong."

"Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle." *

I'll readily admit I'm a peacemaker. Always have been; always will be. And I'm occasionally (ok...I'll admit...according to my all-knowing spouse... "often") wrong in my sense of direction. But, as soon as I figure out I'm wrong, I look for ways to straighten things out.

Maybe I misunderstood. Or maybe I chose the wrong course of action.

Whatever the case, it's up to me to get back on track.

This is where our kindergartners down in Washington are right now...they appear to have lost sight of the reason they were meeting which was/still is to resolve the nation's debt crisis.

Instead, they're spending a lot of time pointing fingers at each other and doing their level best to shift the fault for this mess that they all have caused on someone else.

Too bad we haven't yet found human-type life on another planet. How cool would that be?!? "It's those damned Martians; they just don't think like us!"

This implies, of course, that you know where you're heading with your actions which also requires being realistic.

It means knowing and accepting your own weaknesses. If it's something out of your range of abilities, let someone else who can do it get the job done and get the credit. You'll have your chance later.

Life is too short, and the world too small, to let your ego take control and cause you to do something you may not be up to at this point. Don't blindly push on, botch it, and then point your finger at someone else.

"Alice said afterwards she had never seen such a fuss made about anything in all her life - the way those two bustled about - and the quantity of things they put on - and the trouble they gave her in tying strings and fastening buttons..."  *
* Through the Looking Glass, Ch. IV, "Tweedledum and Tweedledee"

Your Career and You: "Count Your Blessings"

Over the past few weeks, I've witnessed or been involved in some life-altering events. Nothing, thank goodness, majorly traumatic. But things that really got me thinking about how lucky I've been throughout my life.

Wandered blithely through more than half a century doing stuff that I truly and deeply loved doing.

Met fascinating people along the way...Edward L. Bernays, Chester (Chet) Burger, President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan (none of whom, by the way, would have been able to or can tell you who I am!)...and had a chance to draw "teachable" moments from each. Great experiences!

Today, I teach undergrad public relations courses in the Communication Department at Curry College as a full-time faculty member, and graduate courses in the Organizational and Professional Communication area at Regis College as an adjunct faculty member. In both cases, I'm doing my dead-level best to give back some of what I've learned from my life's experiences... the good as well as the not-so-good (don't you love that "pr-speak" term for "BAD"?!?).

It's easier, sometimes, though, to focus on the things that have gone wrong or completely derailed in life than the really cool times.

> Got fired one time! (There's a milk-curdler!!)
> Almost got blown up one time...fortunately the bomb didn't go off. (Extra beer that night!)
> Been in a half-dozen major auto accidents. Except for an occasional ache from a once-broken rib, still walking...and driving!

The point is (somewhere!)...life sucks sometimes. But you can't let the negatives take over.

There is good in everyone's life. Even Joe Bfstplk from my childhood "L'il Abner" comics days had an occasional "not-horrible" experience.

But you have to look for the good sometimes. It's there, just coyly hiding under a pile of dirty socks or someplace equally "I don't wanna know"-ish.

> Maybe it's a casual exchange with a checkout clerk at the supermarket that makes you smile.
> Maybe it's watching your significant other's eyes glow with sheer joy because of a surprise gift.
> Or maybe it's just waking up and smelling the wonderfully clean, fresh morning air.

Whatever it might be, allow yourself to smile. Take a minute (or more) to simply let the good feeling wash over you.

> Yeah, there's still work to be done, and/or the client/boss is cranky.
> No, the phone hasn't rung today or the email hasn't arrived scheduling that job interview.

But...you're reading this, aren't you? So you're still alive and functioning.

That's a very good start. So count your blessings!

"For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." ~ Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, "Friendship"

Your Career and You: "Help!"

I'm staying on my "golden oldies" theme from last week thanks to an exchange of emails I had with a few former students over the past few days.

This week it's the Beatles...yep, the "Fab Four"...I was a fledgling engineering student when they exploded onto the U.S. music scene, and I dutifully went nuts along with the rest of my teenaged friends.

The Beatles' chart-busting "Help" debuted in 1965. I was unhappy with my major and was considering changing to something else...which now leads me back to my students/friends.

No one was asking for any life-altering advice, although they all know that I'm always available if needed.

One simply asked if I would pass along some information about an event that her firm has arranged for a client. The second was updating me on some recent changes in her personal life. And the third just needed a sounding board as she proceeds with a professional career-change opportunity.

The one who wanted my assistance in promoting her event got my promise to spread the news via my Facebook and LinkedIn connections. The one who updated me on her life changes got my assurance of a follow-up, in-person chat. And I spent about a half-hour with the third on the phone exploring the various positives and negatives of the opportunity she is exploring.

The take-away, in all three instances, is that the "system" worked. And that's the idea with friends and "help."

As the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu said, "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." Sometimes you're facing a challenge, or a decision, or a life-altering event, and you know you have to do something, and you kind of know what to do.

I'm always advising/admonishing/counseling my undergrad communication students/advisees at Curry College as well as my graduate communications students at Regis College to not be hesitant about talking to friends/teachers/ colleagues when they're faced with a decision. Don't go it alone!

You just need to take that first step of voicing your need or your decision...of taking that first step. You get the momentum started...the thought processes rolling. Then you're off.

So do like the Beatles. Ask for "Help"!