I’ve always thought that in order to be successful, people skills are the most important tool to have in your intellectual arsenal. The best and brightest don’t always get the upper-hand; intellect is easily disguised with a lack of personality. The fortunate thing is, you don’t have to put yourself $40,000 in debt to hone some useful people skills, you just have to test and surpass the limits of your comfort zone. If there is one thing I have learned from the communications field it’s that putting yourself out there never hurts.
As I get deeper into the academics of public relations, I get put in more positions where I’ve had to step out of my social comfort bubble and speak with people I would never normally talk to. In a recent experience such as this, I was fortunate enough to speak with local blogger, Braden Rosner who was recently nominated for three Weblog Awards (Best Written, People’s Choice and Pop Culture). Along with, and through the connection of my fellow classmate Kylee Berensci, Braden invited us to his home in the Annex to discuss his blog, social media and the power of networking.
Braden’s award-nominated blog - Songs & Cigarettes - is not incredibly unique, niche or intellectually mind-blowing, but it does have a strong tone and charismatic personality that bleeds through. Rosner doesn’t have to use a bunch of three-syllable words like myself to sound intriguing, he just does it, and it’s clearly working. As we chatted more about life in the blogosphere he gave us some pretty helpful tips that translated to public relations and life in general. One of them being: don’t be afraid to say “God Damn” in your blog on a reoccurring basis. Well, to dig deeper into that thought, I think what he meant was don’t be afraid to be yourself. I really couldn’t think of better advice for someone in the PR industry. The interview fueled my belief that if you ever plan on being good at anything, you can only do it by being yourself. The bureaucracies of school, work and even play can force us to be things we are not under the assumption it will help us out. Rosner is a great example of someone in public relations and (effective) social media that wouldn’t have a job at a PR agency if it wasn’t for him writing and acting in a way natural to him.
So I suggest to all in the field of communications and otherwise to take social chances, get more connected to the humans existing around you, because within each person lies a potentially opportunity; whether it be love, friendship, employment or a free drink at the bar. It’s more likely to pay off than be harmful. For all Torontonians eager to keep up with the Jones’s of pop-culture I suggest you check out the lyrical bloggings of Braden Rosner’s Song’s & Cigarettes.
You can find here by copy and pasting this link: http://songsandcigarettes.blogspot.com
You can also listen to our full interview by copy and pasting this link as well: http://www.divshare.com/download/11968810-396
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I couldn't agree more with you. While it's sometimes hard to do, putting yourself out there in social situations is something that all of us getting into PR are going to have to do eventually. Whether this comes naturally to us or not doesn't really matter at this point. The more we practice it, the better we'll get. Hopefully it'll pay off in the end like you said, be it through new friendships or employment opportunities.
ReplyDelete