LUVS, now that’s just NASTY!!!

Seriously, ‘Beyaz’? But, I would like to point out that they completely overlooked the cute brown skinned soccer player when picking out a ‘Significant Other.’ Does that store have layaway because I am still looking for a Valentine. Thanks.

If you met me in person you may say “aww, she’s sweet,” or “haha, that girl is hilarious.” I would hope that you wouldn’t walk away from my thinking, “why is that girl even speaking because she is dry, unemotional and hopelessly uninteresting,” which is what I think people must think when reading my blog. I know, I know. It’s a work in progress. I’m going to get better at this blogging thing.

Things I know I need to work on:  (because if you couldn’t tell by now, I like lists)

• Writing posts regularly
• Following blogs for learning and inspiration
• Keeping it hot and colorful (those are the adjectives I would love for someone to one day use when describing my writing. Clearly, I need to add expanding my vocabulary to the list.)
• Expanding my vocabulary
• Reducing the number of typos
• Adding tags, links and such

The picture I posted is of a journal that one of my really good friends and past roommate gave to me as a graduation gift. Inside she wrote this message:

“Kid you’ll move mountains! Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way!”

-Dr. Seuss, Oh The Places You’ll Go

“Alicea, you motivated me and inspired me to share my writing for the first time. So, now, I want to encourage you to write as well. Whether it be about your hopes, love, amazing internship opportunity, or simple collection of words just write them–WRITE. It’s food for the soul. Good luck and ‘move mountains’!

Thank you again for those kind words, friend. Months later, there is still so much power behind your message.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I apologize for the boring, unenthusiastic and monotonous scribe of posts that you have so graciously read thus far. I’m going to try to do better. Please don’t expect me to check off all the items on my list at once, but bare with me and I will make this blog about my ‘hopes, love, amazing internship opportunity and simple collection of words’ worth your time.

• Note the ever-changing speed limit. It’s easy to forget about the speed when you’re busy thinking about trying to get where ever it is you’re going.
• Your GPS is you best friend, be nice to it. I love my Garmin and would definitely recommend it over TomTom; however, here is a site comparing to two if you’re thinking about getting one. With that said, most phones have pretty accurate navigation features on them now so buying a GPS at this point may be a little pointless. Nonetheless, I find it easier to use my actual GPS system over my phone navigation simply because phones die faster, can be interrupted by phone calls and have smaller screens.

Another thing to be aware of when using your GPS unit is to make sure that all of your settings are the way you want them to be. Update your avoidances or you could be dishing out lots of money to pay for toll roads that could have been avoided (I learned this the hard way. I got played by Hilton Head but not anymore).

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions–It saves you time and frustration. Don’t be stubborn, just ask.
• Be prepared to spend more for money on gas than the usual because there will be many miles spent getting lost and cruising around getting to know the new city.
• Keep yourself occupied. It’s too easy to feel lonely when moving to a place where you don’t know anyone. I’ve put more energy into working out to pass the time.
• Try as best you can to only go out during the day until you get more familiar with the area. Since Hilton Head is a coastal area there are no street lights. It would have been nice if I had known this before I tried to venture out to the store after dark and couldn’t see 5 feet in front of me.

This is what I'll be waking up to every morning.

So, I arrived yesterday. That was a task in itself considering it snowed on Christmas for the first time in well over 20 years in Georgia. We traveled from Kennesaw to Macon where we enjoyed Christmas dinner with family. The next day, we woke up bright and early to head to Hilton Head. Of course, I over packed but the place that they set me up in is a lot nicer than I was expecting. It’s a quant cottage that I share with one other intern, Christine. Christine is from Missouri and has the cutest (random) northern accent. She’s really sweet and I’m really glad that she is here because we’re learning everything together—I don’t have to sit alone at the dinner table. Lol.  I am pretty bummed about having to share a room when the 3rd intern gets here on Thursday (flashback to Freshmen year), but it’s only for few weeks then I’ll trade out to a single room. The third intern will move in on Friday.

Here’s a list of some of the interesting things that I did on my first day:

-Found out a “friendly” alligator lives in my backyard

-Watched the sunrise on the beach

-Saw a dolphin close to shore. Apparently Hilton Head is one of the only places in the world where dolphins feed by rushing fish on shore in order to catch them as the waves bring them back down.

-Drove a 15 passenger van. That was interesting. I don’t have parking down but pushing my mom’s Yukon for the past couple months kept me from running up on curbs. Hopefully, I’ll make it the full 16 weeks without backing into anything. (Pray for me)

-Ate some of the best low calorie food in my life. (Expect many more blogs solely dedicated to the food the chefs prepare here)

Tomorrow I’ll be looking forward to enjoying a water aerobics class in 40 degree weather. Thank the Lord the pool is heated but it’s getting in and out that I’m worried about. Later this week I’ll also have to drive the guests off site. I’m nervous about driving so many passengers (about 14) on these crazy Hilton Head roads. If you aren’t familiar with them, they are narrow at some parts, have several turnabouts, and are not lit at night as to not confuse the sea turtles. Oh yeah, and signage can only be a certain height so it’s pretty difficult to find stores around here. I tried to go the Walmart and although my GPS said that it was on the right, it took me a good 10 minutes before I actually saw the sign and found the unlit street to turn on to find the store that was about a quarter of a mile away from the main road.

*I’m going to try to post these sooner but these first couple of blog posts were written several days ago and I’m just now getting around to posting them. Sorry.

In class we have been learning about what makes a story newsworthy and how to approach reporters with your story. The most important thing that I have learned about building a relationship with the media is to not waste their time. It is important to research which avenues not only reach your target audience, but also if that avenue’s audience would be interested in your story. Reporters want to know that you are knowledgeable on their publication and familiar with their past stories. This shows that you have done your research and are not just calling around desperate for anyone to pick up your story. Doing your research can save their time, and your own as well. It’s much easier to contact one or two outlets that you know will meet your target audience, than contacting several outlets that may or may not reach the people who actually care about your story.

As PR practitioners we live our lives and build our profession around meaningful relationships. Researching, establishing and developing these relationships is the best way to serve your client and their consumers.

This year was full of changes. The club got new officers, established new positions, developed higher expectations and received less money. In the mist of facing all of these challenges we have also been trying to set and obtain new goals, branch out to new publics and explore new media outlets. The other co-president and I have tried several leadership tactics. We started off by meeting with the entire group and communicating our vision for the year with them, and we listened to their ideas and feedback. We then made sure that everyone understood exactly what they are responsible for and what we would take care of. We thought that we were off to a great start because everyone was excited and ready to work at the beginning of the year, but we didn’t realize that just because to two of us were on the same page it didn’t mean that the other leaders were as well.

We failed to communicate exactly how much time we expected everyone to commit to the organization per week, nor did we establish who was responsible for picking up the slack when one leader was having a tough week. The problem was that the other co-president and I took on so many responsibilities as PR co-chairs the year before that we didn’t how to change our positions. People recognized that we took on more responsibilities but they did not realize that we changed our responsibilities.

I’m still in the process of learning how to effectively lead a group and with every experience that I have I am able to grow from it. Right now I am challenged by trying to overcome so many obstacles at one time and trying to bring the most out of the members. It’s my job to help them form solid relationships not only with myself, but with one another as well. We have to rely on each other to build each other up and be responsible for one another. We have to all be willing to lend a helping hand and not just assume that someone else will take care of it. We have to all get on the same page and I’m going to do my best to help make that happen.

“The Truth about Getting the Best from People,” by Martha I. Finney

Reviewed by Alicea Glover

The Truth about Getting the Best from People by Martha I. Finney is a manager’s guide to success. Martha I. Finney is a management and leadership communications consultant who has aided companies such as Yahoo! and Aflac with employee engagement and communication. She has written several books outlining the keys to successful management which can be applied in several settings. Her book The Truth about Getting the Best from People focuses on how managers can help make an enjoyable work atmosphere that in turn produces more loyalty and productivity from employees. Although I did find some of what Finney had to say valuable, when comparing her book to managerial tactics discussed in my Public Relations Administration class I prefer a more assertive attitude toward managerial practice.

Above all, Finney believes that engagement is the best indicator for employee satisfaction and creativity. Engaged employees are more likely to come to work every day, do their best job at work every day, and stay with the company longer. Engaged employees also give the company the most effort for its buck. Finney presents the goal as developing engaged employees, and she outlines how to get them there in her book. Finney places a strong emphasis on the power of compassion, motivation, and praise as primary tools to increase employee engagement. She believes that showing true compassion can help develop a mutual respect between managers and employers that will lead to a better work environment. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong with an employee or the company, she only focuses on the positives and how use them to overcome the negatives. For example, in her chapter entitled “Focusing on what’s right can help solve what’s wrong,” Finney suggests instead of asking, “How can we reduce this high turnover?” ask “What is it about this organization that inspires people to stay?” (90) She also believes that everyone makes a valuable contribution to the team that should not be overlooked. It is important to acknowledge every contributor and not just the “star players” (97-99).

The two types of management taught in my Public Relations Administration class were scientific management and collaborative management. The later is more conducive with Finney’s beliefs. Collaborative management views the workplace as a social network with leadership and decision making being the responsibility of all employees, not just the managers. Collaborative management was founded by Mary Parker Follett based upon the belief that those with higher knowledge and function within the corporation would naturally gain authority. Although Finney’s management style varies from Follett’s in that Finney places more emphasis on communication and the role of the manager as the decision maker, they are somewhat similar in that both models consider listening to the needs and ideas of their employees as intricate parts of successful management.

I feel that Finney made some great suggestions on how to make a new hirer feel welcome and how to keep an old hirer motivated and loyal. There is no doubt that Finney knows how to make people happy, but I do feel that she puts too much emphasis on employee feelings and not enough on getting tasks done. She did not develop a plan on how to delegate tasks effectively, nor did she recommend a strong strategy on how to handle tough situations. Finney’s emphasis on employee attitude, appreciativeness, and two-way communication help make the work place a much more enjoyable place to work, but I feel like there needs to be more of a definite gap between mangers and their workers. I suppose that when it comes to managerial tactics, I prefer a more management by objective (MBO) based practice. I like MBO because managers share the company’s goals with their subordinates and together they can develop more personal goals. Upon evaluation, if these goals are met then some of Finney’s ideas can be useful, such as giving employees a “gift certificate to the future” for a specific accomplishment (103). All in all, I prefer a more goal oriented managerial practice; however, I found Finney’s book extremely useful when trying to maintain a positive working environment.

I would not recommend this book for public relations students because it was too repetitive and too passive. There was too much focus on pleasing employees instead of leading them. Making people feel comfortable to express their ideas is essential to allowing creativity to flow but it is also important to have control over the team so when in a crisis everyone knows who to turn to. Strong two-way communication is also important, but open communication can be achieved without discussing people’s personal lives. The book was an easy read that can be very beneficial when working in but not necessarily for leading groups. It is definitely clear that this book is more of a guide to motivating employees to do their best, and not one to help managers tackle high pressure situations or delegate tasks in the best way to increase sales.

 I miss how simple life use to be. I love my phone, but honestly I feel like I had fewer problems when all I had to do was raise the antenna and call up a friend. Now, I can’t even operate the outside of my phone because the touch screen doesn’t work, I have to purchase special headphones in order to listen to music on my phone and I still don’t know how to work all its features.

 Technology baffles me. I feel so out of the loop most of the time, like I’m always two steps behind. (Now I know how my parents feel.) I feel like people are stretching their imaginations so far that instead of making life more simplistic this overwhelming surge in new technology can be stressful. We need more machines like the Cricut: simple, time saving and fulfills a need. When watching commercials on TV I feel like all you see is one company trying to beat out the next; they are creating to have the competitive edge, now to fill a need.

 Although there have been some pretty cool inventions the past year or two, I have to say that I am most impressed by the inventions that are so simple and so easy that I can’t help but think, “Wow, I can’t believe no one thought of that before.” The Cricut, the wireless printer and the two sided window camera were clearly made with convenience in mind.

 I’m excited to see what the future has in store for us; I just hope that it’s something I can find a use for. Now, someone just needs to make a more durable and compact umbrella, I’m tired of having to buy a new one every time it rains.

When I graduated from high school I was so excited about shopping for my brand new laptop that was going to take me through my four years of college (which is now going to be five years of college). I knew that I couldn’t afford a Mac and nor did I really care about getting one—I just wanted something fairly fast, cute and BIG. For some reason I really liked the widescreen computers back in the day, I was so naive. Any who, I found the perfect computer for me. This computer contained all the things my dad knew I needed and all the things I knew I wanted. It was an HP.

 I’m an HP.

 So, when I got to college I slowly realized that the widescreen probably wasn’t the best way to go because it made it harder to carry around to classes, but overall I never had any problems. While others accidently stepped on, dropped and spilled mystery drinks on their computers I managed to keep mine accident free. As the years went by people with Dells seemed to have the most trouble with their computers. Surprisingly, the almighty, ever so popular Mac seemed to breakdown not too long after Dells did. But my HP kept going strong!

 I’m an HP.

 Then came the summer before senior year… I went off to Croatia and stupidly left my laptop in my apartment. I knew that my roommate would be there to watch after my room and my parents wouldn’t need to use my laptop for anything so I left it. Honestly, I meant to bring it after my dad said he thought it’d be a good idea to bring it home but I was in such a hurry to head to the most beautiful place on earth that I forgot to bring it. When I came home I arrived to a computer case with no computer in it and a computer charger with no computer to plug it in.

 I’m an HP.

 You can imagine how upset I was when I realized that my computer was stolen while I was studying abroad. All my files, papers, projects gone, just like that. But somehow I managed to make it through the summer (and Anatomy, ugh) without my beloved computer. For my birthday my parents decided to buy me a new computer because they love me and would do anything for me;-) I was really surprised because the same summer my brother went off the start his first year in college and they had to buy him a laptop too. I know that it must have been hard for them to gather more money to buy me one too, so here’s a shout out to my parents, “I love you and ya’ll are the best!!!”

 We started shopping, and this time I took a lot more things into consideration when searching for the perfect computer for me. Of course, it being cute was yet again a huge priority, but I also wanted something smaller, faster, media savvy and with plenty of USB and various cable ports. As a Grady student, I use Macs in some of my classes and have become somewhat familiar with them. I struggled to decide if I should convert to a Mac user or stick to my trusty HP.

 To me, Macs are overly complicated, slow, unreliable and really not worth the extra $1000.  Needless to say, I decided to go with another HP and so far no problems. Well, I have to go. My friend’s Mac is acting up again so she needs me to look online for another internet port, battery charger, and Mac technician who can fix her three year old Mac.

 Without a doubt, I’m an HP.

I would like to dedicate this blog post to my new favorite show, Entourage. I recently just jumped on the Entourage bandwagon but I’ve fallen hard. The show is about four childhood friends who have made their way into Hollywood, but it’s hilarious and relates to PR so I thought I’d blog about it.

 It’s crazy how not too long ago nobody knew what PR was. Even today I don’t think my dad understands exactly what I can do with my major—he’s very old school, he’d rather me be a doctor or lawyer. Entourage gives people a glimpse of life in entertainment PR, not an easy job but somebody’s got to do it. There are a lot of perks that come with entertainment PR, however, it can be extremely stressful and tedious. Entertainment PR is for a special breed, you have to be able to deal with people on a personal level but also be stern and move with the punches.

 Another well known PR practitioner seen on TV is Samantha from Sex and the City. Samantha is notorious for her wild, free spirit and glamorous lifestyle. She is also known for telling it like it is. Even though it’s clear that she has a lot of money and connections with high profile clubs and parties you never really see what she does. Entourage gives a better picture of what entertainment PR demands, but even still it seems like a very cut-throat profession. Ari Gold, similar to Samantha, is extremely blunt, egotistical and crudely sexual. Now, I LOVE both of these shows but I have to admit that I don’t think they’re giving an accurate portrayal of PR in general.

 I love PR because there are so many different possibilities but I feel like the media conveys a bad portrayal of PR. The only time you hear about PR in the news is when there is some kind of controversy that occurs and a spokesman has to speak on behalf of the company. In TV shows, PR practitioners seem somewhat cold and very sexual.

 As time goes on, I’m sure that people will get a better gasp on PR. PR is everywhere and it is necessary in order to gain public support, increase sales, and generate a positive image. ¡Viva PR!