March 11, 2010
Steve Stone
I would like this to be a discussion, more than a monologue.
What do YOU want to talk about in being professional in 2010, including social media?
Have we defined "professional" yet?
Activity One: What is professional?
Take 2 min and Think of three words/phrases that mean "professional"
Take 2 min with a partner and decide on your top one or two
Share the best with the class
Take 2 min with a partner and decide on your top one or two
Share the best with the class
What is professional?
Getting paid for it
* Created by the people around you *
Preparedness
Integrity - Consistency - (walk the walk, don't just talk the talk)
Knowledgeable - Informed
Ethical / Accountable / Responsible
Respectful
Accountable
Positive appearance
Learning to Live Together (even globally) (Collegiality?)
Competent / Expert / Knowledgeable
Leader
Communicator
Responsive
Point One: Change is hard.
Managing change in your personal and professional life is one of the hardest things to do well.
Helping others manage it can be even harder.
I say that because to remind myself that you all may have not yet thought about these ideas as much as I have.
One pointer to change management - http://www.kotterinternational.com (John Kotter, author of Our Iceberg is Melting and Managing Change)
Point Two: Social Media is here to stay
Fortune 500 Companies are using it.
There are 400 Million Users of Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
YouTube is less than 5 years old - can you really remember a time when you couldn't re-view a commercial whenever you wanted?
Point Three: If you aren't on Facebook, you should be
See above - there are 400 million users already. The network is stronger as it gets larger. There are connections out there that you want to make, and that you need to make.
Our students are no longer making the break with the past as they did before. When I was in college in the 1980s, studying abroad for a year was almost like going to the moon.
Now, it can be like not even leaving the room.
Just as email made organizations "flatter" - because people could cut across levels of hierarchy, social networking is going to make work (something else? more human? more connected?)
Even if Facebook is not the platform that persists, it is certainly winning now, and learning to use Facebook will help you with the next thing.
We are living in constant beta testing, which means that change is going to be coming faster (and will organizations react appropriately, and make change easier, or inappropriately, and make it harder?)
I did NOT say you have to friend students on Facebook. I say that you have to start using it because of the connections you want and need to make with colleagues. You can figure out what to do with students later, once you are comfortable with the technology.
Some tips on getting your privacy settings right:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10413317-250.html
Point Four: Acting Professionally
What is professional? I'm really not sure I know anymore.
Were the bankers at Lehman Brothers professional? The salespeople at Enron? The accountants at Arthur Anderson?
If I had been giving this presentation in 1995, I would have been wearing a tie, because I wore a tie to work every day. So did a lot of other people. Now the tie manufacturers are not having their convention anymore because they can't afford to go, business is so bad.
So, professional is fluid: we are creating the new professional.
What do YOU think the rules for acting professionally should be?
Anyone want to respond to Michael Benton's thoughts on the subject?
http://www.facebook.com/search/?flt=1&q=tedx&o=65&sid=38307077.3561666225..1&s=30#!/profile.php?id=210604862&ref=nf
The power of networking (to find out too fast, or to get great support)
Or, do we want to watch my most-hated commercial and react to it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50YBu14j3U
(there is some hope, remember what the high school student said)
The Networked Student
Or what do you want to talk about - delicious? twitter? facebook?
Thank You - I hope this has been useful
