It’s been a few days since I have been back from my two weeks in Detroit as part of my Plank Center Fellowship. The time went by extremely fast, but each day was filled with insightful and dynamic discussions that created such an energetic atmosphere to be a part of.
I have to say, this fellowship has been one of the best learning and professionally growing experiences I have had as a professor.
I was extremely impressed and grateful to everyone who I had a chance to meet and talk to during my time at GM. Everyone at GM was very transparent, helpful, and excited to hear my thoughts about PR and social media. I had an opportunity to work on several different projects and talked to some amazing professionals working in different departments, teams, and roles with the company.
There were some key takeaways from my time at GM specifically I would like to share. I was extremely impressed with the collaborative nature and the work ethic associated with everyone at GM across the board.
- GM has some dedicated and hard working teams: Very dedicated, committed, and helpful work ethic across the team. Very one has a duty and they take every opportunity to answer questions, take time to share their insights, and help brainstorm ideas. Great group of strategic and creative thinkers from the interns to the directors. One campaign I got to learn a lot about during my time in Detroit was the Chevy Emoji campaign, which was great to see first hand and learn from the experts. This explains my image above – let me know if you can figure out what it means!
- Strong Collaborative Culture: Sharing resources, ideas, and connections was present across the board as well as listening to different perspectives that helped generate some other ideas. GM has a great learning environment as well – everyone is very willing to work as a team and share resources, lessons learned from campaigns, and brainstorm for future projects. This proves the value of mentorship – which we as professors need to embark and walk the walk as well for our students and fellow colleagues more.
- Integration of understanding PR’s role internally and externally: The balance the teams shared in working on initiatives internally and externally were very strong. Having strong forms of communication and meetings were very productive and synced together. This was great to see during the time I was in Detroit at all levels.
- Strong collaboration and relationships with agency professionals. It was cool to see how GM interacted with their agencies and professionals – they had strong communication, teamwork, and trust among the corporate team and department and the respective agencies (FH and WS). Everyone has been supportive, helpful, and going the extra mile in addressing questions or brainstorming ideas.
In addition, there were several elements as a professor I felt I was able to takeaway personally and will be able to not only pass along to my fellow students, but my fellow colleagues teaching social media and PR courses. Here are some of the main ones I’d like to share with you all:
- Hands on training classes are essential: We have to give our students the opportunity to not only apply what they are learning, but to test their comfort zones in doing collaborative projects, working with others in different disciplines, and assigning projects that benefit them both in class and teach them behaviors and skills they can use for the future. However, most important, we have to teach them how to learn. While that sounds simple, it isn’t. We have to embark on giving our students the resources for them to continue learning, growing, and exploring after our class has finished.
- Lots of opportunities for GM and the city of Detroit: GM is doing some great things and is definitely transforming itself as a thought leader in PR and social media, but there are also a lot of great opportunities in the city. I have not been in Detroit since I was at Wayne State for my crisis and risk communication doctoral seminar, and the city has certainly changed. Lots of rebuilding and growth happening. There are some major agencies in town as well as a Twitter office (didn’t know this at all!). So, after seeing this first hand and the vast amount of opportunities for young professionals to get here, I’d definitely recommend this city for my students to explore for their internships and future positions.
- Professors have to embrace being social connectors: I was able to share this with the professionals at my fellowship, and they were very impressed and said they wished more professors 1) reached out to them on social media and 2) connect students to them that they feel are strong candidates for positions and brainstorming opportunities. This is huge – we sometimes forget brands and agencies are made up of great professionals and people who want to have a strong connection with professors and students – and what better way to do this is through social media.
- Searching for opportunities and conduct a self-audit for yourself as a professor: I think this is an important step and one I know I will be doing and thanks to the experience I’ve had as part of this fellowship. We have to ask ourselves what we need to know as well as what our professionals goals are, what experiences and opportunities are out there for us to try and get, and what experiences we need to share with others that can help. This is how I found out about the Plank Center Fellowship (special thanks to Dave Remund again for this!)
- Fellow professors, we have to step up our game as well: We are asking our students a lot when it comes to internships, but we have to take ownership as well to keep up with some of the trends. I’ve seen this first hand and what are the trends, skills, and expertise our students need right now. There are of course areas we still need to teach as part of our foundation as a field, but we have to adapt as well to provide specialized courses to fit the needs and expectations of our field as well. Our field is evolving – which is exciting to see here. We have to be aware, skilled, and educated in the tools and areas that are rising as well along with our students. There are many resources, workshops, webinars, and professionals we can reach out to and learn from on these areas. We have to do more of this and the recent CPRE report is a good start to look at.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my time and experience at GM and being a Plank Fellow. Special thanks to Juli, Anne, Tony, Jackie, Whitney, Craig, Chad, Carole, Katie, Peter, Jon, and Mary of GM for their help and hospitality during my time at GM. As part of the fellowship, I have the opportunity to extend an invitation to GM to come down to Louisville and UofL for a few days – and would love to have you all come down to see what we are doing at UofL and the city of Louisville! :
I’d also like to thank Allison and Rob and the rest of the Fleishman Hillard team for their insights and support as well to provide the agency’s point of view on PR and social media.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone at the Plank Center (especially Karla, Ron, and Keith) for allowing me to be part of this fellowship program. This is a MUST do for all PR professors! Hands down – this has been truly one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had – and I can’t wait to share what I have learned to my students and colleagues.
Thanks and have a great day!
Best Wishes,
