Yesterday when tuning in for my daily dose of stories from the PR Breakfast Club (which you should subscribe to), I saw a story from Jessica Greco that really resonated with me. The post entitled Mentoring in the Social Media Age and opened a conversation on mentoring and what it means in today’s social society.

Perhaps the most telling and meaningful lines in her whole post were: Typically, a mentor is a person who has a significant number of years on you in terms of experience (and also in age), thereby being in the optimal position to guide and teach you. However, lately I’ve been finding myself going to my peers for advice more and more.

I couldn’t agree more and kind of find it funny when folks still see the mentor thing as old teaching the young. It should be seen as  more of a collaborative effort to make everyone better, old to young, peer to peer and even young to old. I remember sitting in Five Guys in Foxboro during the IMS conference with a guy in his mid to late 40’s asking what this whole Twitter and Facebook thing was about. Kicker was his business card said Social Media Expert – so imagine if I had asked him for advice. It also shouldn’t be above anyone to ask for feedback or tips from someone who has bright ideas.

After all for the most part, we are all crawling our way along looking to make the pegs fit together. Why not learn together as none of us are as dumb as all of us together. With that in mind, here are some things that we should keep in mind as we help mold one another.

• There are no experts in social media – Yes the phrase has been uttered time and time again, but is worth repeating. Think about it, the space is still young – five years by many accounts. Think about how quickly our lives have changed over the past half-decade. Sure are there folks who are pretty good at it? Yes, but if you ask them, more times than not they are willing to help. So ask. Also if you are one of those folks who happens to be looked at as an “expert,” don’t be a dick. There was a time when you were still feeling your way.
• Collaboration is key – Look at the guys from the PRBC, great blog and great folks who met through networking and common interests. Now they’ve got a great blog working together. The same holds true when working on a pitch or campaign idea. Unlike in the past where you were left with folks in the office who might steer you in a different direction, social media enables you to toss ideas off other folks who are more than happy to see you do well. Everyone needs help at some point in time, so the return favor may be just a tweet away.
• PR, It’s A Changing – Like it or not, we’re in an industry that is facing a complete transformation. Now this is not just in the way that we communicate with one another, but rather journalists, bloggers and crisis communications. Everything is in the here and now – and we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been compared to lawyers, albeit poorly paid ones, by many journalists. So stick together. That guy at agency X or company B is going through the same things you are. So why not share some notes and get better together.

The days of the Mr. Miyagi are done and gone, now it’s up to the younger folks to guide and shape the way that PR and corporate communications are done.

Image – Despair.com

Yesterday when tuning in for my daily dose of stories from the PR Breakfast Club (which you should subscribe to), I saw a story from Jessica Greco that really resonated with me. The post entitled Mentoring in the Social Media Age and opened a conversation on mentoring and what it means in today’s social society.

Perhaps the most telling and meaningful lines in her whole post were: Typically, a mentor is a person who has a significant number of years on you in terms of experience (and also in age), thereby being in the optimal position to guide and teach you. However, lately I’ve been finding myself going to my peers for advice more and more.

I couldn’t agree more and kind of find it funny when folks still see the mentor thing as old teaching the young. It should be seen as  more of a collaborative effort to make everyone better, old to young, peer to peer and even young to old. I remember sitting in Five Guys in Foxboro during the IMS conference with a guy in his mid to late 40’s asking what this whole Twitter and Facebook thing was about. Kicker was his business card said Social Media Expert – so imagine if I had asked him for advice. It also shouldn’t be above anyone to ask for feedback or tips from someone who has bright ideas.

After all for the most part, we are all crawling our way along looking to make the pegs fit together. Why not learn together as none of us are as dumb as all of us together. With that in mind, here are some things that we should keep in mind as we help mold one another.

• There are no experts in social media – Yes the phrase has been uttered time and time again, but is worth repeating. Think about it, the space is still young – five years by many accounts. Think about how quickly our lives have changed over the past half-decade. Sure are there folks who are pretty good at it? Yes, but if you ask them, more times than not they are willing to help. So ask. Also if you are one of those folks who happens to be looked at as an “expert,” don’t be a dick. There was a time when you were still feeling your way.
• Collaboration is key – Look at the guys from the PRBC, great blog and great folks who met through networking and common interests. Now they’ve got a great blog working together. The same holds true when working on a pitch or campaign idea. Unlike in the past where you were left with folks in the office who might steer you in a different direction, social media enables you to toss ideas off other folks who are more than happy to see you do well. Everyone needs help at some point in time, so the return favor may be just a tweet away.
• PR, It’s A Changing – Like it or not, we’re in an industry that is facing a complete transformation. Now this is not just in the way that we communicate with one another, but rather journalists, bloggers and crisis communications. Everything is in the here and now – and we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been compared to lawyers, albeit poorly paid ones, by many journalists. So stick together. That guy at agency X or company B is going through the same things you are. So why not share some notes and get better together.

The days of the Mr. Miyagi are done and gone, now it’s up to the younger folks to guide and shape the way that PR and corporate communications are done.

Image – Despair.com

Yesterday when tuning in for my daily dose of stories from the PR Breakfast Club (which you should subscribe to), I saw a story from Jessica Greco that really resonated with me. The post entitled Mentoring in the Social Media Age and opened a conversation on mentoring and what it means in today’s social society.

Perhaps the most telling and meaningful lines in her whole post were: Typically, a mentor is a person who has a significant number of years on you in terms of experience (and also in age), thereby being in the optimal position to guide and teach you. However, lately I’ve been finding myself going to my peers for advice more and more.

I couldn’t agree more and kind of find it funny when folks still see the mentor thing as old teaching the young. It should be seen as  more of a collaborative effort to make everyone better, old to young, peer to peer and even young to old. I remember sitting in Five Guys in Foxboro during the IMS conference with a guy in his mid to late 40’s asking what this whole Twitter and Facebook thing was about. Kicker was his business card said Social Media Expert – so imagine if I had asked him for advice. It also shouldn’t be above anyone to ask for feedback or tips from someone who has bright ideas.

After all for the most part, we are all crawling our way along looking to make the pegs fit together. Why not learn together as none of us are as dumb as all of us together. With that in mind, here are some things that we should keep in mind as we help mold one another.

• There are no experts in social media – Yes the phrase has been uttered time and time again, but is worth repeating. Think about it, the space is still young – five years by many accounts. Think about how quickly our lives have changed over the past half-decade. Sure are there folks who are pretty good at it? Yes, but if you ask them, more times than not they are willing to help. So ask. Also if you are one of those folks who happens to be looked at as an “expert,” don’t be a dick. There was a time when you were still feeling your way.
• Collaboration is key – Look at the guys from the PRBC, great blog and great folks who met through networking and common interests. Now they’ve got a great blog working together. The same holds true when working on a pitch or campaign idea. Unlike in the past where you were left with folks in the office who might steer you in a different direction, social media enables you to toss ideas off other folks who are more than happy to see you do well. Everyone needs help at some point in time, so the return favor may be just a tweet away.
• PR, It’s A Changing – Like it or not, we’re in an industry that is facing a complete transformation. Now this is not just in the way that we communicate with one another, but rather journalists, bloggers and crisis communications. Everything is in the here and now – and we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been compared to lawyers, albeit poorly paid ones, by many journalists. So stick together. That guy at agency X or company B is going through the same things you are. So why not share some notes and get better together.

The days of the Mr. Miyagi are done and gone, now it’s up to the younger folks to guide and shape the way that PR and corporate communications are done.

Image – Despair.com

Yesterday when tuning in for my daily dose of stories from the PR Breakfast Club (which you should subscribe to), I saw a story from Jessica Greco that really resonated with me. The post entitled Mentoring in the Social Media Age and opened a conversation on mentoring and what it means in today’s social society.

Perhaps the most telling and meaningful lines in her whole post were: Typically, a mentor is a person who has a significant number of years on you in terms of experience (and also in age), thereby being in the optimal position to guide and teach you. However, lately I’ve been finding myself going to my peers for advice more and more.

I couldn’t agree more and kind of find it funny when folks still see the mentor thing as old teaching the young. It should be seen as  more of a collaborative effort to make everyone better, old to young, peer to peer and even young to old. I remember sitting in Five Guys in Foxboro during the IMS conference with a guy in his mid to late 40’s asking what this whole Twitter and Facebook thing was about. Kicker was his business card said Social Media Expert – so imagine if I had asked him for advice. It also shouldn’t be above anyone to ask for feedback or tips from someone who has bright ideas.

After all for the most part, we are all crawling our way along looking to make the pegs fit together. Why not learn together as none of us are as dumb as all of us together. With that in mind, here are some things that we should keep in mind as we help mold one another.

• There are no experts in social media – Yes the phrase has been uttered time and time again, but is worth repeating. Think about it, the space is still young – five years by many accounts. Think about how quickly our lives have changed over the past half-decade. Sure are there folks who are pretty good at it? Yes, but if you ask them, more times than not they are willing to help. So ask. Also if you are one of those folks who happens to be looked at as an “expert,” don’t be a dick. There was a time when you were still feeling your way.
• Collaboration is key – Look at the guys from the PRBC, great blog and great folks who met through networking and common interests. Now they’ve got a great blog working together. The same holds true when working on a pitch or campaign idea. Unlike in the past where you were left with folks in the office who might steer you in a different direction, social media enables you to toss ideas off other folks who are more than happy to see you do well. Everyone needs help at some point in time, so the return favor may be just a tweet away.
• PR, It’s A Changing – Like it or not, we’re in an industry that is facing a complete transformation. Now this is not just in the way that we communicate with one another, but rather journalists, bloggers and crisis communications. Everything is in the here and now – and we’re all in the same boat. We’ve been compared to lawyers, albeit poorly paid ones, by many journalists. So stick together. That guy at agency X or company B is going through the same things you are. So why not share some notes and get better together.

The days of the Mr. Miyagi are done and gone, now it’s up to the younger folks to guide and shape the way that PR and corporate communications are done.

Image – Despair.com