Fire drills

Most workplaces of any institutional dimension such as Texas State will conduct fire drills. This past week, however, the drills have been unplanned. Thanks to an alleged water leak in the basement of the building (business school), the alarm has evidently been going off rather unpredictably nearly every day for the last week. Staff and students file out and await notice that returning to the building is safe.

From a business communications perspective, I worried when I learned that the campus police were unaware of each new alarm. A member of staff, including yours truly, was calling to report the alarms. The implications are not difficult to contemplate. Let's hope that those in facilities maintenance correct the faulty system and that the IT components of the notification process are also repaired! Policy advice from Fireline (including cooking tips for the holidays).

Digital Dirt

Any HR professional will tell job candidates today that their online presence speaks volumes. In just a few short minutes, here is what I've found on students in one of the biz comm classes this term, open and public. None of it is embarrassing for any of us, but perhaps some of the links are old. Perhaps some need explanation. Perhaps some need to be deleted or updated. Chad, Nicole T. Andrew, Ryan, Myles, Nicole E. Jeffery. From Pinterest to Sound Cloud, Facebook to LinkedIn, YouTube to MySpace, make certain that you know what's out there. Your reputation, online and off, is what you make it. Walk the talk.

Social belonging

An after-class meeting with two MGT3353 students led to a conversation about the inclination for many individuals to follow others (their beliefs, their ideas) without questioning the consequences of "following." Indirectly, the discussion we had in my office was about leadership and communication. I was reminded of a social experiment conducted by a high school teacher named Ron Jones. In 1967, Mr. Jones, with the permission of the principal, led his students through one of the most harrying experience of their lives. You can listen to a documentary about Ron Jones and his experiment here. "Lesson Plan" is documentary featuring interviews of the original students and teacher of the 1967 Third Wave experiment. This exercise in fascism took place in Palo Alto, California. Within one week, 30 students grew to 200 as the Third Wave took on a life of its own, and the students unwittingly re-enacted the roots of the Third Reich. (Here is a short trailer of the documentary.) A 44-minute film called The Wave is a frightening account of the experience/experiment.

Empathy means putting oneself into another voice

A recent BUZZFEED video has been circulating in Facebook. The video reveals, somewhat humorously--but perhaps sadly, what some "white speak" might sound like if their discourse were articulated by Latinos. What do you think?

Music as communication

Here's a terrific bit of information that might inspire your to making more music in your lives! From EdTED, How playing an instrument benefits your BRAIN. Type "brain music" into Google images and enjoy the visual reflections on this theme!

Business Information

Communication via radio broadcasting has evolved since its start in 1916 (from Tufts University). Today, the medium seems almost archaic to Millennials, but it remains a viable source of entertainment and information. Consider taking time to listen to a variety of radio stations (online and off) from around the world.

One contemporary radio announcer named Alex Blumberg from NPRs "This American Life," has recently started a podcast series online that he calls StartUp. Those who have heard him on the radio for the last 15 years will, as I, get a kick out of his foray into social networking media. Those who don't know his history, will still enjoy his very FRESH take on StartUps and entrepreneurship. LISTEN HERE! And listen to NPR on your cell phone too. You can catch Canadian and British Broadcasting news via them as well as many forms of entertainment. Check out their programming first to find something that might appeal to you: National Public Radio.