Summertime Sadness

Welcome to my last post for a while! I plan on taking the blog on a summer hiatus and hopefully will return in the Fall. Until then though, I wanted to wrap up these past few months and tie in everything we’ve talked about since March. We started off talking about how innovations spread within a social system. Then we talked about opinion leadership, social media, how we talk to internal and external groups, and how to develop strategies to target those various groups. We also talked about how leaders need to have a vision, be active in their communication endeavors at all times, particularly during crises, and how to measure the success of those endeavors. So what do all these things have in common? I think the big takeaway from the last few weeks (for me personally) has been that without true vision and leadership none of our best laid plans will come to full fruition. Sure there may be the fluke here and there but without a true guiding force behind our communication our organizations, companies, and clients will be at a loss. Having a good vision is valuable even if you aren’t in a leadership position. Thinking about where you want to be and what you hope to achieve in your own career is so important and maintaining that vision for our futures is vital to our individual successes as well as the future success of any organization we may be a part of. I plan on taking these skills I have learned, particularly in regards to vision and how to use that vision to develop strategies, and applying them to my job in higher education. I see very few women in leadership roles in my company and I would love to change that. I hope that through understanding concepts such as Diffusion of Innovations theory and opinion leadership I can begin to demonstrate leadership skills that will make my personal vision for my future a reality. I hope you enjoyed reading and learning with me over these past few months! It has certainly been an adventure and I hope to see you in the Fall! Have a great summer everybody!