Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders

On Thursday, Oct. 25, students in my public relations classes at Marist College will have the privilege of hearing from one of Marist's distinguished alumni and an award-winning leader, Captain Paul X. Rinn, U.S. Navy (Retired).

Captain Paul X. Rinn, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Captain Rinn (Marist College '68) was the commanding officer of USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS (FFG-58) when the ship struck a mine on April 14, 1988, during an Operation Earnest Will escort mission in the Persian Gulf. Despite crippling damage to the ship and several serious injuries to crew members, Captain Rinn's leadership and his crew's heroic actions prevented loss of life and saved the ship from sinking. In recognition of his leadership, Captain Rinn received a personal call from U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He was also awarded  the U.S. Navy League's John Paul Jones  Award for Inspirational Leadership and he was inducted into the U.S. Navy's Surface Warfare Hall of Fame. 

Gen. Martin Dempsey

It seems appropriate then, given the visit of Captain Rinn this week, to share advice about leadership from another distinguished military leader: General Martin Dempsey, U.S. Army, Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Speaking recently at the U.S. National Defense University, General Dempsey observed, "Military service is our nation's preeminent leadership experience." And today's volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment demands more than ever from young leaders. 

Commenting on the challenges ahead for young leaders, General Dempsey also noted that operating in a VUCA environment "means asking them to lead in diverse and challenging contexts -- to experience and recover from setbacks, unexpected events, and even chaos." He then went on to articulate the personal responsibilities required of leaders.

Leadership Development is Job One. People are any organization's greatest strength. The ability of innovative leaders to think critically about complex problems and "out-think" adversaries or the opposition will trump power and technology any day. 

Leaders Are Readers. Our nation needs life-long learners who are curious and read actively, follow trends in industry and society, continue their educational studies, consider important issues from various perspectives, and continually develop new ideas.

Lead Always, but Use Words Only When Absolutely Necessary. In my opinion, this is General Dempsey's most insightful and important point about leadership. He warned, "The future will be a difficult journey and one that we cannot take alone. He added: "Growing relationships is one of the tools in our leadership toolbox that we should reach for early and often. If we wait until a crisis, we risk being too late."

The general also addressed the importance of leadership communication as it relates to this point. "Words matter in every relationship," he observed. "The higher you climb the ladder, the more important it is to choose words carefully and with precision." And actions are often more important than words. Actions that are inconsistent with our vision, mission, values, policies, goals, and objectives erode and eventually destroy our credibility, which in turn destroys our ability to lead.

When I reflect on this point, I am reminded of one of the important pillars of the Marist Brother's tradition, which calls us to be "humble and modest ... seeking to do good quietly."

Trust is the Foundation of Our Profession. In his final point, General Dempsey stressed the importance of professional and ethical leadership. Senior leaders must trust their subordinates, partners must trust each other, and "mutual trust does not work without ... confidence that we are trustworthy teammates." Trust also determines the quality of our relationship with the people we represent, and those affected by our actions. 

In his final words, General Dempsey returned to his first point, "It is up to all of us to develop the leader after next." So it seems fitting that a leader of the caliber of Paul Rinn will speak with students on Thursday: a member of the Marist College Class of 1968, sharing his ideas with young, ethical professionals dedicated to learning, about to enter the 21st century's VUCA environment ... future leaders from the classes of 2013 through 2016. I can only hope that my students listen, take to heart Captain Rinn's advice, and apply his leadership wisdom to their own professional and personal lives.

NOTE: Click here to read the entire text of General Dempsey's remarks to the U.S. National Defense University.

An Unlikely Convergence: Journalism and Public Relations?

September 9, 2012

I am sitting at my dining room table, enjoying my daily ritual: a post-lunch “digestivo.” I became partial to a good digestivo when I was a U.S. Navy public affairs officer, based at a NATO military headquarters in Naples, Italy, serving as a senior NATO spokesperson. After lunch, before going back to work, I would usually stop off at the coffee bar next to my office to have an espresso with my Italian friends. Now, my digestivo is a home-brewed double shot of authentic Italian espresso (Kimbo, an Italian roast that “represents the Neapolitan coffee culture”).

When to Cite in an APA-Style Paper

I often receive the question, “How many sources do I need in my APA paper’s text or reference list?” There is no definitive answer to this question, since the number of in-text citations and sources on a reference list depend on an individual author’s work.

The best response to this question can be found in the American Psychological Association’s publication manual (APA, 2010), which has provided the following guidance. Words inside brackets are authored by me:

When to Cite

Cite the work of those individuals whose ideas, theories, or research have directly influenced your work. They may provide key background information, support or dispute your thesis, or offer critical definitions of data. Citation of an article implies that you have personally read the cited work [see Note 1]. In addition to crediting the ideas of others that you used to build your thesis, provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge [see Note 2].

The number of sources you cite in your work will vary by the intent of the article [or paper, as in a college course]. For most articles [or papers], aim to cite one or two of the most representative sources for each key point [see Note 3]. (p. 169)

The following figure provides an example of citation levels, based on an actual APA-style paper (click the image to enlarge the figure):

NOTE: Adapted from “Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.),” by American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 170. Copyright 2010 by the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

NOTE 1: When citing sources, cite the original or primary source of the work. See Tip 24 in my APA citation and writing Wiki. For example, if you wish to cite Peter G. Northouse’s introduction to leadership, you would read his original work (e.g., Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, 2^nd ed., 2012) before you quote or attribute and cite his work. The APA publication manual discourages citation of secondary sources. For example, Northouse (2012, p. 19) used a quote and citation from another author to describe George Washington’s leadership style. Northouse wrote, “Washington … as Schwartz (1987, p. 147) has suggested, ‘was ‘great’ because he was ‘good.’” If you wanted to cite Schwartz or use Schwartz’s quote in your paper, you must locate and read the original Schwartz material, to ensure that you quote or attribute Schwartz’s material accurately. Secondary citations are prone to errors. See the APA publication manual, article 6.17 (p. 178), for guidelines about citing secondary sources. Don’t use secondary sources to simply save time needed to research the original source. According to APA (2010), only use secondary sources “when the original work is out of print, unavailable through usual sources, or not available in English” (p. 178). And if you must use a secondary citation, use the following format for an in-text citation and cite only the secondary author(s), not the primary source, in the reference list: Northouse (2012) suggested that George Washington was a great leader because of his goodness (as cited in Schwartz, 1987).

NOTE 2: If you chose to write in a paper that “George Washington was a great leader,” you would not need to cite your source (e.g., Northouse, 2012, or Schwartz, 1987) because it is common knowledge that Washington, the first U.S. president, was a great leader. However, if you chose to quote Northouse, then you must cite the source of the quote.

NOTE 3: Do not “pad” your paper with citations or a long reference list in an attempt to have your paper seen as being more “scholarly” or to impress a professor. Papers that focus on a review of literature as their primary thesis or topic often contain lengthy reference lists. However, in most articles or papers, be judicious in your use of in-text and reference list citations. Articles or papers that borrow excessively from the work of other authors (e.g., an overabundance of in-text and reference list citations) are usually less credible than articles or papers with a reasonable number of citations that are based primarily on an author’s original work. Finally, when citing sources, make sure that all in-text citations appear on the reference list (with the exception of some elements of a secondary citation, as described in Note 1); and ensure that all sources listed in a reference list have a corresponding in-text citation.

References:

American Psychological Association, 2010. Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Northouse, P. G., 2012. Introduction to leadership (2^nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.

Harrisburg U Social Media Summit 2012 Results

I thoroughly enjoyed Harrisburg University's 2012 Social Media Summit this week. A full day of panel presentations and workshops with social media experts from around the world provided valuable information about what is happening today and into the future with social networks; information assurance (security); legal affairs; education; new applications to public relations, marketing, and advertising; and much more.










Thanks in particular to Marist College fan Chris Dessi (pictured in the center, doing the Jersey fist pump!) and other social media experts for a brilliant panel on the future of social networking. Click here to see video of this panel and others.

Congratulations to HU for another successful summit!

Mark

PRSA CEO: Social Media Has Become Strategic PR Function

In this video, Gerry Corbett, chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, explains why social media has become a strategic public relations function.

Click the image to play the following Facebook video:

So, who teaches how to manage social media in our colleges and universities? Marketing? IT? Or PR? Public relations faculty need to engage.

Mark

Google Announces New Social Media Analytic Tools

Figure courtesy of Google

Finally, social media managers have a new set of no cost tools to help take some of the mystery out of analyzing the value of social media activities. Response to Google's March 20 announcement about its new analytics package for social media has been generally favorable.

You haven't heard about this yet? Well, you need to get onboard, as Google Analytic's new "Social Reports" option provides a powerful (and free!) means for measuring the impacts and effectiveness of your social media programs.

According to the Google announcement, "The new reports bridge the gap between social media and the business metrics you care about - allowing you to better measure the full value of the social channel for your business." Specifically, Social Reports will help social media managers:

1. place a value on traffic from social media sites by measuring how they lead to direct engagements with key audience members;
2. develop a more refined understanding of social activities on and off of social media sites, which help optimize engagement and key performance indicators; and
3. make more efficient and better qualified decisions about SM programs based on credible data.

For a better understanding of how the Social Reports program works, check out "About Social Analytics" on the Google Analytics Help page. According to Google, the following four elements define social impact: sources, conversions, pages, and social plugins. Google defines these elements as follows (source):

Sources: As your content is shared and people come to your site, it's important to understand how visitors from different social sources engage with your site.

Conversions: Shared content URLs become the entry points into your site, driving traffic from social sources. Measuring the conversion and monetary value of this traffic will help you understand the impact of Social on your business.

Pages: People increasingly engage with, share, and discuss content on social networks. It’s important to know which pages and content are being shared, where they're being shared, and how.

Social Plugins: Adding Social Plugin buttons to your site (for example, Google "+1" buttons) allows your users share content to social networks directly from your site. Your social plugin data shows you which content is being shared, and on which networks.

By integrating analysis of all these elements (and visitor flow through sites), social media managers can now obtain a more complete and accurate understanding of how social media affects performance, justify the cost of social media activities, and demonstrate social media's contribution to an organization's bottom line.

To get started with setting up and evaluating your Social Reports, read the tutorials provided by Google at its "About Social Analytics" page.

Michael Bernardini (Marist, '13) Selected as Fall '12 COMMARTS Intern

Michael Bernardini

The Marist College School of Communication and the Arts has announced selection of communication major Michael Bernardini (’13) as the school’s fall 2012 communication intern. Michael has an academic concentration in public relations and a minor in global studies.

Michael (on LinkedIn) will begin his intern duties when the fall semester convenes on August 27. As the school’s intern, he will provide direct support to Dean Steven Ralston, faculty, staff, and contract employees. He will also promote awareness of the school’s student activities and accomplishments. His duties will include assisting with management of public relations, advertising, marketing and other strategic communication functions that contribute to strong relationships with the school’s key audiences.

Michael, a resident of Lansdale, PA, is a 2009 graduate of Perkiomen Valley High School in Collegeville, PA. In addition to his academic accomplishments, he currently serves as the vice-president of Marist’s Red Foxes Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). He will serve as president of the chapter during the next academic year.

Michael is also employed by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion (the Marist Poll) and he has completed communication internships with Say Communications (healthcare, London, England); Sprout Creek Farm (social media, Poughkeepsie, NY); and Saint Francis Hospital and Health Centers (Poughkeepsie, NY).

Congratulations to Michael and all of this semester’s applicants for this position. All students were well qualified, with impressive resumes, which made for an extremely challenging selection process.

Any students interested in applying for future positions as the school’s communication intern should contact me at mark.vandyke@marist.edu.