Speak Up!! Your thoughts and ideas are valuable. Really.

This semester, I am interning with Silencia, a small public relations firm in center city Philadelphia.  When I started in late August, the owner had been asked to be a part of the public relations team for Eagle’s player Asante Samuel’s foundation, Bring it Home Moms.  Though I’m not a sports fanatic, I was still excited to accompany Aly, the owner, to a meeting at the Nova Care Center to meet with Asante and present our ideas.  Though I didn’t present, it was a great experience to see how one pitches an idea to the client and is prepared to work with their criticisms and sell the idea.  Randi, the woman presenting, was confident in her presentation and ideas, yet flexible.  It seemed as if her presentation was one of those ‘choose your own ending’ stories.  She had a reason for every decision and if that was satisfactory, she had an alternative plan, ready and waiting.    

While we were walking out of the building, my boss said to me, “Never think your ideas are stupid. I say things that I think about out loud all the time.  It gets people thinking, they add to your ‘dumb thought’ and you come up with great ideas.”  It made me realize that though I am not afraid to share my ideas, I’m not always comfortable sharing mere thoughts.   Though you may not want to bounce your thoughts and ideas off your boss per se, sharing ideas you thought were ‘dumb’ could provide you with the right feedback to develop a great idea, plan, etc.