Strategic Communications

I really like the readings in my class “Strategic Communications and Organizational Change.” I already mentioned Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, but we’re also reading The Answer to How is Yes and Flawless Consulting by Peter Block, in addition to The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.

One thing that has impressed me is how our individual reading assignments complement one another. While we were reading about right-directed thinking in A Whole New Mind, we were also reading a specific paper by Tom Peters (“Tom’s Re-imagine Manifesto“) which stressed some of the same principles, such as the need for more MFAs and less MBAs in the business world. This is one example of the way our various readings overlap and refer back to one another, thus helping us retain what we read and realize all the ways in which we can apply what we learn. Having taken other classes in which the readings hardly ever relate to class discussion, I’m really impressed when the professor takes the time to strategically plan the readings to achieve a certain goal. It shows a strong commitment to the principles of the class.

I’ll close with two of Tom’s couplets:

“They say I demand to much.
I say they accept mediocrity & continuous improvement too readily.”

“They said ‘If it can’t be precisely measured then it isn’t real.’
I say ‘If it can be precisely measured it isn’t real.’”