Interviews...1 down and 1Thusday

I blogged before that reaching out to other people is hard. And it is. The thing is that reaching out only helps you now and in the future. Barbara Sher was right. In people's heart of hearts, they want to help someone achieve their goals. The thing about getting help is in the seriousness and intensity the person you are reaching out sees in you. With that said, I had my first interview today. Although the person that I interviewed is a Ph.D student, he has been out in the field. And as a Ph.D student, we were able to talk about the LARGE disconnect between what academia teaches and what occurs in practice. Basically, they are not the same.

The conversation that we had today was quite enlightening. I didn't even take notes. It was amazing that he could really center and get to the point. There are many different areas of planning. His major piece of advice to me was to: 1. Find the area that will be the most fulfilling to me. This means that I need to decide what areas I really want to see change in. I have already decided that: its Real Estate. The second thing is to find my voice. He was telling me that there is an inner battle against making actual change and going to work everyday. Of course, i could graduate and get a job as a Planner 1. In this capacity, I would be ensure that plans that were already crafted met certain regulations that are already in place. As he says, "I didn't spend all this damn money to be a glorified paper pusher".
The second portion of finding your voice is balance. The balance between speaking your mind and keeping your job. There are many interests that need to be served when planning is involved. If you speak up against the wrong interest, you may find that your services will no longer be needed. So according to Andrew J. Greenlee, the guy that I interviewed, I need to find a way to voice my opinions and try to create change and following the dictates of the people that I am hired to serve.

Another thing that we discussed is networking. Mostly, the importance of it. The beginning of the connection is just that: the beginning. These relationships that we are establishing need to be maintained. In this manner, we can gain advantages or information that will help us well after if not years after the initial connection. (because maintaining the relationship will keep you on the brain for future endeavors) Because he, as everyone else says, " it is not what you know but who you know.

This was a great interview. I am sooooo happy that I did this. It will encourage me to do more in the future.