Thursday, May 21, 2009

See your future. Be your future, Danny


Denise Schoenbachler, NIU College of Business Dean, offered a useful, three-part presentation for journalists at NINA’s recent Spring Conference. Part one was about knowing and presenting yourself well. Part two was growing and maintaining your personal network. And the final piece was: Be prepared for the future.

Here's a notebook dump from that third portion:

“The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.” – Peter Drucker

College graduates 10 years from now will get jobs that don’t even exist today.

Growth industries in the near future: Health care, education, alternative energy. Growth industries are always driven by demographics, technology, economics and government policy.

As journalists, we are more in the know than most people about where things are headed.

Ask: “What can I do to make myself a bigger part of the future?”

Smart questions:
What will be the growth industries?
Who will lead the growth companies?
Who will be the industry leaders?
What credentials will I need?
What experience will I need?
What are the industry trends to watch?


All speakers agreed that journalism is in major transition, but that opportunities will abound for those who understand them and take advantage.


Schoenbachler: “Historically, great things have come out of hard times.”

Barbara Vitello, Daily Herald: “This is the crucible for our industry. We need to light the Bunsen burner. … I would like to see bold moves. If institutions aren’t going to do that, then maybe we as individuals need to.”

Ray Long: “We’re going to survive and we’re going to come out strong. We are news collection agencies – we just have to find more formats to put them on.”

And more useful material I ran across while writing this:

Seeing the Gorilla: a column by Richard Wiseman at Forbes magazine, part of a package called “Opportunity Knocks.” Sorting our your career plan? This is a good place to start.

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