Viewing Public Realtions From a Personal Perspective

As I walked into my first lecture of my Public Relations class, I began to reflect on what my major is and how it will work into what my life career is. As an Ad & PR major – with an emphasis on PR – I strive to fully understand and recognize what my degree has in store. Not only do I have a lot of growing to do in the field, but a great knowledge of comprehension and understanding is something I aim to achieve over current and future courses that I will take. As I am very excited to learn and grow in the field, I aim to correct some prior thinking and indulge in what really brings me to this classroom today.

Reflecting on what I know thus far, I drew my own definition of what P.R. meant to me and how it takes role in ones everyday life. As this field works on maintaining relationships, I talked about how PR builds connections with others to help gain credibility and create an “image” for ones brand. Whether this “image” is positive or negative, I believe that a strong relationship will help to guide one’s thoughts when a situation occurs. When thinking about what makes this makes this major so appealing to me, I connect it to teamwork and critical thinking that helps to work out an issue. In doing so, this allows for intensive research to piece together a puzzle that you work to solve.

As I have been working to understand the true concepts that make up this major, I came across an example that helped me understand some of the confusion in the field. Smith highlights in the opening of a reference to an elephant and six blind men. As this goes on, it tells us in the end that the six blind men had different conceptions of what the elephant was. The author then stated “the story points out the pitfall of looking only at the parts and not perceiving the whole” (Smith, 2013, p.19). This allowed me to realize that there are so many small pieces in working towards a goal or focus in order to achieve what you are trying to solve.

As I go through this course and many others, I hope to understand what the pieces are that bring this career into one. When coming across an article I found about the field, I was able to hear what one entrepreneur thinks when breaking this major down into components. Mr. Wynne explains his categories of the field consist of “persuasion, information, communication, third-party validation, public opinion, public policy, and promotions to driven sales, revenues or donations” (Wynne, 2013, para. 4). As I don’t have a clear understanding of what these roles will play out to be, it was nice to understand a viewpoint to clear the fog I have with the field.

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In moving forward through the program, it will be with great hope that I will have a strong knowledge and enjoy what it has to offer to me individually. In addition, I look forward to determining the real differences between this field and the many others that intertwine and work together.  In researching how the various fields work together, Mr. Comcowich explains “Coordination helps them do together what they cannot do separately and improve the bottom line for the entire organization” (Comcowich, 2019, para. 1). Hearing this from a P.R. professional along with many professors previously, I look forward to gaining understanding behind all the different professional careers. As I continue to grow in this field, I’m genuinely excited to mold with those around me to make the future of Public Relations.

References:

Comcowich, W. C. W. J. (2019, January 8). How PR & Marketing Work Better Together.

Smith, R. (2013). Public relations : The basics.

Wynne, R. (2013, September 4). Public Relations, Explained.