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Atienza Austin Pearl Diving Assignment 4
Atienza Austin Pearl Diving Assignment 4
Austin Atienza
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE 424
Dr. Shana-Webster Trotman
November 16, 2019
Introduction
As the semester nears the end, it is important to reflect back on the activities that I have done in
class and the books that I have read. In this essay, I look back and analyze the significance of a quote that
was presented to us on the very first day of class. I then go into two concepts that I have learned from the
reading and explain how I have been applying them to my life. I end the essay by reflecting on the in-
class debate on the Big Dig.
A Quote from Class
Throughout the semester, we were presented with quotes from different people pertaining to
communication. One quote in particular that stood out to me was a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou. She
said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will
never forget how you made them feel.” I believe this quote relates to ENCE 424 and my role as an
effective leader because it captures an essential part of communication: how you make the audience feel. I
believe that to become an effective communicator and leader, you must be able to get through to your
audience. Often, we do this by focusing on our words and our actions, however, I believe that we should
instead use our words and actions to make others feel the way we want them to. I believe that this leaves a
bigger impact on our audience and makes us more memorable and relatable. This idea is supported in the
book, Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to get from Good to Great. The book states the importance
of storytelling or “selling” your story as this allows the audience to empathize with you and your
experience. In other words, the point of storytelling is that it allows that audience to feel what you want
them to feel and this leaves a bigger impact than if you had just stated facts the entire time.
I was able to use this idea and put it into play during the recent career fair. In previous career
fairs, I would talk to a representative of the company and state my qualifications and my previous
experiences. I did not leave any impact at the end of the conversation. To put it in Dr. Maya Angelou’s
words, they “forgot what I said” and “what I did.” However, after hearing this quote and reading the
books, I put what I learned to the test during the recent career fair. Instead of simply telling them my
experiences and qualifications, I did so in the form of a story. I told them about my struggles and
accomplishments and how that ended up making me a better person today. By doing this, I went from not
receiving any offers to receiving an offer from all but one company I interviewed for. I believe that this is
in large part due to the way I made them feel through storytelling.
Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St. Martin's Press
Patcher, Barbara, and Denise Cowie. The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet