HOME OBSESSIONS - Media/Comm - Writing - Education - Music FAQ HEROES CAREER BLOG - RSS CONTACT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. arch emisou panton
	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, September 27, 2005 Posted by philgomes 9:27 PM What Price Professionalism? What Price Professionalism? Over at Creating Passionate Users, Kathy Sierra was inspired by Paul Graham's talk at the Amazon Developers Conference. By the time we ran things through the deadly professionalism filters, the life, passion, joy, and in this case--brain-friendliness--had been sucked out. Professionalism and creativity need not be mutally exclusive, but she has a point. In a lot of ways, this touches upon the perso-professional boundary that Amy Gahran and I discussed. At a certain point, I had to add a part to my FAQ to explain to people that you can have a site like mine and still be a credible PR professional. (It's the number-one item, in fact.) There's is actually ample evidence to suggest that, even given this site's sillier moments, I've achieved greater credibility in many ways than more conservative, non-blogging folks in my field. But, it's true... Often in the name of "professionalism", great ideas get spiked and prior restraint is eventually applied. When I was guest-lecturing at San Francisco State University, I was amazed at the program ideas that the PR students provided for their final projects. (They split up into teams and "pitched" the "client" for that semester. Once it was a maker of microfiber towels. Another time, it was a shopping mall. They pitched to real comms professionals both times.) It also broke my heart to think that, in the name of "professionalism", the spirit that birthed these great ideas would get squished once many of the students graduated and got jobs. People have to remain extra vigilant and work extra hard to ensure that the requirements of, well, putting food on a table and a roof over your head don't dampen the creative energies of an individual or group. Now, if you don't mind, I have to post about the Five-Assed Monkey. | HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil's demented imagination. Hell, to be perfectly honest, even Phil disagrees with what he thinks sometimes. This site has virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Clicking on a link doesn't automatically send a 1/2-cent donation to UNICEF. You can't buy, sell, auction, swap, find a date, win friends, influence people, cross the chasm, or decode the human genome using this site. You won't get free email. You won't win a free video game console. This site will not end world hunger, foster peace in the Middle East, help you smell better, teach you how to swing dance, or move the global economy from petroleum to hydrogen fuels. You'll learn a lot about this site's master, though, which amounts to a haphazard collection of strange and useless facts that pretty much won't help you at all.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This is the blog of Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital and senior advisor to the Society for New Communications Research. This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. Phil currently resides in Chicago, IL. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes.com View my page on PROpenMic SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.