Aaron Brown is the Director of Corporate Communications at Worthington Enterprises, a company specializing in steel manufacturing. He’s an Ohio University alumni and was a former Scripps PRSSA member.
Before joining Worthington Enterprises, Aaron worked at Fahlgren Mortine for 22 years. He’s mentored and spoken at our chapter for several years.
Aaron talked about important lessons and insights that make a difference in a strategic communications career.
Key Takeaways:
- Be an active participant. Aaron said that paying attention will separate you from others. Don’t wear your AirPods at a work meeting; you can’t understand if you aren’t paying attention! Listen to what’s taking place around you in the world. Just focus.
- Details are the difference. Spelling, punctuation, AP style, active voice and brevity are massively important. The people you will work with will love you when you know how to write, and having nerdy writing arguments with your co-workers is awesome.
- Brand yourself. You are a brand and every interaction with you is an experience. Respond quickly, write thank-you notes, be early and stay late, keep a clean office and care about how you dress and act. When you mess up, say you’re sorry. Respond within 24 hours if you can, even if it’s a “got it, I’ll get back to you.” In essence, you should show that you care and are intentional. Go the extra mile!
- Emotions > Motions. Doing what is asked of you and going through the motions is the expectation. It’s not how to capture attention. Have relentless curiosity. Turn on your camera during work meetings. Show up! Anticipate, prepare, ask to fill gaps, believe and dream big.
- 24-hour rule. If you’re mad, it’s OK. It shows you care. But recuperate within 24 hours and don’t do anything rash. Emotionally prepare yourself for whatever situation you’re going to be in.
- Right place, right time. Aaron believes you put yourself in the right places at the right time to make stuff happen. It’s about your own merit, not luck.
- Your ability to be successful is influenced by the trust other people invest in you. Is a reporter willing to trust you to get the info or source they need by a specific deadline?
- Karma is not just a guy on the Chiefs. Everything is connected. The best internships and jobs aren’t always posted, and people go with who they’re connected with.
- Don’t worry about the person who has 55 internships. Just find the one great one. Everyone’s journey is different. It never stops and it’s yours alone, but you’re not alone. It has unimaginable potential and is defined by you!
- Be prepared to prove stuff with concrete data and reasoning. If you don’t, it’s just an opinion.
- Become the kite that other people want to tie their strings to.
Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn here.
Henry Gorsuch is a Journalism Strategic Communications major with a minor in Marketing and can be found on LinkedIn here.