1. Write a short paper (up to 1-2 pages) explaining or describing a topic about which you know nothing.
2. You can explain or describe a concept, how to do something, or how something works.
3. This piece should be written in an authoritative style - pretend that you are an expert on the subject. What you write can be completely ridiculous, but the tone and style must be serious, authoritative, and professional.
4. Do not do any research on the topic.
5. This exercise can be written in 15-20 minutes. However, more time can be spent writing, if desired.
The piece will probably be funny, if not absurd.
Although this is a creative writing exercise, it is particularly relevant to people who practice professional, academic, and scientific writing. It is an exercise in writing in an authoritative and convincing style - even if it is completely ridiculous. By divorcing the authoritative and professional writing style from a real subject requiring any expert knowledge, the writer is required to focus on the qualities of authoritative professional writing rather than being distracted by research, facts, and reality. Additionally, the creative aspect helps develop general writing skill.
Doing this exercise with a group of people is very funny and entertaining...it is also a good way to compare writing styles.
--Tariel Naxon
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Random Bowls: Creative Writing Experimentation and Exploration
The purpose of this exercise is to stimulate the creative process and develop your writing ability. The random nature of this exercise challenges the writer to creatively and spontaneously write a story. The point is not to write a masterpiece. Therefore, do not worry about the quality of your writing. This is a time for experimentation and the exploration of your creativity and writing ability. Although this writing exercise is a creative writing technique (e.g. novels, poetry, playwrighting), it can be beneficial for developing any writing style.
I learned this technique from award winning playwright and author, Luis Alfaro. He claims he practices this simple exercise for at least ten minutes every morning.
Random Bowls
1. Designate three bowls or another type of container as "subject", "action/activity/event", and "goal/purpose" respectively.
2. Write a word or sentence fragment on a small piece of paper. Or, you can cut them out of newspapers and magazines.
3. Repeat the above step using different words or sentence fragments until you have at least several pieces of paper.
4. Place these pieces of paper in the three bowls.
5. Sit down ready to write.
6. Without looking, draw one piece of paper at random from each of the bowls so that you will have drawn a "subject", "action", and "goal".
7. Write a story based on your random subject, action, and goal.
8. Write for at least ten minutes. Write longer, if you feel inspired.
9. Practice this exercise daily or occassionally, as desired.
--Tariel Naxon
I learned this technique from award winning playwright and author, Luis Alfaro. He claims he practices this simple exercise for at least ten minutes every morning.
Random Bowls
1. Designate three bowls or another type of container as "subject", "action/activity/event", and "goal/purpose" respectively.
2. Write a word or sentence fragment on a small piece of paper. Or, you can cut them out of newspapers and magazines.
3. Repeat the above step using different words or sentence fragments until you have at least several pieces of paper.
4. Place these pieces of paper in the three bowls.
5. Sit down ready to write.
6. Without looking, draw one piece of paper at random from each of the bowls so that you will have drawn a "subject", "action", and "goal".
7. Write a story based on your random subject, action, and goal.
8. Write for at least ten minutes. Write longer, if you feel inspired.
9. Practice this exercise daily or occassionally, as desired.
--Tariel Naxon
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Suggestions for developing a memorable presentation
1. Work with your group to determine what you want to say, but not how you want to say it.
2. Fancy words don’t matter when presenting, people tend to hear whatever you say in their own words anyway—fancy words are for writing, not speaking.
3. After you know what you want to say generally, write a script.
4. Memorize that script pretty well, but don’t worry about slipping up on one to words—you’re going to try and forget that script soon anyway. Consider different approaches to memorization: speaking out loud, typing, writing by hand, and mentally reviewing.
5. At least once, go through the script by memory and hand draw all the slides; make bullet points of what you are suppose to say on each slide—bullets should include hard facts that you have to say, but not full sentences.
6. Start practicing the script intentionally phrasing in different ways—or better stated, practice without trying to determine whether or not you are saying it exactly as the script was written.
7. Work with a person one-on-one who will give you critical advice about what isn’t working.
8. Practice for critical points (facts). Do not try and say the exact same thing every time—it is unnatural. We can almost never repeat back the exact same phrasing of anything we say—we know basically what we said, the main point and the general tone, but we rarely know the exact wording. Speeches become obviously memorized when you are mentally searching for a specific word rather than a concept.
9. Get to know the information thoroughly, then relax a little.
10. Don’t act, most of us are bad at acting and it shows. Don’t try to “present”, try to explain (e.g., one client at the GP defense remarked “I didn’t know I was going to a play”).
11. Practice a lot. Practice with different people—it’s hard to get excited or sound interesting when you are talking to people who know exactly what you are going to say.
12. Be yourself on stage, if you like hand movements, use them, if you like walking on stage do so, consider other people’s advice on the best style, but be confident that the audience actually wants to see you as a person—they aren’t as interested in seeing you try to be someone else.
13. If you know the information, if you have practiced, if you know the point of the story and what you want people to understand, then little slip-ups the day of or other life events that suddenly dominate your brain won’t throw you off as much.
14. Have confidence in yourself. You are smart, you know the information, and people are interested.
--Bridget Dobrowski
2. Fancy words don’t matter when presenting, people tend to hear whatever you say in their own words anyway—fancy words are for writing, not speaking.
3. After you know what you want to say generally, write a script.
4. Memorize that script pretty well, but don’t worry about slipping up on one to words—you’re going to try and forget that script soon anyway. Consider different approaches to memorization: speaking out loud, typing, writing by hand, and mentally reviewing.
5. At least once, go through the script by memory and hand draw all the slides; make bullet points of what you are suppose to say on each slide—bullets should include hard facts that you have to say, but not full sentences.
6. Start practicing the script intentionally phrasing in different ways—or better stated, practice without trying to determine whether or not you are saying it exactly as the script was written.
7. Work with a person one-on-one who will give you critical advice about what isn’t working.
8. Practice for critical points (facts). Do not try and say the exact same thing every time—it is unnatural. We can almost never repeat back the exact same phrasing of anything we say—we know basically what we said, the main point and the general tone, but we rarely know the exact wording. Speeches become obviously memorized when you are mentally searching for a specific word rather than a concept.
9. Get to know the information thoroughly, then relax a little.
10. Don’t act, most of us are bad at acting and it shows. Don’t try to “present”, try to explain (e.g., one client at the GP defense remarked “I didn’t know I was going to a play”).
11. Practice a lot. Practice with different people—it’s hard to get excited or sound interesting when you are talking to people who know exactly what you are going to say.
12. Be yourself on stage, if you like hand movements, use them, if you like walking on stage do so, consider other people’s advice on the best style, but be confident that the audience actually wants to see you as a person—they aren’t as interested in seeing you try to be someone else.
13. If you know the information, if you have practiced, if you know the point of the story and what you want people to understand, then little slip-ups the day of or other life events that suddenly dominate your brain won’t throw you off as much.
14. Have confidence in yourself. You are smart, you know the information, and people are interested.
--Bridget Dobrowski
6/2 Class: Guest Speaker Tracy Barba
Guest Speaker: Tracy Barba (Director of Marketing for Duarte Design, Inc)
In today’s class, Tracy presented strategies for interacting with the press. She provided an overview on interacting with the media and some helpful interviewing tips that she has acquired over her 15 years in the marketing field.
Preparation: Take a strategic approach
- Target what you want the reporter to learn from you whether it be on new material or in response to material that is already circulating.
- It is good to look at what are the top stories, what reporters are writing about, what is the slant of the stories (i.e. human focus stories such as profiles of CEOs as would be found in Forbes magazine), and what their readers care about.
- After learning about what the audience wants, then you can start the process of talking to a number of different reporters or journalists or bloggers
- Best interviews have been when reporters are just looking for information and do not have a particular angle in mind, but are just about having a conversation
- Use a conversational format in order to build rapport with the reporter for future meetings
- Reporters often do not have time to do research, so wrapping the information or research you are doing around a particular trend that is going on, or a trend that the reporter likes to cover can be helpful for them
- Synthesizing information can also be a very helpful way of building a relationship with a reporter
- If you can tie your research into something that, for example, the local community can relate to, is something that can be very effective and gives the audience proof points
- It might be a good approach to frequently check in with a reporter, follow the pieces they write, and take notes of topics they write about or are interested in and then shoot them an email and fill them in on something you know or are currently researching. It is a way of keeping them informed and often times the reporter will appreciate it.
- Focus on relationship building
Interviewing Tips
- Having 2-3 things that you really want to convey to the reporter about your company or product is very important. Have statistics and facts readily available
- Dialogue is key - ask follow-up questions, ask the interviewer if the interview is going in the right direction or if there is anything else that they want to know about
- Always assume that everything you say to a reporter is on the record
- Need to be more cautious about junior reporters because they are still learning and finding their own voice and are using a lot of different tactics, as opposed to more seasoned senior reporters
- Best way to be prepared for interviews with junior reporters is to just keep in mind 2-3 key things that you want to convey and to try and relate those things with a trend
- You are seen as an authority on the topic because of your research and knowledge
- Something you say is edgy or funny - don’t be afraid to be funny, you might say something that challenges conventional wisdom or relates to a popular trend
- If there is a human element to it, it is more likely to attract the attention of the reporter
- Reporters love “firsts” – good way to get their attention
- Never do a cold interview! Always feel like you have the ability to tell your interviewer that you need some time and that you will call them back, or ask if they can shoot you over some questions that you two can talk about.
- Think of the questions as conversation starters, do not necessarily just answer the question. It's good to answer the questions asked, but then be able to bridge the interview to something that you would like to talk about or something you think the reporter might be interested in.
- Be respectful of commitments you make - remember that reporters are on a deadline and if you commit to doing an interview, you should stick to it. It is a good way to build a trustful relationship with a reporter.
--Julie Randall & Nikki Maciejowski
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Class 5/28, Editing
The main task for today's class was to create an editing checklist. Takeaway points:
- everyone looks for different things (there are no absolutes)
- BUT, there are certain things that everyone values
- *flow
- *clarity (word choice, message, organization)
- *so what? (significance)
- *concise
- good support/evidence
- cohesion
- good transitions
- coherence
- compelling
- matches expectations of task
- strong conclusion
- makes sense
- necessary and sufficient
- sentence variation
- assumptions are explicit
- thesis sentence
- aware of audience
- appropriate scope
- A lot of of the same elements that we should look for when editing our papers, but always be aware of what your audience needs.
- Can be tricky to decide what type of language to use (simpler vs. more jargon)
- Tip for writing papers/presentations - write it to convince the most knowledgeable person in the room, but make sure that the least knowledgeable person will be able to understand it
- Understand what type of feedback they're asking for and give them that. Make sure to clarify expectations.
- Pick one thing to work on and one thing that's really strong.
- Don't be overzealous in editing.
- Editing in the workplace is not about perfection, it's about interpersonal communication.
- "Read it and tell me what you think" can mean a lot of different things.
- They always see things you didn't see.
- You tend to work harder on a piece when you know someone else is going to review it.
5/28 Class
- The panel discussed how - in the working world- no one wants to hear excuses and no one cares about excuses for why you didn’t get something done-
- They don’t care who was at fault .. they just want to hear what are you going to do to fix it
**** This is true for the corporate world but that is a bit extreme
**** It is not necessarily true for staff in academia or in government work- both of which move much slower than the corporate world.
**** Flip Side: If you work too hard at too intense a level, you are going to burn out
**** Really, it is about a good balance of getting your work done etc. and being rational at the same time
Today's topic: Editing
2 kinds of editing:
- In our head/minds
- What the audience is expecting
Goal of today is to create an Editing Worksheet: Checklist of what you want to make sure that you don’t miss when writing/editing a paper
3 Levels of Editing:
1. Global: overall read- how does the whole thing work together, are you getting your message across
2. Local: paragraph level- each paragraph as a community, how does first sentence support all the rest and how does it wrap up
3. Sentence : punctuation, mechanics, word choice
_____________________________
General ideas to keep in mind when you are writing:
- Would your grandmother understand?
- Assume an interdisciplinary audience – some highly knowledgeable and some not so knowledgeable. Test it to the most intelligent- have you maintained their interest without losing those people who don’t know very much?
Example: Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink, and The Tipping Point) is a good example of writing very clearly- he has an appreciation that it is not about the “language”- it is about the ideas behind the language..and he really knows his material
Bridget’s suggestion:
· Use sideboxes in writingà sideboxes can be an area to explain or give clarification to those people who may not be familiar with the information AND those people who don’t need that extra info don’t really need to read it carefully
What do you look for when you are editing a paper?
In partners:
Tessa and Alicia:
1. comma usage
2. variety of sentence type
Bridget and Tariel
1. clear objective/thesis statement
2. flow/logical order
3. easy to find critical points?
Lara/Kate/Emily
1. flow/organization
2. relevant and appropriate recommendations
3. supporting and well-integrated evidence
4. answer the question- clear thesis
5. choice of language
6. appropriate scope
7. assumptions are explicit
Kelly and Alicia
1. thesis/big picture points
2. no long, wordy sentences
3. sentence flow within paragraph
4. tense/passive v. active agreement
5. format/organization
Nikki and Julie
1. intro and conclusion
2. spelling etc.
3. keep paragraph length concise (don’t let it get too big)
4. flow of paragraphs and sentences (avoid redundancy)
5. be aware of audience in terms of phrasing and word choice
Julia and Caitlin
1. concise
2. overall flow
3. topic/concluding sentences
4. sentence/word variation
5. grammar/punctuation
Shannon/Christina
1. Does it flow?
2. So what?
3. Concise and direct
4. Opening and closing sentence/paragraph
5. Strong intro and conclusion to Set the scene and sum it up
CLASS:
1. flow
2. clarity
a. word choice
b. organization
c. message
3. sentence variation
4. SO WHAT??? à significance (art is making it sound like it isn’t repetitive)
5. concise
ONE MAIN POINT when reading and/or editing a paper:
· Each reader is looking for slightly different things
· Writing is NOT math, not always right/wrong
· NO absolutes
· And there are things that everyone values: conciseness
GIVING and RECEIVING FEEDBACK:
(Interesting reading about this in Silvia – was not assigned)
How to manage feedback?
1. human element
2. you are not the last say on editing
3. depends what feedback is for: understand what the person is asking you for and ONLY give them that kind of feedback!!!!!
4. Pick one thing that they can work on and one thing that is really good (considering the time frame they have given you)
5. Don’t be overzealous!!!! – human element- more to writing than just having the perfect paper---
6. “Read it and tell me what you think?” means TOTALLY different things in different situations
i. At Bren
ii. Mean boss
iii. Colleague- 2 or 3 suggestions
7. ASK for what you NEED- clarify your expectations!
8. Turn-around quickly as possible…
9. Editing in the workplace isn’t about perfect piece, it is about the interpersonal collaboration
10. It isn’t worth insulting someone
11. But it isn’t worth NOT saying something if document will FAIL
12. So is a balance
* * No reader is going to read the paper as you read it!!!
Monica’s List
1. matches expectations of task
2. coherence (does it ever all make sense)
3. cohesion
4. clarity
5. compeling (so what)
6. well-supported
7. flow
8. transitions
9. strong conclusion
10. makes sense
11. necessary and sufficient (try to be necessary – do you have all info/evidence necessary to adequately cover it sufficiently- (BUT not too much to bore or scare reader)
Posted by Shannon Murray
Friday, May 29, 2009
5/26 Panel on Workplace Writing
Panelists: Matt Langley, Business Development Associate, (Clipper Wind Power), Aubrey Spilde, Transportation Planner, (SBCAG), Lara Polanksy, Bren MESM Student, EPA Summer Intern
Matt Langley, Business Development Associate, (Clipper Wind Power)
Writing in his job:
-Facilities $200million to 4 billion to construct, so if you don’t have a contract for the facility then you won’t get a loan to construct ← writing proposals is a critical part of the whole company
-Very detailed oriented
-Job is collaborative (herding cats) and translating engineering jargon
-Problem: things being turned in after they are due
-In technical fields, it’s a lot of writing of what you don’t know about,
-Also you may edit someone else’s work, so you need to be mindful of not changing the point of the writing.
-Some people think they are great writers and they aren’t, so be careful of how you handle their feelings
-People “hate” writing proposals if it isn’t part of their job
-Written Proposals = you only get one shot, if you lose it its costs $200 mill-to 4 bill
Aubrey Spilde, Transportation Planner, (SBCAG)
Writing in her job:
-Regional planning so there’s a lot of writing (long range plans, directives to where funding goes, staff reports – summarizing loooong document into 2 pages)
-A fair amount of collaboration, both in composition and editing
-“Writing styles between people will always be an issue in the workplace”
Lara Polanksy, Bren MESM Student, EPA Summer Intern
Writing in her job:
-Wrote and reviewed grant proposals for EPA
-Importance of mapping your statements to RFP requirements → easier to find information, more likely to get funding
- Interagency Collaboration: Independent research versus collaborative research (key is to keep checking back in with all the agencies to make sure it still makes sense)
Expertise
-Aubrey: Make sure things meant for the public can be understood by the public.
Where do assignments come from?
-Aubrey: Federally or state mandated
-Matt: I’m the assigner, I’m on the listserves that send proposals and I select which we will go after
What’s a day in your life?
-Lara: Reviewing proposals was a side project and usually done in haste (aka keep your proposals concise and easy to understand)
-Aubrey: Researching, writing, calculating, writing staff reports
-Matt: Travel a lot, 30-40% proposal writing, responsible for buying/selling assets
Communication Tips from Matt:
**When you communicate in emails – never use 10 words when 5 will do, don’t write more than 2 paragraphs if you want them to read the last sentence. People’s thumbs get tired of scrolling on the blackberry. ;)
What’s the turnaround time on the proposals?
-Matt: 45 days (give or take), but the time goes quick because of corralling and coordinating
What are the most challenging aspects of your writing?
-Aubrey: 1) Making complicated info clear to those not familiar with it, 2) Write emails that are direct so you actually get what you want (pinpoint who does what and by when).
-Matt: Time management is always a problem. Writing proposals is important but its hard to get people to do it. Also: specify what time something is due and at what time zone. Leadership is needed: it’s hard to stand up sometimes in order to limit scope.
-Lara: Making a strong case is difficult – leave time for data collection, limiting project scope is difficult (taking on too much, can result in poor knowledge and writing), coordinating with people is difficult.
Managing Time and Responsibilities:
-Jordan: At his internship, was writing a proposal that nobody was taking responsibility for, so by not being prepared for it, he learned a lot.
-Matt: described leadership in writing as “Managing Up” – When you’re given low level work, but need to coordinate contributions and sign off from higher ups.
-Matt: When estimating how long it will take you to do something, add about 40% for a good estimation
-Lucas: Sometimes even getting things done ahead of time doesn’t mean stress is avoided because other people may put off reviewing it.
Effective and Ineffective Communication:
- People will take your estimations of how difficult or time-consuming something is if you say it with authority.
-Boundary Bulldozer: If you are going to say a timeline or task is too demanding, you should have good reasons and time estimation to back your excuse up. Boundary bulldozers will ask why, why, why and try to get you to agree to their terms.
-It is always good to set due dates 10 days or 5 days early.
-Matt: Don’t be afraid to keep bothering someone until they get back to you with what you need.
-Monica: But also realize your ranking and that everyone is busy. Don’t be a bother until you’ve given them adequate time and advanced notice.
-Matt: Remember that most companies are operating at n –1, they’re at least one person short, so everyone has to do extra work.
-Know how hard to push, when to push and when not to push. Stay professional.
-The better you are as an employee, the easier it is to stand up for yourself.
–The people who give excuses are the ones who always give excuses and people stop believing in them or caring about them.
-Matt: “The unexpected happens, but it doesn’t happen everyday…”
--It doesn’t matter who is “right” or “wrong” when a proposal is late or not accepted, all that matters is the success of the project. Don’t spend time dwelling on blame, move forward.
--If you’re late to provide a colleague with information, “sorry for the delay” is the max apology to give, people don’t care beyond that (e.g., they don’t want to know about your sick cat or car trouble, they just want to know when they should expect the work to be done).
Spin failure or rejection as a learning experience
-When you send a proposal to a federal agency and it doesn’t get funded, you can ask for the reasons why and the funding agency will tell you why.
-Know when to speak up and don’t be afraid to even if you think you will look like you are overstepping your superiors (Maybe you’ll have more training or knowledge in a certain subject than they do, and if mistake isn’t caught by you, it could cost the company time and money)
--Julia Griffin
Matt Langley, Business Development Associate, (Clipper Wind Power)
Writing in his job:
-Facilities $200million to 4 billion to construct, so if you don’t have a contract for the facility then you won’t get a loan to construct ← writing proposals is a critical part of the whole company
-Very detailed oriented
-Job is collaborative (herding cats) and translating engineering jargon
-Problem: things being turned in after they are due
-In technical fields, it’s a lot of writing of what you don’t know about,
-Also you may edit someone else’s work, so you need to be mindful of not changing the point of the writing.
-Some people think they are great writers and they aren’t, so be careful of how you handle their feelings
-People “hate” writing proposals if it isn’t part of their job
-Written Proposals = you only get one shot, if you lose it its costs $200 mill-to 4 bill
Aubrey Spilde, Transportation Planner, (SBCAG)
Writing in her job:
-Regional planning so there’s a lot of writing (long range plans, directives to where funding goes, staff reports – summarizing loooong document into 2 pages)
-A fair amount of collaboration, both in composition and editing
-“Writing styles between people will always be an issue in the workplace”
Lara Polanksy, Bren MESM Student, EPA Summer Intern
Writing in her job:
-Wrote and reviewed grant proposals for EPA
-Importance of mapping your statements to RFP requirements → easier to find information, more likely to get funding
- Interagency Collaboration: Independent research versus collaborative research (key is to keep checking back in with all the agencies to make sure it still makes sense)
Expertise
-Aubrey: Make sure things meant for the public can be understood by the public.
Where do assignments come from?
-Aubrey: Federally or state mandated
-Matt: I’m the assigner, I’m on the listserves that send proposals and I select which we will go after
What’s a day in your life?
-Lara: Reviewing proposals was a side project and usually done in haste (aka keep your proposals concise and easy to understand)
-Aubrey: Researching, writing, calculating, writing staff reports
-Matt: Travel a lot, 30-40% proposal writing, responsible for buying/selling assets
Communication Tips from Matt:
**When you communicate in emails – never use 10 words when 5 will do, don’t write more than 2 paragraphs if you want them to read the last sentence. People’s thumbs get tired of scrolling on the blackberry. ;)
What’s the turnaround time on the proposals?
-Matt: 45 days (give or take), but the time goes quick because of corralling and coordinating
What are the most challenging aspects of your writing?
-Aubrey: 1) Making complicated info clear to those not familiar with it, 2) Write emails that are direct so you actually get what you want (pinpoint who does what and by when).
-Matt: Time management is always a problem. Writing proposals is important but its hard to get people to do it. Also: specify what time something is due and at what time zone. Leadership is needed: it’s hard to stand up sometimes in order to limit scope.
-Lara: Making a strong case is difficult – leave time for data collection, limiting project scope is difficult (taking on too much, can result in poor knowledge and writing), coordinating with people is difficult.
Managing Time and Responsibilities:
-Jordan: At his internship, was writing a proposal that nobody was taking responsibility for, so by not being prepared for it, he learned a lot.
-Matt: described leadership in writing as “Managing Up” – When you’re given low level work, but need to coordinate contributions and sign off from higher ups.
-Matt: When estimating how long it will take you to do something, add about 40% for a good estimation
-Lucas: Sometimes even getting things done ahead of time doesn’t mean stress is avoided because other people may put off reviewing it.
Effective and Ineffective Communication:
- People will take your estimations of how difficult or time-consuming something is if you say it with authority.
-Boundary Bulldozer: If you are going to say a timeline or task is too demanding, you should have good reasons and time estimation to back your excuse up. Boundary bulldozers will ask why, why, why and try to get you to agree to their terms.
-It is always good to set due dates 10 days or 5 days early.
-Matt: Don’t be afraid to keep bothering someone until they get back to you with what you need.
-Monica: But also realize your ranking and that everyone is busy. Don’t be a bother until you’ve given them adequate time and advanced notice.
-Matt: Remember that most companies are operating at n –1, they’re at least one person short, so everyone has to do extra work.
-Know how hard to push, when to push and when not to push. Stay professional.
-The better you are as an employee, the easier it is to stand up for yourself.
–The people who give excuses are the ones who always give excuses and people stop believing in them or caring about them.
-Matt: “The unexpected happens, but it doesn’t happen everyday…”
--It doesn’t matter who is “right” or “wrong” when a proposal is late or not accepted, all that matters is the success of the project. Don’t spend time dwelling on blame, move forward.
--If you’re late to provide a colleague with information, “sorry for the delay” is the max apology to give, people don’t care beyond that (e.g., they don’t want to know about your sick cat or car trouble, they just want to know when they should expect the work to be done).
Spin failure or rejection as a learning experience
-When you send a proposal to a federal agency and it doesn’t get funded, you can ask for the reasons why and the funding agency will tell you why.
-Know when to speak up and don’t be afraid to even if you think you will look like you are overstepping your superiors (Maybe you’ll have more training or knowledge in a certain subject than they do, and if mistake isn’t caught by you, it could cost the company time and money)
--Julia Griffin
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