University of Maryland, College Park

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.

Concepts from the Readings

One concept that I learned from the readings comes from the book, The Essentials of Business
Etiquette. This book states to “Be Direct! You’re More Likely to Get What You Want.” The book goes on
to explain that people usually ask a question instead of giving a statement (“Do you want to go eat
hamburgers for lunch?”). This type of behavior lets the other person make the choice and it is more likely
to not get what you want. This is somethings that I am guilty of. Growing up in my culture, it is often
seen as rude to be so direct, especially when talking to someone older than you or someone of a higher
status (i.e. your boss). I have realized though that I need to start being more assertive and direct in order
to start obtaining the things that I want. I have begun to use this on a small scale: when I’m with my two
siblings. When we’re out spending time with each other and the time to eat comes, I usually ask a
question like, “Do you guys want to go eat pizza?” This leads to longer discussions about who wants to
eat where and why they don’t want to eat here, etc. I’ve noticed, though, that just by changing my
wording to “let’s go eat pizza for lunch,” they are much more likely to simply agree and go eat pizza.
While I feel like I’m still far from not phrasing my words into a question, I believe that this is progress
and a step in the right direction.
Another concept I learned from the same book is “What to Do If You Are Interrupted.” In many
conversations, I find that getting interrupted is a common occurrence. Often, I just choose to let it go.
While this is fine in some situations, I also feel like I must learn to address the issue and not let my
thoughts and ideas die down due to an interruption. The two advice that I have put into use is waiting
until the interrupter has finished speaking or to just continue speaking. Being a more introverted person,
what I usually end up doing is waiting for the person to finish speaking, then continuing with what I was
saying. This allows me to get my point across and keep the conversation on what I was talking about.
Occasionally, I just keep talking while raising my voice a little bit. This makes the other person wait for
me to finish what I have to say before speaking, however, when I do this, it always feels to me like they
are no longer listening to what I’m saying, but instead are waiting for me to finish so that they may say
what they have to say. What I feel I must work on is the book’s advice to say something such as “Hold
that thought” or “I’m still talking.” Whenever I try saying these phrases, it always seems harsh to me. I
think I need to work on finding a way to make these phrases sound neutral.

Reflection on In-Class Debate

During the in-class debate, my team’s topic was Big Dig – Pro and my role was a presenter. If I
was a team leader, I would first start with names and trying to make sure that everyone knows the name
of everyone in the group. I believe that this small step is crucial to the victory of any team. This step
allows everyone to feel acknowledged and allows team members to address each other on a name basis.
This is important not just because hearing our own name has a positive effect on us, but also because I’ve
often been in a group where a member becomes left out because the other team members do not
remember the person’s name and therefore just tries to avoid interacting with them. This is detrimental
because it makes people feel left out and unwilling to contribute their thoughts and ideas. The next step I
would do is to constantly check in on the different roles to see how they are doing. Often, people do not
voice their problems until they are explicitly asked. By asking each member if they need assistance, this
allows them an opportunity to speak up and ask for help should they need it. Other than that, I would
simply make sure that everything is going smoothly. I believe that a very important role of a leader is
recognizing when problems are arising then finding a way to address and solve the issue before it gets out
of hand.
I was very pleased with my team’s performance. I feel like everyone took their roles seriously
and put forth their best effort to win the debate. One of my big take away from this activity is the
importance of appealing to emotions when making an argument. I found a before and after picture of the
Big Dig and decided to use this in the presentation. When the Con side was presenting their argument, I
realized that they were appealing to emotions a lot and getting reactions from the panel members. I
recognized this and instead of simply showing the picture, I attached it to a story. I asked the panel
members where they would rather live. A congested city or one filled with green space? This got a lot of
visible reactions from the panel members when they saw the before and after picture. This only
strengthens my point earlier in this essay: making the audience feel a certain way can be much more
impactful than simply stating facts.
Conclusion
Throughout my time in ENCE 424, I have learned to become a more effective communicator
through analyzing quotes, readings the books, and participating in in-class activities. I have learned the
importance of telling a good story and different business etiquettes. I simply try to take the lessons that I
have learned in this class to heart and apply them to my daily life. While I believe that I am still far from
being an expert on communication, I know that I have experienced tremendous growth and will strive to
continue growing as a communicator.
 Works Cited

Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St. Martin's Press

New York, 2018.

Patcher, Barbara, and Denise Cowie. The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet

Your Way to Success. McGraw-Hill, 2013.