#1: Put Yourself First
You cannot be of service to others if you do not take care of yourself first.

#2: Give Tough Love
Sometimes you have to tell folks what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear. They will thank you later.

#3: Be There During the Good Times and the Bad
Do not be a “fair weather” friend or colleague. Be there during the good and bad times, just as you would expect others to be there for you.

#4: Know Your Audience
Do not communicate with a client or boss the way you would communicate with your BFF.

#5: Maintain Appropriate Boundaries
Do not tell your co-workers all of your personal business. They will most likely use it against you later.

#6: Burn Rotting Bridges
You may have heard that you should never burn bridges. Rotting bridges need to be burnt – before they burn you.

#7: Communicate Openly and Honestly
Communicating openly and honestly means you do not have to lie. Once you tell one lie, you will have to tell 10 others to cover the first.

#8: Be Willing to Say it Directly To Them or say Nothing At All
If you are not prepared to say something to a person’s face, do not say it to others.

#9: Put People First
Put people first – above possessions. You will be glad you did – and they may reciprocate.

#10: Remember that Not all White Folks Dislike You and That Not all Black Folks Like You
The conference audience was predominately African-American, which is why I included this point. The people who may help you the most in life may not look like you. The ones who may hurt you the most may look like you. No matter what race you are, judge people by how they treat you – and not by the color of their skin.

What are your thoughts? What are other ways to develop and maintain healthy personal and professional relationships?

They will convene every year at a conference called “Sisters for Community College Leadership.” During these events, they will candidly and openly discuss lessons they have learned in their professional and personal lives, mishaps and mistakes as well as successes and achievements. They will commit to mentoring and developing future African-American female community college presidents so that when they retire, no one can say there are no qualified African-American females to take their places.

Greeting each “Sisters for Community College Leadership” conference attendee will be Dr. Linnie Carter, a former Vision 2020 delegate from Virginia. Though no longer an active delegate, Dr. Carter remains committed to the cause she first embraced in spring 2011. In 2020, Dr. Carter will celebrate both her 50^th birthday and the milestone of increasing the number of African-American female community college presidents in the United States.

This is my vision for my Vision 2020 plan of action, “Enriching Education: Sisters for Community College Leadership.” I will make history as the person who rallied stakeholders throughout our country to work towards increasing the number of African-American female community college presidents in the United States. This project will be a huge step toward achieving the Vision 2020 goal to “increase the number of women in senior leadership positions in American life to reflect the workforce talent pool and demographics.”

If you’d like to help achieve this vision, please visit About Enriching Education: Sisters for Community College Leadership; share this information with current, former and prospective African-American female community college presidents; and/or contact me at linniecarter@gmail.com.

We can – and we will!

What do you believe 2020 will hold for African-American female leaders?

I am fortunate to be a woman – but not just any woman, an African-American woman. And I am not just any African-American woman – I am a community college administrator. Therefore, through my affiliation with Vision 2020, I am able to combine three aspects that are near and dear to my heart – my womanhood, my heritage and community colleges.

Vision 2020 is made up of at least one delegate from all 50 states. Most states have two delegates. A few states have three. Each of the delegates is charged with developing and implementing an action plan in support of Vision 2020 goals and evaluating the effectiveness of that plan.

Through my plan, called “Enriching Education: Sisters for Community College Leadership,” I intend to increase the number of African-American female community college presidents in the United States. This project supports the Vision 2020 goal to “increase the number of women in senior leadership positions in American life to reflect the workforce talent pool and demographics.”

According to the American Association of Community Colleges, there are 1,167 community colleges in the United States, with only 60 of them having African-American females as presidents. With community college students comprising 44 percent of the total U.S. undergraduate population and 44 percent of African-American college students attending community colleges, strong and diverse leadership in community college education is more important than ever.

I envision that current and former African-American female community college presidents will take prospective African-American female community college presidents under their wings and teach them how to become presidents and then mentor them throughout their presidencies.

The project will include:

• A listserv for current and prospective African-American female community college presidents to share information
• Webinars hosted by current African-American female community college presidents for prospective presidents
• Workshops hosted by current African-American female community college presidents for prospective presidents at the annual American Association of Community College conventions
• Leadership studies involving current and prospective African-American female community college presidents

For more information, please visit About Enriching Education: Sisters for Community College Leadership. Also, please share this information with current, former and prospective African-American female community college presidents. Finally, to see how you might assist with this plan, please contact me at linniecarter@gmail.com.

Equality is indeed in sight! I can taste it, see it and feel it! Are you on board?

Here are 11 signs your boss is an ineffective leader:

1. Your boss calls you every five minutes to discuss items that could easily be handled via email.
2. Your boss asks you to come to his office every hour to discuss items that could be handled via email or phone.
3. Your boss is focused more on the latest gossip than generating revenue for the organization.
4. Your boss disappears for hours at a time, and no one knows where she is.
5. Your boss is away from the office for days at a time and does not bother to inform her direct reports of her absence.
6. Your boss picks his nose during meetings.
7. Your boss answers personal telephone calls during business meetings.
8. Your boss appoints committees but micromanages everything they do and changes their plans mid-stream.
9. Your boss calls or texts you afterhours to discuss random ideas that make no sense and could easily wait until the next business day.
10. You send email messages to your boss, but he always responds via telephone because he does not want a paper trail.
11. You meet with your boss about an important topic – and take copious notes – and later he denies some of the decisions that he made.

The good news:
If your boss recognizes that he or she exhibits these signs (and those from the previous list), there is hope for him or her. This person can change.

The bad news:
If your boss exhibits most of these signs and still wants you to nominate him or her for “boss of the year,” you may have a big problem on your hands. While it is difficult to master organizational leadership, there are some who are completely ineffective.

No one is looking for a perfect leader. However, most of us just want to be treated the way our bosses would want their bosses to treat them.

I know you have some items you can add to this list. How about it? What are other signs of ineffective leaders?

Here are 9 signs that your boss is an ineffective leader:

1. You were hired more than three months ago, and your boss has never discussed expectations, performance outcomes or the organization’s core values with you.
2. You were hired several months ago, and your boss has never met with you to discuss your progress.
3. You have attempted to tell your boss about the mess you inherited and are cleaning up, but she blows you off.
4. Your boss bullies employees and does so publicly.
5. You have been employed for six months and have accomplished more in that time than your predecessor did in several years. However, you can count on one hand – with several fingers left over – how many times your boss has said “great job” or “thank you.”
6. Your boss starts the process to terminate one of your direct reports – without your knowledge.
7. Your boss badmouths you to others but “purrs like a kitten” when she’s in your face.
8. Your boss mistreats high-performance employees but treats low-performing employees with kid gloves.
9. Your boss makes promises to others that violate policies and procedures and leaves it to you to “clean up” the ensuing mess.

If your boss exhibits any of this behavior, hopefully you can have a frank discussion about your concerns and come to a satisfactory resolution. Remember that you aren’t looking for perfection but respect.

Maybe your boss is respectful and cares about your career but wastes your time. I’ll share 11 more signs with you next week.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? Can you add to this list? Please do!

Question:
Is there any other advice you would like to inform upcoming public relations majors about?

Answer:
Yes, following is my advice for PR professionals:

• Read a lot
• Master AP style
• Master the English language
• Learn how to write news releases and other tactics
• Learn how to develop, implement and evaluate PR campaigns
• Learn how to use multimedia to achieve PR goals
• Learn how to use social media to achieve PR goals
• Learn how to effectively network
• Have multiple sources of income so that when one dries up, you will have at least one more

More advice can be found in three blog articles that I wrote:

Life Lessons from Linnie
Advice to Rising Communication Stars, Part 1
Advice to Rising Communication Stars, Part 2

What advice would you offer future PR professionals?

Question:
Do you consider that there are any misconceptions about the public relations profession?

Answer:
Yes, there are some misconceptions and misperceptions about the PR profession. Some uninformed people call us “spin doctors.” I tell people that effective PR professionals do not spin, lie or fabricate. We tell the truth and, in many cases, we are the conscience of our organizations.

Some uninformed people think that PR professionals can simply wave a magic wand and make crises go away. For example, the situation at Penn State cannot be resolved simply by good public relations. The university needs to “clean house,” eliminate some of the dysfunctional aspects of its culture and better define and emulate its core values. Until that is done, no reputable PR professional can truly help the school.

What are other misconceptions about the PR profession?

Question:
Is it an easy balance between your family and your business?

Answer:
Yes, it is an easy balance between my family, my business and my other responsibility as a community college vice president.

First, I am childless by choice. I love children but never wanted any. Therefore, while my peers have to focus on children, I do not have to. My husband and I have several godchildren, nieces and nephews, but after we spend quality time with them, we simply return them to their parents. Others with children of their own do not have the luxury of doing this.

Second, my husband is very supportive and proud of my professional accomplishments.

Third, I am very organized and efficient. Therefore, what might take others a week to do might take me only a few days. These factors allow me to work hard but play hard as well. Because of this balance, I am able to relax during the weekends and take vacations every year.

How do you balance work and family?

Question:
What is the best/worst part of your job?

Answer:
The best part of having my own PR firm is being my own boss. The worst part is not being able to help as many clients as we would like because of the challenging economic times.

How about you? What’s the best part of your job? What’s the worst part?

Question:
How do you come up with ideas for new PR campaigns?

Answer:
At Linnie Carter & Associates LLC, we develop PR campaigns for clients and the company. Once clients tell us their goals, we take the lead in developing the PR campaigns and share the campaign plans with clients for their input and buy-in. We also develop PR campaigns for new services provided by Linnie Carter & Associates LLC. For example, we are offering internships, webinars and two new services. We have PR campaigns for all four of these initiatives.

How do you develop ideas for PR campaigns?