My moment of clarity

If you have a lemon, make lemonade.
                                       - Dale Carnegie

You know, there are lessons everywhere in life. And, when it comes to my work as a public information officer, those lessons are legion.

I have already told you about how the space program gave me some perspective into how public information officers work together in a Joint Information Center.  How a brownie box provides valuable lessons in how to reach an audience.

Mechanics are experts.. it's best to listen to them...

So, when I neglected the obvious signs that my car was having some issues, I got another valuable - and expensive - lesson in just how people who don't do what we do for a living can overlook the basics, leaving us wondering if they are really paying attention,

Melissa Agnes speaking about disaster and crisis communications

I related this story to Melissa Agnes, who posted it over at her blog as a cautionary tale for public information officers everywhere. Namely, it's easy for us to pay attention to the little details that we are immersed in every day, but if we are taken out of our element, would we fare as well as we hoped?

How did I do? Well, let's just say that I missed the obvious, and it ended up costing me more than a few unexpected thousand dollars at an auto dealership on a sunny April afternoon.

Remember the most important lesson about any pursuit...

Good judgement comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgement. 
                                      - Will Rogers

Tom Iovino, Public Information Specialist
Pinellas County, Florida
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomiovino