Our Meet the Professionals series puts students in the room with leaders and innovators across varied professions. Our latest Meet the Professionals brought seasoned global communications leader, Doug Michelman, to our Carver students at Norwalk High School.
Doug has more than 20 years of experience leading in-house corporate communications functions at Visa and Pacific Bell and serving in senior roles at a global communications firm. But as he sat down with Carver NHS students, he revealed that he had no idea what he wanted to do at their age. “I didn’t even know what college I wanted to go to. I put the phone down and asked my friends for a vote.” Doug told our kids how he tried things out instead. From volunteering for a political campaign and meeting President Jimmy Carter to experimenting with journalism and newscasting, Doug discovered his primary strength: public relations.
“You all use public relations every day,” he told our students. “Navigating an argument, making a sincere apology, connecting with people… it’s all PR.” A student asked if Doug considered his work to utilize “soft skills.” “Exactly,” he replied, “it all boils down to effective communication.” The same skills that Doug employs to excel in his field were the same that enabled him to get his foot in the door. “When it comes to applying for a job or applying for college, the interviewer knows within the first 5 minutes whether they want to hire you. Your qualifications matter, but how you present yourself, how you smile, how you feel to others matters too.”
Doug finished his presentation by passing the torch—quite literally. Through his work at VISA, Doug attended several Olympics and was one of the torch-runners in 2008. They let him keep the torch he ran with, and with it Doug inspired our kids to become professional communicators themselves. Thank you so much, Doug, for giving your time to our students!
__
Doug Michelman is a seasoned global communications leader with more than 20 years of experience leading in-house corporate communications functions at Visa and Pacific Bell and serving in senior roles at a global communications firm. As Chief Communications Officer for Visa, Michelman led the communications strategy for the largest IPO in the U.S, developed the company’s first set of corporate values and business principles and established its global corporate responsibility and philanthropy programs. In addition to leading a team of more than 100 professionals based in more than 15 countries and traveling extensively, he has lived and worked outside the U.S. for more than four years in Hong Kong, China enabling him to develop global perspectives and greater cultural sensitivity. Prior to his work at Visa, Michelman served as Western United States Regional President of Fleishman-Hillard, Vice President for Corporate Communications at AT&T and in several roles at public relations giants Edelman and Burson-Marsteller.