By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
This weekend my husband’s behavior reminded me of one of the reasons why I married him. It was my high school class reunion (number of years since graduation need not be mentioned) and since I was visiting with old friends, he was pretty much on his own. And that my friends, is what I like about him. He can handle being in a room with people he barely knows and still have fun. I like that. It’s a quality I would like to see my sons have. The ability to have the confidence to mingle with people is a talent. To be a good communicator. There’s nothing worse than hanging out with a cling-on. You know, someone who clings to you and makes you feel trapped? Ugh! A person who can hold a conversation with a random person about who knows what, amazes me. I can talk to people too, don’t get me wrong. But, I HATE having pointless conversations with people. Of course, I’ll do it when I have to, but it’s like torture. Conversations about the weather or someone’s distant cousin make me want to gag. I also cannot stand the oneupsmanship conversations. Trying to impress me won’t make me want to talk to you more. I could care less. I’d rather go for the meat of a conversation. A good debate or discussion with the potential to get the blood pressure rising. Life is short. Who wants to waste time talking about meaningless crap when there’s a juicy conversation somewhere to be had? When I’m put in these situations, I can hide my discomfort with a smile and a cocktail. (I should add that I drink almost only water – except for my 1 cup of morning coffee. I hate the thought of wasting calories on alcohol. I’d rather waste them on dessert. So it’s rare if you see me with a drink.) My husband on the other hand, is really a much nicer person than I am. At least it appears that he doesn’t mind functions where he doesn’t know anyone, because he generally doesn’t complain. He just goes with the flow and joins in. Making a great impression I might add, because people always tell me how much they liked speaking with him. His one bad trait is that he never remembers names (unless it’s work-related – then he’s incredible) so all these lovely people he chats with – are nameless faces to him soon after the conversation ends. I think it’s a skill. Now, he may be able to chat with anyone in social settings, but sometimes he can be quiet too. We can all have moments when we would rather be in our own world away from reality, so we keep to ourselves. In life however, good communication skills are essential. If there is one thing we should really try to teach our boys, it’s how to be good communicators. Their very success depends on the ability to handle interpersonal relationships effectively. From school-level to work and beyond. How well your child communicates will have an impact on the outcome of a situation and ultimately his happiness.
About the Author: Renee consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
