Two years ago I decided I wanted to go to grad school. My undergrad was in political science, but I knew that I didn’t want anything quite that focused. So I decided to look at speech communication, it was nearly a minor in undergrad and I enjoyed it a lot. I did a little research and UALR had a great program called Applied Communication.

My concept of communication coming into the program was giving speeches, debate, and the occasional informational presentation. I did not have a concept of communication beyond just the exchange of information, much less knew about communication theories.

It turns out there is so much more to communication. Studying it provides a richer understanding for how we think, live and interact with one another. My definition has changed to become the interaction between two or more people that simultaneously shapes their thoughts and beliefs. Essentially I think that we ourselves are defined and shaped by our communication with others. Thinking about it this way has a dramatic impact on the way we think about how we interact with others.

Think back to the time that we all met, likely a tweetup or as a result of one. When we first knew each other we probably had little in common, we came from different backgrounds. What we have collectively been able to do is work together in spite of these differences to accomplish great things. Think back to the Reach out and Read event that we put on at the Clinton Library. We all pulled our individual resources together to make the event highly successful. That is amazing considering we all only started meeting collectively in May.

Communication theory tells us what happen is Cosmopolitan communication. This is when we coordinate with others who have different backgrounds, values, and belief without explicitly trying to change the other people we are working with. Now this happen on its own with our little group. Imagine how being consciously aware of this as we coordinate with others in the future can impact what we are able to accomplish. That is the power of knowing about communication theory.

Barnett Pearce, a really amazing guy, developed cosmopolitan communication. If you ever feel the need to be inspired I suggest you read through some of his latest blog entries about his struggle with cancer: http://www.barnettpearce.net. I feel like by putting principles like cosmopolitan communication into action moving forward that we can make the work we do even more effective.

So here is your role in this, drop me a comment below and let me know what you think about all of this. Feel free to ask any questions or to make suggestions at how we can better utilize our communication and coordination with others to make a difference.

—- Response to your comments:

Thanks Sara, Pat and Paul for your comments.  One of the things Cosmopolitan Communication advocates is coordinating with others in communication in a way that values the differences between each other and does not try to push values or beliefs on anyone in the conversation. Because of that Pat I think that if we do engage in true Cosmopolitan Communication that you will find your values are respected. You should not be pushed to buy something or participate in something that you would not normally do. Rather by utilizing this we are able to build stronger ties in spite of differences, this allows us if desired then to work together better.

- Sources for anyone who wants to read more about this:

Griffin, E (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory. Boston, NY: McGraw-Hill.