My Second Week at TheStreet

My second week at TheStreet was really great. I wanted to post about a meeting the company held for the interns. Several of the executives came in to speak to us to give us advice. I want to share what they said. One speaker repeated a familiar cliche about meeting people and making connections at work. The phrase she used was to "run for mayor." I think this phrase is more powerful and enlightening than just "be assertive" or "strike up conversation with employees." Running for mayor is really difficult and requires you to be creative in getting people's attention and proving your value to them. I try and remind myself to do this when the day is moving slowly.

Another speaker gave his advice through a story. Some years ago, he ran the internship program at another company. That internship program was more high powered and he would require the interns to take a class of his every friday from 5-11. From 10pm to 11pm this guy would administer a test on what he taught and would post the grades in public every Monday morning. Because the interns were competitive, they tried really hard in the class. One intern consistently outperformed the others and was quite conspicuous in his performance. To reward the high achieving intern, the speaker decided to take the intern out to his house in the Hamptons, a popular vacation spot. Once the speaker and the intern arrived, the speaker handed the brilliant intern a brush and told him to clean his entire house. Even though this type of hazing doesn't really go on in internships anymore, I think the moral of the story still rings true. Try and show people your worth, but don't be too loud about it. Be smart when you stand out and don't make any enemies.

I hope I can pick up some more good life lessons and advice during the rest of the summer.