Prompt 5 Breaking the Norm

By: Vincent Kania

As a member of the business fraternity Phi Chi Theta here at MSU, I have the rare opportunity to listen to alumni who now work in the business field and what their job is actually like. This week, we had Joe
Gaglio, who is an employee at Deloitte Risk Advisory, come in and speak about what he does day to day, and some gave us some advice on how to get to a high position in a firm like he is. Surprisingly, the presentation was very informal and much more personal than most people would expect it to be.

Upon walking into the room, Joe shook everyone's hand and introduced himself, and had small conversations with everyone to help break the ice. He then started off by saying that this meeting was going to be very informal. He described the meeting as a "fireside chat" because he wanted us as an audience to get involved and ask him questions and unlock his five most important tips for us.

Joe was a very good public speaker, and he was great with getting people involved. He did a great job with answering questions in a way that it would either set himself up for another question from the audience. He also did a good job at making people laugh and keeping them interested, and he also used some language that I was surprised he would use. He stressed how important communication is in business, and his public speaking skills really showed that this is true.

Overall, it was a great presentation. Joe gave us some extremely valuable information, and did a good job at showing truths and misrepresented thoughts about the field. First, he showed how important communication and interaction with others is. He talked about how often this issue can come up in the workplace, and his presentation clearly demonstrated how often he has to do presentations like this.  One thing that went against the stereotypical business meeting was how informal it was. He made jokes, got people involved, swore, and was just very laid back. It was refreshing and made everyone feel comfortable and feel like he was just a normal guy. This is a stark contrast from the usual serious, intense business meeting that we are used to. Business people today seem to be heavily focused on good communication, and it seems that there are new methods that can get more people involved in a less formal way.