Follow Jesús Matsuki on Twitter: [ @JesusMatsuki ]
1.What qualities do you look for in the people you hang out with?
One of the qualities that represents friendship: a trustworthy person.
2.What do you do?
I am a journalist. At the moment, I divide my time working in two separate areas: social work and as a spokesperson for the Ayuntamiento de Madrid (Madrid's city hall). I am also a member of the Unidad de Comunicación de Emergencias (Emergency Communications Unit) for the Spanish Red Cross.
In social work, I am managing a communication for development project in Cañada Real (Madrid), for an organisation that I created. Cañada Real is an area where most of the population is at high risk of social exclusion.
We want to determine how communication works within the population of this area and how they can acquire the relevant information to improve their life conditions. To achieve this we are analysing the communication process, identifying the influential community leaders, analysing the usage of technological tools, studying how they send and receive information from the public, social and religious organisations and analysing the presence and use of local media (radio, television and newspapers).
After this analysis we will develop and execute a plan to make communication bidirectional and more effective.
3.Why do you do what you do?
Sometimes you have to work in the job which can allow you to pay the mortgage, the education of your children, or most of the times, you cannot decide the job that you want to work for. Fortunately, this is not my situation. I love working in the area of communication.
4. Is this where you thought you would end up?
It´s too soon to say that this is the end of my career (hahaha). I have been working as an anchor in radio, producer, etc. and now I am doing what I´m doing. Who knows what I will do in the future? For sure, it will be under a kind of communication project, it doesn´t matter whick kind. It´s just part of the journey! We will never know where are we going to end up.
5. What values are you committed to?
Information save lives.
6. How many hours do you work in a typical week?
I work 40 hours, but I dedicate almost 20-30 hours to social projects.
7. What skills are required in your position on a day-to-day basis?
Being calm, analytic, and communicative!
8. Are there any negatives to your job?
Hum...just waking up so early! Hahaha.
9. What is the best piece of professional advice you've ever received -- and used or implemented?
You should trust what you are communicating. If you don´t, don´t communicate it.
10. If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
For sure, I would have studied more languages.
11. What professional organizations are you associated with, and in what ways?
My own organisation “Guia de Babel”, the Spanish Red Cross, and journalism associations.
12. What mistakes have you made?
It´s almost impossible to keep track of my mistakes... Most of the times it has boiled down to not listening to good advice that I received!
13. Considering all the people you have met in your line of work, what personal attributes are essential for success?
Honesty, team worker, accept challenges, perseverance.
14. What's the best advice you can give to help plan a career rather than simply work to keep a job?
First of all, it's okay not to know what you want to do for your entire life, but you still need to have a plan... Just start planning for what you want to accomplish over the next five years. Even just to keep the job you do right now, you need to be ambitious.
15. What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?
Most of the times, the best reward that you can receive is from yourself. You can be a perfectionist professional, but you should accept that you will do it better next time, and congratulate yourself whenever you achieve something.
16. What developments in the horizon could affect future career opportunities in this field?
In relation to our financial situation, "crisis" is the most used word in Spain. And a big mistake that many organisations are doing, is to reduce funds that go to their communications departments. They forget that communication is not an expense, but an indispensable investment.
17. Can you recommend a "must-read" book that will help us broaden our skills as working professionals or inspire us to reach our highest potential?
Any book that contributes to spiritual growth. There´s no nice flower to smell if you don´t have good sand where you can plant the seed.
18. As a communicator, if you could write a book on a social issue; what would it be and why?
It would be about how to open your mind to know in depth the people you are targeting for your communications. We need to listen much more than talk!
19. Which other SBCC maven would you recommend for this interview?
Jacobo Quintanilla -- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
20. What's the most valuable question we should ask the next SBCC maven who is interviewed on this blog?
Are we forgetting the importance of the one-to-one in communications projects ?
END//
