Benji Gluzman

Professor Koller

International Internship Berlin Summer 2022

July 11th, 2022

We are now in the final week of the program, and I can’t believe how fast it has gone by. Every week I feel I start my blog posts saying how fast everything is moving, and I will be sad to leave Berlin this weekend. I certainly miss home in some ways, but I can already tell I will be missing Berlin only a few weeks after being home. At least this gives me reason to visit sometime in the future.  This past week has been an exciting one for me, as two of my closest friends from Pittsburgh have come to visit me during the rest of my stay in Berlin. We’ve all been looking forward to this for months now, and it is really amazing that the time is here and we’re enjoying the city of Berlin together. As far as work goes, all has been well lately.  I’ve been working on some projects that are truly impactful for plista moving forward, with the main focus consisting of myself and others brainstorming what we as a company should focus on through our content, and how this supports our vision.  A lot of this is done through the content calendar I made for our department, along with the event calendar as events have been an important and effective way to create brand awareness and generate leads.

I would say at least Berlin views success through results. I feel many innovations and structural parts of Berlin have been projects that promote results more than anything.  A direct example affecting myself along with many of the people in Berlin is the price cut of the monthly public transportation tickets, making it much more affordable for many people in the city. This project is in the efforts of reducing carbon output through cars and such as more people would take public buses and trains instead. Although I don’t know the results from the carbon output side of things, I can promise you there are many more people using public transportation, making me think this idea has generated results and has actually made an impact. At plista, I feel for me success is viewed as learning and growing, instead of results directly.  My bosses understand I am new to marketing from a professional lens, and I have been told from the start that the main goal of mine is to learn from this internship.  Looking more at plista as a general company, success is viewed in multiple ways. The most obvious form of success is through conversion of leads, otherwise worded as gaining new clients.  There is another step to this however, as companies need to provide results and create success for their clients, otherwise such clients will leave and your company will not be the most reputable in the industry. Success can also be viewed from the angle at which you approach your industry. For example, if your company wants to differentiate itself from its competitors by taking a green approach, success can be viewed through reputation and the clients under your company. As a company with a major green initiative, it would be more beneficial and fulfill their efforts in some respect if they were to work with other companies also embodying a green approach. 

When considering what makes a successful employee, I believe it also mainly lies within results produced from their work. This can be interpreted in multiple ways, as a social media manager can produce results through increased performance in metrics such as likes and interactions, while a salesperson generates success through converted leads.  I also feel successful employees are viewed as those who are great team players, have strong communication skills, and are able to lead or make decisions on their own.  These things can vary by company though, but I feel those are some traits which plista believes would make a successful employee. This does slightly differ from what makes a successful employee in the US.  There are certainly some shared traits, such as strong communication skills, critical thinking, and being a good team player.  However, I feel the US slightly differs from Berlin, as there is much more of a grind or constant hard work feel to some workplaces. The US carries this sort of mindset in some ways to begin with, and it certainly transfers to workplaces across the country, whereas in Berlin you work the standard day then enjoy your time off.  This approach is one that I support more than that of the US as it avoids burnout and also likely results in better output from employees as well.