Will Sullivan wrote a post giving several pieces of advice to new journalism graduates and one stuck with me that I think is also equally important to those who currently work in the media industry.

The one that hit home is this: You should really be trying to get fired.  That’s right. You should be pushing the edge, making people uncomfortable and, in essence, trying to get yourself fired.

. . . do speak out with passion, vigor and conviction to any and everyone, regardless of rank, when you see your company doing stupid things in the dying, old media way. Your company probably needs you more than you need them. You can either speak out now and try to save both your butts, or sit back, fall in line and wait for them to cut your job to save theirs.

Pat Thornton weighs in as well:

Journalism is filled with cautious people who fear being fired. Don’t be one of them. Be a rebel, a trailblazer, a maverick, an iconoclast.

More than anything, my communication style gets me in trouble the most. I think people recognize I have good intentions, but some of the things I say and how I say them push people the wrong way, almost to the point that I’ve become irrelevant.

Some of it because of how I communicate and other times because I say things that they aren’t yet ready to hear. But if I don’t speak up, I know am doing a bigger disservice to myself, and if that ends up getting me fired, well, there’s always Wal-Mart or becoming a Chicago Cubs season ticket holder a few years sooner.

Almost more important than communication though, I have realized lately that passing cool links around the office, giving people advice, pushing for certain change isn’t enough and often doesn’t work, at least not very quickly.

It’s more about action. I’ve got to actually do more of what I say to prove to others that it works. I have to experiment more and fail fast more often. Basically, I have to be better or I’ll end up getting fired for a reason I can’t live with.