The Human Touch

Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees, kids. Yep – another Homer Simpson “DOH” moment. Nothing too earth-shattering, but a lesson worth remembering, this time from the Mrs.  We had our first child 23 years ago. We made a decision at that time that one of us was going to stay home. Long story short, I worked outside of the house and she stayed home and took on the kids as a full-time job.  I built up a network of business contacts; she made friends.  Sometimes the categories overlapped for me; there weren’t categories to overlap for her.

Fast forward. Today, it’s unthinkable for any career-minded person NOT to have a healthy social network centered around business. This generally means LinkedIn. Today, my wife got her second or third invitation from friends of hers to connect on LinkedIn, something about which she has neither knowledge nor for which has need. When I said it’s like Facebook for business, her response was pretty simple and very smart:

If she wants to talk to me, tell her to pick up the phone.

DOH!
How easy it is these days to forget the sound of someone’s voice. No, it’s not as time-efficient to call and yes, connecting can be hard (not to mention it needs to be simultaneous!). But it’s human. There’s nuance (something that email lacks, a factor which has killed more than one business deal!). Conversation ebbs and flows – it’s not as structured as writing.

So I’ll keep this brief because you get the point.

And if you don’t, pick up the phone!