Pick up the freakin’ phone.  That’s it. Pretty simple actually.  It’s a habit that we’ve all fallen out of and we need to get back into.  I’ve caught myself typing out emails that are so detailed and long that it could have easily been replaced by a quick phone call.  Would have saved me and the recipient a bunch of time and effort.  I spend easily half my day on emails totalling on average in the hundreds.  Where did we go wrong on all this?  Some pundits say that we’re the most connected and communicable society ever thanks to email, text, Twitter and the rest.  I beg to differ.  Sure I think we’re the most connected, but I think we’ve lost the art of communication. I’d even suggest that early man was a better communicator than we are today.  He was more efficient and communicated more efficiently because he had to or it probably meant certain death.  He didn’t draw a bear on a piece of bark (in 140 strokes or less!), walk over and hand it to his fellow hunter just before the bear attacked him.  No, he just yelled “Bear!” and that saved his friend.

I think it’s time we all picked up the old cup’n’string again and had a good old fashioned conversation, even if it is only to yell “Bear!”.  I just had this chat with a longstanding client who we both agreed summed it up best:  A phone call is worth a thousand emails.

Thanks Allan.