The BIGG Successs Show
Who's in Control - You or Your Blackberry?
We use our PDAs to stay connected, but some people are disconnecting. Read our show summary at biggsuccess.com.
- Welcome to The Big Success Show. Today we ask, who's in control? You or your Blackberry? - The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. We were recently in a meeting where the other person never stopped looking at their Blackberry, and I'm sure we've all experienced a conversation like that. - Right, looking at the Blackberry, the iPhone, pick any mobile device of your choice. And maybe sometimes you do this to other people. - Today we want to discuss the impression this gives off if you are one of those offenders. - And ultimately it boils down to this, are you in charge of your Blackberry or is your Blackberry controlling you? Has the tool become the master? - Now you should consider the age of the person that you're meeting with. When 20-somethings meet, there's a good chance they'll both be offenders, which means neither one of them will be offended. So they don't think anything of it. - Well, and a 40-something might have a problem with it, but a 60-something almost definitely would, right? - Oh, yeah, but there are plenty of 40-year-olds who are addicted to their Blackberries, George. - What are you saying, Marylin? - Nothing, but no matter what the age, if the other person isn't doing it, you shouldn't either. - Well, and let's go back a generation to try to find an equivalent. And I guess what I came up with, Marylin, was imagine sitting there with someone with the inbox off of their desk, sorting through it while trying to conduct business or build a relationship. Now, how well do you think that would have worked? - It would have seemed very rude. - I think that had been a little odd, wouldn't it? - But, you know, back then, though, there wasn't this demand for immediate response, like there is today. - Well, customers, I think, have always been demanding. Now, it may be true that we expect a faster response today, but, you know, it's kind of funny how we used to define an emergency as life-threatening. Seems like today we have this compelling need to treat everything as if it's an emergency. - This is true, but, you know, I do have a friend who says if she doesn't check her email all the time, she might lose business because she's in a very competitive industry. - Well, to sound like the crotch the old man once again. - Arr, you just have to walk a mile to work every day. - Let's go back in time once more. And to me, saying that I'm in a competitive industry, and so I have to check my email all the time, it's sort of like saying I could have never left the office because the phone might ring, right? - Yeah. - And the thing is, many companies I know, for years, handled it with people taking turns on the phone. And I would think that today, with all of our wonderful technology, we can somehow find ways to not be glued to our mobile device. - Another issue when it comes to this communication etiquette is people feel that being constantly connected to their mobile device makes them look important, that they've got a lot going on. Coming up, we're gonna share a story that illustrates that this might actually be doing the opposite. - Today we're discussing who's in charge, you or your blackberry? And Marylenn, there's an old story about Richard Simon, who was one of the founders of the famous publishing house, Simon & Schuster. And the story is that as Mr. Simon was leaving his office one day, he grabbed his hat, those were fashionable back then, and he headed towards the elevator. And as he stepped on the elevator, he saw this young man. Now here's Mr. Simon, hat in hand, looking at this young man who had a briefcase in each hand, and another pair pinned under his arms, right? - Yeah. - Mr. Simon looked at him, and in Tarzan's speak said, "Me publisher, you editor." (laughing) - But we think that when we look busy, it gives off this impression of how important we are, but that story illustrates, especially for people who are really important, that it very well may send the opposite message. - Yeah, and understand, we're not saying here that PDAs, cell phones, blackberries, I mean, we use these tools. They're all useful tools. - They're not evil. But the point of the technology is to help us keep in touch with people and connect with people. - Yeah, and if we become so enslaved by the technology, that when we actually have the opportunity to do that, to actually connect one-on-one, and then we disconnect by not giving them our full attention, then we've completely blowing the opportunity, and we may never get a second chance. - That's a great point. If you wanna connect with us the next time you're hopping on your blackberry, and you're not in a meeting with someone, go to our site at bigsuccess, that's bigwith2gsuccess.com, and subscribe to our feed. That's also where we have a written summary of today's show, and let's get our big quote for the day. - Our big quote today comes from Richard Moss, who said, "The greatest gift you can give another "is the purity of your attention." - So are you going to give that gift to the person you're meeting with, or to your blackberry? - Next time we ask, is your mind like a skipping CD? - And until then, here's to your big success. - The big success show at bigsuccess.com. (crowd cheering) [BLANK_AUDIO]