When tasked with writing my first ever blog I was thwarted by a lack of ideas. Add to this, I was on vacation with Lovey, the Gen Y daughter-of-my-heart (don’t ask…), and she had few viable insights other than to wax on ad nausea about the benefits of technology. So, here we are…
While technology has surely allowed us to progress and advance, there are ways in which it has stunted the development of many executives and managers. Think of the boss who has not realized that you are not multi-tasking when you are texting and responding to emails during a one-on-one meeting with your staff person. What you are is an absent presence who is being rude to another human being. Or, consider the up and coming leader who lacks the discretion not to post the gory details of her last breakup on Facebook. Lovey is advising me not to go on my Facebook rant here…
Worse yet, consider the attorney (and this really happened) eating at a crowded DC restaurant and discussing a client transaction loudly enough for other tables to overhear him. He wasn’t even smart enough (on that snazzy smartphone) not to mention names and particulars. Is there something in the gamma rays these devices emit that suck up all of our good judgment, common sense and courtesy?
The moral of this short blog post is that technology is only as useful as the user…a device in the hands of a person with limited common sense and social skills is a dangerous thing. So how does this apply to leadership? Those in leadership positions must manage their use of technology and not allow it to manage them. Wisdom and discretion go a long way in modeling appropriate use of the tools that really can enhance our existences.
