Years ago I remember hearing about a CEO new to an international company who took all the chairs out of all the conference rooms as one of his first acts. It made meetings a lot shorter.
A funny thing happened to me this week on the order of the chairless CEO.
I joined a professional organization at the suggestion of my literary agent, and, as a result of attending a meeting, it became clear that they needed someone to volunteer for a position on their conference committee which I dutifully did. I can't see the point of joining anything without participating.
So I volunteered to take care of one aspect of putting together this highly organized conference, found out who'd done the job before me, and asked for her email. I wrote to her and suggested that we have a phone conversation as part of passing the baton, if you will.
She turned me down flat. Cold. Didn't even include her phone number.
Honestly, I was shocked.
She told me, via email, that there was no need for a conversation, that everything she would send me via email would be completely self-explanatory. It did arrive, and I did read it, and it was so far from self-explanatory that I wondered if she was telling me about the gig I volunteered for or some other job.
I've been working to arrange a meeting with my literary agent for over a year. Admittedly, we've both had our reasons for postponing and cancelling, not the least of which is that we live on opposite coasts so it took some real coordination to get this together. We finally met a week ago today and it was a blast. We connected and it was of huge value for me and for her. Agents work much more happily with people than authors.
Anyway, the two events coming so close together made me wonder. Are we giving up phone calls? Are we giving up meetings? I sure hope not because if connection is what you want, and we all do, then face time (not Facebook) is the name of the game.
Pull up a chair, my new friend, and set a spell.
For spiritual nourishment, visit Dr. Susan Corso's website and blog, Seeds for Sanctuary. Follow her on Twitter @PeaceCorso and Friend her on Facebook.