Tag: Etiquette

With a smile

Long ago, when we still used snail mail, the lyrics went like this ” and seal with a kiss” (w/ lipstick marks).

That’s analog. Now it’s digital. How are  we going to add that something special? smiley for non-verbal?

Communication has been intrusive and impersonal if not dehumanizing.

No way around this. We sign off with “Best Regards” etc… but it’s there BEFORE we compose the  e mail.

So, respectfully speaking, I don’t think we meant “Best Regards” to the recipient (s) at all.

Comes in-mail, designed to cut through the chase.

No heading, no closing. Voila. Chat without waiting for a reply.

No feedback. Just telegram format. Period.

We have traversed a long way since Marconi e.g. telegraph, telegram, telephone, television, beeper, skypager, voicemail,  dictaphone, email, text, chat, in-mail, instagram and Likes.

None of the above allows for “seal with a kiss”.

Lovers send each other chocolate, flowers and letters.

Business people, gifts and hopefully, Thank-You cards (Go Hallmarks).

But lately, we are at a loss. Etiquette in the time of E-mail.

Best business communication is brief, to the point and respectful (of recipient’s time and intelligence).

So, while I rail like  Andy Rooney about “two-prong plugs in a three-prong society”, I challenge you to still “seal with a smile”. That unseen smile is for you as much as it is for them. It’s a joy to think of someone and spend time sending a short note, albeit in-mail. Might as well “pour your heart into it” like they say at Starbucks. (Smile:))

Connect and Respect

I often go first to Home Page on LinkedIn to see who is connecting with whom.

The Network Effect assumes people are inherently decent, deserving respect and reciprocity. Society continues to work on that basis. Not random shooting, nor indiscriminate mass slaughter.

We have learned invaluable lessons in collaboration: WWII, internet peering, crowd-sourcing and job networking.

We have also learned invaluable lessons in ignoring our intuition: derivative bubble or work-life imbalance. For every new member we are linked with, newer 2nd-degree acquaintances also joined our circle indirectly.

Connect and Respect.

We honor their transparency (completing a profile), their professional experience and background, and their access to “friends in the high places”.

At the base, we respect people as fellow human beings, sojourners in this pilgrimage called Life, of which Work is a big part.

Each person brings a unique set of skills and circumstances. If asked, each has a story to tell, a lesson to teach us.

I refuse to speculate about why a PhD Student decided to get firearms and bullets to shoot down people randomly.

Nor do I try to explain away why higher-ups at Penn State Higher Learning decided to cover up the shame, which only worsens as time goes on.

When we feel that those were grotesque, instinctively we are for decency,  respect and want to connect.

Each person is sacred in his or her own right. Each person has a lot to give even if by being just a connector or memory keeper. The more the merrier. Keep them coming. Seek first to understand, more than to be understood (courtesy of the late Steven Covey).

Thank you for connecting and respecting.