MANAGING GLOBALIZATION WHILE YOU WORK

"Where did your email come from today?"

His comment to me was: “I know you can access email from anywhere and for all I know you are sitting on a beach.” I wasn't. I was in my living room. I was responding to emails from home because the office was “closed”. So while theoretically I could have been on a beach what with my wireless capabilities and my PDA capabilities, I wasn't anywhere near sand and water unless you count my kitchen sink and the cat's basement litter box. I was at home, in my jammies communicating with clients.

That led me to ponder email. Have you noticed how little “snail mail” actually shows up in your office these days or is it just me? While I readily admit that I am no longer twenty-something and am starting to use the kind of comments that I used to hate from my elders …. You know what I mean … those comments that start with: “I remember when ….” But, I can remember not that long ago that piles of paper and envelopes would be in my in box if I was away from my office for any period of time. Lately I notice that my in box is actually a repository for work in process, and not for incoming mail. All my mail and my communications with clients, family and friends are through email.

That thought has led me to consider not only how much email I get, but also where it comes from. Other than the Nigerian Nobleman who needs help getting his father out of jail, my emails are starting to come from all over the world … from all time zones and it seems to not stop over weekends and evenings. This global world that we now conduct business in means that for every hour I am sleeping, my clients and customers are working halfway around the world and putting emails into my email box.

I am often stunned that I can check my emails before going to sleep at night, and by the time I get to my office in the morning, mail is back in there! What are these people doing? I am beginning to think that there are email elves (or maybe trolls, I never could remember which ones were the evil ones) who are holding up emails in the great cyberspace post office and waiting for me to shut down the laptop before opening up the dam so the mail can flow into my little piece of cyberspace.

All this pondering has left me wondering what it is that I've gained by email. I have certainly gained an ability to communicate to people in a much faster, real-time way. I can take advantage of the wonderfulness of the technology that allows me to send photos, and music and powerpoint presentations. I can “talk” to people all over the world and stay connected in ways that it was never possible to do “back in the day.”

But I'm thinking that I've lost some things too. I certainly don't need letter openers and I don't need piles of letterhead and envelopes in my office. But I'm thinking I've lost a bit more than that. I may have lost the personal touch of putting pen to paper that email just doesn't allow me to have.

With that, I think I will take a moment today to put that pen to paper and write a “for real” note to someone. Real ink from a real fountain pen on real paper and put in a real envelope …. Oh wait … I will do it, but right after I respond to the “you've got mail” note that just appeared on my screen!

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