Doug Cartland's Four-Minute Leadership Advisory
Technology
Doug Cartland 
Doug Cartland, Inc.
05/10/2016

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My kids will laugh hysterically when they read the first part of this article.
If they were in the same room with me they'd point their fingers at my face and laugh and laugh and laugh. So respectful. But, because of how much you readers mean to me, I will risk the degradation.
I'm a big believer in technology. (Can you hear them? Can you hear them laughing?)
I think technological advances have tremendous value and I like them. (There they go again, laugh...laugh...laugh.)
And I use them daily. (Guffaw. Chuckle. Snicker.)
Certainly I'm getting better and better with technology. (You ever see someone laugh so hard that no sound comes out? That's what they're doing now.)
Here's what these wonderful children don't understand, however: Saying I like technology and that I'm getting better at technology is different from saying that I'm good at technology. I never said I was good. (Silence.)
I also know that overuse of technology erodes our effectiveness as leaders. (They look at me hurt, offended and shocked.)
Let me present my argument:
Gloria Steinem is, in my view, vastly underappreciated. She's the foremost feminist activist of the past sixty years. I can't say that I believe in everything she preaches, but I do espouse her equality and there is no denying what she's done for the status of women in America.
Since the 1960s she's been a community and political organizer, bringing together people that believe in and will fight for the rights of women.
In her latest book, My Life on the Road, she makes what I believe is an interesting observation when it comes to technology and the work that she does in mobilizing people for a cause.
Like us all, she uses technology. Phones are good. Email is an efficient tool. Skype has its place. Twitter can be helpful.
But, she said, "People in the same room understand and empathize with each other in a way it isn't possible on the page or screen."
And later in the book she reiterates, "Then and now, we take to the road to hold communal meetings where listeners can speak, speakers can listen, facts can be debated, and empathy can create trust and understanding."
And that's just it.
Technology is an expedient tool when expediency is needed. It's an awesome instrument of convenience. But we lose so much in the translation.
Centuries ago when people communicated on parchments it wasn't better than in-person communication. Nor when Guttenberg invented movable type in the 15th century and books became all the rage. When the pony express ran helter-skelter over the landscape mail became a vital communication tool, but it still could never replace in-person communication. Same with Alexander Graham Bell's telephone. Same with computers no matter how sophisticated they become.
I present webinars and they are effective. I do lots of coaching by phone and that works too. I have on-line training that gets terrific results. I've weighed the merits of skype and use it.
During it all I've had this internal debate. As helpful as technology is, can the personal meeting ever go away completely? Can all of these tools and the time and money they save, ever be as effective as the in-person communication?
And the clear answer is no.
Nonverbal language is by far the largest part of the communication process and every one of those mediums reduces it or eliminates it all together.
Warmth is more difficult to convey through technology. Empathy is hindered. Free flowing communication is stunted. The texture of communication is flattened, the subtleties lost. And, with that, real understanding is shallowed.
Communication is the exchange of information the goal of which is to increase understanding. Where understanding is decreased we all lose.
I use the tools and I like them. But never will I abandon the most effective one.
That's you and me in the same room talking.

(Is that my kids rolling their eyes? Nope, that's a look of awe on their faces as I drop the mike and walk away.)
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Sincerely,  

Doug

 

Doug Cartland, President
Doug Cartland, Inc.

 

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