I received a good reminder last week about the importance of dealing with people face-to-face.
It’s something we easily forget, especially in this Social Media dominated world.
We’ve all heard the news stories about how much less we are communicating with each other in the old fashioned way of actually talking.
These days it’s a text, or e-mail, or a message on Twitter or Facebook—even though virtually everyone walks around with a phone these days, we are using it less-and-less since it’s quicker to shoot someone a text or e-mail.
My reminder about face-to-face communication came thanks to an interesting invitation I got a few weeks ago from Gulf Coast Bank Marketing Director Sheila Englert, who e-mailed me and invited me to a luncheon with bank President Guy Williams.
It said I was being invited with a half dozen other business leaders and didn’t say exactly what it was about. So I went to the luncheon last week in Metairie and was very impressed with what I experienced.
It turns out the luncheon is a regular event hosted by Guy and Gulf Coast Bank and it’s for no other reason than to sit around a table together and meet new people, listening to their stories about who they are, and what they are accomplishing. Needless to say, business opportunities arise from the meetings.
I met several interesting people, particularly the new General Manager of the New Orleans Zephyrs, “Cookie” Rojas, as well as Jefferson Parish President Mike Yenni. There were two or three others, as well as a woman who was a chaplain with the New Orleans Police.
Guy made a comment to start the discussion and said they have succeeded at their bank with a simple philosophy to do the right thing for each client they encounter—one person at a time. It was the same thing he was doing by inviting us to the luncheon and it taught me a few things about what I do every day.
It’s so easy to get caught up in today’s technological world, dominated by Social Media, but nothing will ever replace a simple conversation with someone, face-to-face.
I can remember a few weeks ago when I left the house in a hurry and was half way across town, suddenly realizing I hadn’t picked up my phone.
I will admit that I have a little pride in not carrying my phone with me every second of the day. I never take it into interviews or events I cover, and when I get home at night I hook it up to the charger in my office and don’t care if I hear it ring.
But that particular day when I realized I didn’t have the phone threw me into a bit of terror. Oh my gosh, I thought, I need my phone!
As I drove I needed to call someone, but then remembered—I don’t have my phone.
So I thought I could call someone else to get the information I needed—but I again remembered I didn’t have my phone.
Hey, I could text someone to get what I needed. But I didn’t have my phone!
I finally laughed at myself and realized I’m pretty connected to the phone like others and finally relaxed, knowing that whatever I needed could wait.
Thanks again to you Guy for the luncheon and the time for us all to leave our phones and computers, and have an old-fashioned face-to-face chat with others. It was refreshing and enjoyable.
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Guy Williams told me that he and his brother David were both fortunate to have ended up in the kind of profession they had both wanted to pursue. Guy always wanted to go into banking and his brother wanted to be an attorney.
When someone is doing the thing they love it really shows and I saw that same passion in another profession when I attended a business event recently.
Home Instead Senior Care has been operating in St. Tammany Parish for 13 years ever since Len and Evelyn Snyder purchased a franchise and have grown it into a very successful business. But when I recently attended the grand opening of their new facility in Slidell I listened to several of them talk about what they do and the way it is more than just a business.
I know a lot of the people who work with Len and Evelyn and it is evident they really do care about the people they care for in their homes. As a pastor said that evening, it’s really a business and a ministry, and you can tell that when you see them on a daily basis.
That’s what’s cool in the job I have—I know many people who may have their own business, but it’s clear they have a passion to provide great service or products to the community. When you see that you can be sure it’s the people you want to do business with.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.