There Is No Substitue For Face To Face Conversation

We live in a world today were we spend 10 times as much time behind a device and one-tenth the time face to face in conversation or discussion. We live in a world where information moves at least 50 times faster than ever. All of these things going on, where we are more connected than ever yet 10% of the people feel they have no one to talk to. We live in a world where we can “withdraw our sword for battle,,,,,, and march into battle behind our digital device screen and begin to type!” What a battlefield huh..? Takes real courage just like the greatest generation marching up onto the beaches of Normandy braced for real battle. (insert sarcasm)

The advent digital devices along with social media can be such a powerfully wonderful tool, yet all too often we often find ourselves engaged in a digital conversation that winds down a curvy dusty road that would have never occurred if we were sitting face to face in real conversation that engages all human senses, emotional intelligence, intellectual intelligence, and in the end forces the tongue to often be much more yielding than our butcher knife fingertips. Face to face conversation allows tone to enter the conversation. It allows facial expression to enter the conversation. And the most important aspect of these two things, is it is all a part of emotional intelligence. We often engage in digital conversations and intellectual prowess allows us to beat our chest and act like Muhammad Ali, but the real winner in all real face to face conversations is the one with the most emotional intelligence, as that is the person with the greatest level of self awareness, and is not only reading people, but allowing all persons not only an opinion but is using that self awareness to learn and understand how all people are feeling and being affected by the words being said, and truly cares about all things being said in the conversation and how it affects all involved.

There is absolutely no substitute for face to face conversation and we all must be hyper aware of this old yet now new convept, as there are generations of people we must teach this to, help better understand the importance of, and show by example rather than engaging in the battle of Hroshima with them. Face to face conversation has become a lost art in some corner of the universe I am afraid, and we have to bring this value back to the dinner table in business, in family, and in life. We must disconnect from the connected as we break bread together and work to communicate a real human emotional connection where we stand a much greater chance at allowing empathy and compasion to achieve their greatness they deserve. I am just as guilty as any, and we must all recongize our part, our weakness, and intentionally work on bringing real meaningful face to face conversation back to the dinner table, the conference table, the board room, the picnic table, and all various tables of life. And as we do this, we must say what we mean, mean what we say, but don’t say it mean.

We must also remember that what we say isn’t as important as the tone of our voice, and the tone of our voice isn’t as important as our facial expression. Words create worlds and we have to remember nothing gets resolved without open and honest conversation and face to face meaningful conversation, where emotional intelligence, not just intellectual intelligence, is fully engaged! Happy Leadership Thursday!! Cheers amigos!! #KeepAtIt #PassionForPeople #LeadershipThursday #ChangingLives