Well, as I travel across the planet, I go into restaurants, I see an entire family sitting around a table. No one is talking. Everyone is on their phones or on their tablets. I was in a European country recently and I saw a husband and wife sitting at a table with probably a five-year-old child. The five-year-old child had these noise canceling, huge, massive earphones that were bigger than his own head. And I’m joking, but huge earphones to block out the noise. And the tablet had been set up in front of him and he was playing with video games and he didn’t say a word to his parents. And over the two-hour meal, while I was at the restaurant with my loved ones, having deep conversations of laughter and sharing, and I’m not judging, I’m just reporting, the parents didn’t say a word to their child.I see so many times in business meetings, someone in the middle of a meeting they will pull out their phone and start checking their social media feed or start checking emails. And what I suggest, this is just my opinion, but that’s disrespectful. The greatest gift you can give your child or your spouse or your client or your co-worker is the gift of the fullness of your attention. When you focus your presence and your energy and your attention on another human being, you make that person bigger. You validate that person. One of the greatest gifts you can give another human being is the gift of pristine listening. And if you’re checking your phone, well, then again, you’re taking your attention and you’re leaving attention residue on your phone, which means you have less attention for the conversation. And if you have less attention for the conversation, then you’re not really listening to that person. And if you’re not really listening to that person, the deep place within them knows it and they’re going to trust you less and you’re going to miss data that would allow you to serve your client or build the teammate or dominate your domain. So no phone conversations, professionally and personally. Just turn off your phone, turnoff your device before the meeting and go all old school and have a real conversation. The best leaders are curious. You don’t get that if you’re worried about your incoming digital messages.
