E-mail: The new paper clip
Here is some interesting perspective on the subject of e-mail I heard at a Growth Network event this week for corporate executives here in Oklahoma City.
E-mail, it seems, has become the new paper clip as a status symbol for busy executives.
Many people in the corporate world live with their BlackBerry attached to their hip and are constantly checking e-mail even during meetings, said David Woods, chief executive officer of Giant Partners and moderator of an panel discussion at the conference held at Gallardia Country Club.
So, how does that equate with the lowly paper clip?
Woods said as a young man he was told by his father how paper clips were once a status symbol in the corporate hierarchy.
“You can tell where somebody is in their career by paper clips,” Woods said his dad told him. “If they never run out of paper clips and just keep getting more and more paper clips, they are high up in the organization. If they are constantly running out of paper clips, they are lower in the organization.
“So paper clips was the distinguishing point, meaning that if you were getting lots of paper clips, it means that people are sending stuff to you already prepared. If you are running out of paper clips, it means you are preparing the reports and sending them to someone. I think we’ve probably translated that from paper clips now to e-mails. We are thinking that the more we have the more important we might be, and it’s probably incorrect.”
The comparison of e-mail and paper clips was sparked by the admission by Tom Hill, president and chairman of Oklahoma City-based Kimray Inc., that he has adopted the practice of not checking his e-mail until after lunch each day.
“I started doing that, and I’m still alive and people still talk to me,” Hill said to laughs from among an audience of about 200 at the event.
“I do think there is an attitude among people that the more e-mails I get and the more phone calls I get, the more important person I am. Sometimes we have this aura about us that I’m getting all these calls in this meeting and I’m getting these e-mails, and I think it gives us a false sense of position.
“Turn the thing off and let people contact us at the appropriate time.”
By the way, I can never find a paper clip around my desk when I need one.
Jim Stafford
Business News reporter
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