Business (Highly Irregular!)

Yesterday, I wrote about "Policy and a Pint," a refreshing and unique format for learning about and discussing important topics that should matter to everyone. The day before discussing mortgage issues at Policy and a Pint, I was in Brooklyn Center at LD4, the Land Development Conference. I generally dig the events put on by the Real Estate Communications Group, including one that MAAR was a part of back in January, but LD4 was a real snoozefest. It was an endless parade of blah-blah with limited variation and interactivity—the conference equivalent of my cubicle walls.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that you need to have beer and plush seating to get people to listen and participate, but it doesn't hurt to interject some comfort and fun into the mix, especially if you want to attract the next generation to your message.

I'm a Gen-Xer myself, the so-called MTV generation. If you're a generation or two ahead of me, feel free to dismiss me. We Gen-X types are used to it. But the "kids" that make up the generations behind me, of which there are a lot more of than there are of my ilk, don't have time for your dismissal or even 3-minute music videos. They make 30-second YouTube clips and carry an Internet-ready Blackberry in hand at all times. They thrive on speed and anything instant, and if you don't understand their motivations or processes, then you're in the way.

I don't expect my younger cohorts to get used to today's typical business and learning methods. Oh, they'll tolerate it for now, but there will be some changes once they are the workplace majority. Everything from the office experience to classroom learning to mass communication via conference format is going to change.

There will still be good common sense and smart business going on. I'm certain of it. But the old line will fade. Just like I never wore a suit and hat to my workplace everyday, they will not even go to a singular workplace everyday.

I for one welcome this. After I sent my first email in 1993, I immediately began to ask, "Why am I here?" But I'm less lofty with my existential questioning than Sartre. My question is more like, "Why did I drive for 20 miles in traffic just to type this blog post in a drab cubicle when everything I need to do this and most other daily work exists right where I started my day?"

Many REALTORS® of all generations have already figured this out and are currently maximizing their output with toothbrush in hand and contracts spread out across the kitchen table. I commend REALTORS® for understanding that "workplace" can mean anywhere at anytime and that time is important enough to compete for regularly with no assumptions.

Check it: In 2008, we have the ability to research anything, create and respond to any piece of communication, review any document, take any class, share any idea, and even make eye contact with anyone in the world from wherever we are. What we can accomplish in a single day is beyond what Edison, Bell, and Ford could do in a month.

I bet the vast majority of office workers could learn to get by with less paper pushing and status quo maintenance on their way to developing and strengthening more efficient business practices that are more relevant in a global economy. Maybe Tuesday meetings are enough. Maybe we throw in the occasional, motivating "casual gath" team update over ribs, cole slaw, Pepsi products and Fiji water paid for with money saved on antiquated things like office space, cubicle walls, photocopiers, paper and parking lots. Maybe we indulge in the occasional discussion of work policies over a pint or goal-setting over gastroenterological delights or just some task updates over tapas. Maybe.

Comments

[John Watne]

Hmmm...wonder what Mark Baurlein would make of this blog post revering all forms of the "distracting media" that you have come to embrace, Mr. Sax? Thing is, I'm even younger than you and even I sometimes tend to *gasp* embrace the feeling of paper in my hand; the idea of a permanent place to come to work rather than "anywhere." Am I out of it, or simply not with "the times" which apparently ought to be "my times." Not that all of this new technology is bad (I think Baurlein makes some good points and some horribly bad points), but perhaps it's not being utilized by all people the right way. I think you and Jeff are using the internet brilliantly with the website, but at the same time it might be because of your experience working with the "old league" models of real estate and blending it with the "new style" of web integration. Alright, I'm getting awfully close to the point at which my bluster far exceeds my own experience, so I'll shut up now. Any thoughts?

[G. Sax]

Mr. Watne raises a great point and he made me look up Mark Bauerlein, which is awesome, because blogs are supposed to encourage further discourse. It's interesting stuff, and I dig that he doesn't just blindly embrace that which is technologically new without proper debate. And I agree with him on some of the issues at hand. I'm about as skeptical of gee-whiz new technology as I am of academics. I've worked for at least two bosses that drooled over everything Mac without really explaining to me why I should embrace Mac as part of my day-to-day business, especially considering the expense. I'm still waiting for that explanation. Don't get me wrong, I think Mac is creative and future-thinking and on the right track most of the time, but Mac is not infallible. There is an annoying tendency for people to embrace everything new and to claim that this is how it is going to be without further testing. But some things seem so obviously beyond fad and more toward shifting societal norm. From little things like changing the TV channel with a knob or trying to find the third song on a cassette tape, to big things like air travel and the Internet. Unless you're John Madden, you will eventually be taken out of the dialogue of the future if you do not understand that these things are here to stay. The primary point of my bloggish ramble was not to lambast LD4 or to put printers out of business or to replace social gatherings with social networks. It was more to say that we could all stand to be more aware of our potential. We are all more powerful than we realize.