Communications, Churchill and Wine Thirty
By Jack Monson, Director of Digital Strategy, QiigoIt’s Wine Thirty PM. Are You In?By “in” I really mean on. If your connections, colleagues, and collaborators are anything like mine, you may have seen a growing trend in late evening communications over the past couple of years. We all have dinner, spend time with family & friends, watch an episode or two of some binge-worthy show, put the kids to bed, take out the dog, fire up the laptop, and start our second work day. Adult beverage optional, but recommended.It’s not that we’re ever really disconnected; emails and texts make sure of that. But when the world winds down, the call of full-blown, full-sized Outlook / Gmail, spreadsheets and Powerpoint is irresistible.
Why do we do it? There may be an optimistic hope that each minute spent prepping for tomorrow’s meeting with ensure a better outcome. If we review that client’s data one more time, we’ll see the answer. And if we spend a few more minutes on the reports than Peterson does, it can’t hurt!The Churchill EffectI don’t call it wine thirty just because Winston Churchill liked a glass or two or three of wine. He did. He did indeed. Sir Winston developed a similar work pattern. Martin Gilbert outlines this strange part of Churchill’s daily schedule in Churchill’s Wartime Leadership. During World War II, he knew that his advancing age and deteriorating health required rest and thus took a nap late each afternoon. This allowed him to restart his day again in the evening. He would work late into the night, in essence creating a second work day in each 24-hour period. While most of the world was winding down for the evening, Churchill was meeting by the fireplace with generals, ministers, and advisors.You and I are doing the same at Wine Thirty PM with CEOs, clients, and advisers! Only instead of chatting in-person at 10 Downing Street, we’re on chatting online, texting, emailing, and tweeting. Fireplace optional.Note, Churchill also developed the bcc and a functional “laptop” well before there were computers, but that’s another story. [author]About the Author: Jack Monson is the Director of Digital Strategy at Qiigo. He has been helping global brands, enterprises, and franchise systems with Digital Marketing for nearly two decades. He blogs at Social Media Workbench and is the co-host of the weekly Social Geek Radio program and podcast. Reach him on Twitter at @jackmonson.[/author]
