The Story behind the World’s First Virtual Meeting (hint: it was in 1857)

Does it seem like more (or even most) of your meetings are held virtually these days? Where earlier in my career, only a very few had ‘calling cards’ that enabled to participate in audio conferences, now nearly all my meetings include participants that join via an audio bridge line and/or web conferencing platform like WebEx.  

Based on my own experiences, I’ve always thought of the virtual meeting as a late 20th century development.  Boy, was I mistaken.  I recently discovered that the first virtual meeting was actually held in 1857!

It turns out that long before Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet, another communications technology was developed that allowed people to communicate almost instantly across great distances.  It shrunk the world, created a myriad of new businesses and business models, and was often accused of resulting in information overload.  That technology was the telegraph!

Tom Standage of the Economist tells this remarkable story in “The Victorian Internet”. Imagine a world where people communicated across distances only as fast as a person/horse/ship could travel.  That was the situation in 1791, when the first telegraph (‘far writer’) was invented.  Telegraph “version 1.0” consisted of a clock, black and white panel, a codebook, and a telescope - it was a visual signaling mechanism, whereby the sender would flip the panel over when the second hand was on the number on the clock he wished to send.  The receiver would capture the numbers in sequence, and then consult the codebook to decipher the message.   

Telegraph Hill, San Francisco

By the mid 1830’s, lines of telegraph towers were common, forming a rudimentary, mechanical ‘Internet’ of sorts, sending news and messages back and forth.   (Note: You see the remnants of this scheme in some place names that linger till today, like “Telegraph Hill” in San Francisco.)

The book focuses on the work of Samuel B. Morse, Thomas Edison and others who developed the electronic telegraph in the mid 1800’s, when things REALLY took off.   I highly recommend this book because while telling the historical story it also highlights the many parallels between the telegraph and our shared experience with the Internet.  They both rely on a common set of protocols for formatting, addressing, and routing a message; both use standard coding schemes, and encryption mechanisms to protect against the bad guys.  The social parallels are amazing!  Public reaction was a mix of hype and skepticism.  Many believed the telegraph would improve communications among people and nations; scam artists sent false messages; people met ‘online'; use exploded when business figured out how to financially benefit from the technology.   The parallels are endless.

One minor story in the book concerns that first virtual meeting.  The details well illustrate the benefits and ‘best practices’ of virtual events for us even today.

Virtual Meetings can be organized quickly. 

The occasion was the resignation of Asa Woodman from the American Telegraph Company, due to poor health.  Apparently, Asa was pretty important in the company, as this news needed to be relayed quickly to 33 offices.

Virtual Meetings can minimize travel costs.

These offices were spread between Boston and Calais, ME, a distance of over 300 miles.  

Meeting facilitators should be comfortable with the technical logistics of the meeting, so as not to sabotage the flow of the meeting.

The operators in the respective offices had organized the logistics beforehand so that as each speaker tapped out his words in Morse code “all the offices upon the line received his remarks at the same moment, thus annihilating space and time, and bringing together the different parties, in effect, as near to each other as though there in the same room, although actually separated by hundreds of miles”.  

Make an effort to have all your virtual attendees feel welcome and engaged.

Each of the offices was electronically ‘called to order’, to ensure they were ‘online’ before the meeting began.

Meetings seldom succeed by accident; most, especially the large ones, need a purpose and a plan.

An agenda of the meeting was distributed to the offices ahead of time, so people knew what to expect.   The meeting began with remarks from six company officers, and then proceeded through votes on a number of resolutions (after open discussion of each).   The minutes of the meeting were distributed to each office afterwards.  The meeting adjourned ‘in great harmony and kindly feeling’ after about an hour.

 

The days of the telegraph were numbered in 1875 when Alexander Graham Bell, while exploring ways to transmit more telegraph messages over the existing wires invented a mechanism to transmit ANY sound, even the human voice.   This invention, first called the ‘speaking telegraph’, came to be known as the telephone.  

Lord Byron once said, “History, with all its volumes vast, hath but one page.”   The laws of physics are on the side of the virtual meeting.  Until it becomes common to beam people here and there, ala Star Trek, there will be value in using technology to help us engage with others.   But while those technologies will undoubtedly continue to evolve, the ‘first principles’ of virtual meeting will remain unchanged.  

Gideon Gartner’s “Simple” Formula for Entrepreneurial Success

If you’ve spent any time around the technology industry, you know the name “Gartner”.  The world’s leading IT Advisory firm provides tech related insights to technology vendors, technology consumers (Enterprise IT), and investors in technology.   I think of them as the closest you get to academia in the commercial world.  The core of the company is comprised of ‘analysts’: very smart people whose job is to coalesce the cacophony of information about the rapidly changing tech landscape into easy to consume reports with actionable advice (‘research’).

I’ve had the good fortune of being a customer of Gartner for a number of years.  While I may not agree with absolutely every conclusion they reach, their reasoning is consistently sound and thought provoking.  I’ve always found the analysts themselves intellectually stimulating and a pleasure to engage with.  I assumed there had to be some guy named ‘Gartner’ involved at some point, but I wasn’t sure.  So when I came across a just-published biography of the founder of Gartner (Gideon Gartner), I had to give it a go.

It was an engaging, easy read, but also highlighted few handy nuggets about entrepreneurship and collaboration.

KEEP IT SIMPLE (easier said than done).

IBM Punch Card

In the 1960’s, Gideon worked in the group that did competitive analysis inside of IBM.  The department produced lengthy reports, filled with all kinds of detailed data, page after page.   He saw that the reports, though they were ‘sound’, weren’t providing much business impact because they were so hard to digest.  He designed a new approach, involving putting exec summaries of competitors on the back of blank computer punch cards.   The cards were a HUGE hit - people got the key information they needed in a form factor that fit in their pocket.  

I’m reminded of the #1 law of public speaking I learned from Toastmasters:  “Remember the Audience!”.  It’s so easy to think of your writing as some ‘work of art’, and forget that its value is measured only by the extent to which it communicates the desired message to a targeted audience.    This is surprisingly hard to do because we all have the ‘curse of knowledge’, i.e. we know too much, so it’s hard to frame a message for someone from a very different context.   (If you want to illustrate this with a live audience, try out the ’Tapper’ experiment with your next audience.)   

If you feel like a fish out of water, you probably are; go find another pond.

NOBODY left IBM in the late 60’s.  Heck, when I joined IBM out of college in the mid 80’s, that was still true.   IBM was the Google/Apple/Facebook of its time.   But Gideon couldn’t stomach that despite how well his approaches were working, he was unable to move the corporate mountain(s) within IBM to get them to productize his approaches into a business.   So he shocked and disappointed his family by leaving to form a new company focusing on graphics presentations like he’d been doing at IBM.  

The business quickly failed, but his reputation within the sphere of IBMers got him a position on Wall Street, analyzing tech stocks.   Gartner further developed his approaches and again proposed creating a new business venture within his company.  Again, they turned him down.   

Let your difference be your differentiator.  

At both IBM and on Wall Street, Gartner had unique insights, which he developed into products which were well received by customers BUT they just weren’t a fit for his company.  He didn’t consider this ‘weakness’ on his part, but an opportunity.  In his words, “Being different, if thought out and tested sufficiently, is one major method to achieve attention - and maybe even success.”  

Listen to your friends - they may see something you don’t see about yourself.

Gideon Gartner 

In what Gartner describes as a ‘life-changing conversation’, a venture capitalist friend of his after listening to his frustrations asked him, “Gideon, why don’t you do it yourself?”.   Gartner reports that he actually never thought of that, instead thinking that he’d need to drive his business in partnership with an existing enterprise.  Similar to IBM, people didn’t leave big money gigs on Wall Street very often.

Don’t be hyper-protective of your own ideas: embrace a vigorous marketplace of ideas.

Gartner knew that to scale, he and his close lieutenants couldn’t do everything themselves.  So he created a Research Manual to systematize his processes.  One key element came to be known as the ‘stalking horse’, which referred to an amorphous idea just waiting to crystallize into an indelible conclusion.  This happened through an analyst’s idea being subjected to ferocious debate, not designed to attack anyone, but simply to refine the idea into something stronger.   One concept designed through this process was the Gartner ‘Magic Quadrant’, a cornerstone of the business to this day.

At the end of the day, it’s ALWAYS about the money.

Even though Gartner had a winning formula, and a strong team of analysts built through a rigorous interview process, it would all be for naught if the service didn’t result in tangible financial benefits to the customers.  The business rapidly grew from Gartner using their knowledge of IBM to help companies plan whether to buy or rent their IBM equipment.   The Gartner I’ve worked with has a similar focus - the core of their business is helping enterprise IT plan and implement their procurement strategies.

Putting it all together, if you’re looking to build a business, especially one where analysis is the product, strongly consider following Gartner’s recipe for success:

1. If you’re not being successful in your current environment, move to a new one, maybe by creating it yourself.
2. Build a team of intelligent, lifelong learners, who can thrive in an active, collaboration environment.
3. Form a value-prop that’s easy for customers to understand, and has a clear financial ROI.  
4. Systematize your process and deliverables, so the business can scale.

Embrace Language Diversity in your Global Team - Recent Research Shows Why

It’s hard not to get frustrated when you’re trying to have a conversation but are just not being understood.  If it’s from a poor phone connection, you can hang up and try again.  If it’s a broken speaker at a drive-thru, that’s a signal you don’t need any more french fries anyway, so just eat at home.   But what do you do if communication challenges arise while working on a global virtual team with teammates for whom English is a second language?  Many of us (I stand convicted) just speak slower and very loudly, hoping for a miracle.  (May your luck be better than mine.)  Recent research suggests it’s well worth your time (and that of the team) if you go the extra mile to connect with your bilingual colleagues.

Bilingual people are actually better processors of information than us monolinguists.  Be glad to have that kind of talent on your team.

From research conducted at Northwestern University, 

The benefits occur because the bilingual brain is constantly activating both languages and choosing which language to use and which to ignore, said Northwestern University's Viorica Marian, the lead author of the research and a professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders in the School of Communication. When the brain is constantly exercised in this way, it doesn't have to work as hard to perform cognitive tasks, the researchers found.

Working with people from different cultures can boost YOUR creativity.

From research at NC State University, even 45 minutes exposure to a different culture can boost creativity.  When a group of American students saw a slideshow about China instead of US, they performed better on numerous creativity tests.

The diversity that REALLY matters is the diversity of experiences and worldview.

While they may have English in common, it’s hard to imagine a more diverse team than one made up of Vassar students and West Point Cadets.  It’s for just this reason that Vassar and the US Military Academy have an exchange program, recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal, which includes participants attending events from a military parade to a retrospective on the civil rights era.  

West Point cadets and Vassar students have much in common, and once they understand this they're willing to listen to each other when their perspectives on issues differ. Sitting side by side they can discuss national security and political issues from different perspectives, and listen to each other's views and ideas civilly. 

So if you’re game to go the extra mile, what can you do in practice to better connect with a colleague significantly different than you?  I asked leading Atlanta-based interculturalists for their advice.  

Tip #1: Increase empathy by walking a mile in their shoes, if you can.  

Vicki Flier Hudson has lived and/or worked in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Nepal and Thailand.  She is the Chief Collaboration Officer for Highroad Global Services, Inc, a company that offers skills training and coaching for global virtual teams, expatriates, and leaders across borders.   From her experiences: 

I remember being in China for the first time, and even in a big city like Shanghai I had to have everything written in Mandarin to get around. I took a taxi and had the destination written in Mandarin for the driver, but I forgot to write my origin! When it came time to go back to the hotel I struggled to find a driver who could take me. I felt very vulnerable. It was getting dark, I was far from anything familiar, and I didn't know how to solve the issue. Finally I came across a phone number for the hotel and we called to get directions. It was a small incident but I remember thinking I was glad it happened, and I was glad to be in a linguistic minority for once. It gave me empathy and perspective. I think the same would apply to teams. I wish more teams would honor ALL of the languages represented, even if business is only conducted in English.

Tip #2: Demonstrate that you care, by trying to use the others' language (just a bit). 

Kathy Ellis builds bridges between English speaking companies and those in Brazil, leveraging her English/Spanish/Portuguese TRI-lingual talents.  She’s the principal of Intercultural English Services.  

I often provide a list of basic phrases in another language for monolingual English speakers on team. Greetings and short phrases really help with the good will and encourage the monolinguals to use them in emails and phone calls. 

Tip #3 (Big time Extra Credit): Actually learn another language yourself.

Kathy also pointed to Andrew Weil, the world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, who suggests that learning another language is one of the best activities one can do to keep the thinker thinking.  In his book “Healthy Aging”, he suggests that learning another language can help ward off Alzheimers or even make you live longer!

I mark this as ‘Extra Credit’ because learning another language when you’re an adult is HARD, IMHO.  After making a bucket-list trip to Estonia this summer, I thought it would neat to learn Estonian.   I started an online course from the Estonian government that would have me learning basic Estonian in 12 online modules.   After repeatedly failing to be able to successfully complete Unit 1, I simply gave up.  This wasn't altogether surprising, when after a week in the country, I could barely muster two words.   I felt better when I discovered that the US State Department projects that it should take 1,100 class hours to learn Estonian.    But if you’ve got plenty of time on your hands, go for it!

This notion of the benefits of interculturalism is not new.   John Stuart Mill, the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the 19th century, was a strong advocate for immigration and free trade, saying…

It is hardly possible to overrate the value … of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves, and with modes of thoughts and action unlike those with which they are familiar…Such communication has always been, and is peculiarly in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress.

He reasoned that open exchange between countries and cultures could even render war obsolete.  Makes sense - it wouldn’t be rational to harm the people who are buying your stuff!   So do your small part to help end war as we know it: be patient with everyone on your global team, regardless of the language they prefer to speak.

A Case for Newspapers: Prick a Small Hole in your "Filter Bubble"

I read the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Wall Street Journal daily.  Like a little bundle of Christmas joy, they are waiting for me in my driveway each morning.  I don’t know if it’s habit, nostalgia, or the fact I can read on the exercise bike without worrying about how well (or not) sweat and an iPad mix.  But for whatever reason, though I spend plenty of time consuming information online,  I still prefer the feel of a physical newspaper, reading (at least scanning) each and every page.

I recently discovered that this increasingly rare habit of mine may actually be helping me maintain an open mind and even develop my creativity.   How can that be?

I made this observation after reading “The Filter Bubble”, by Eli Pariser.  I came across this book as part of my first Coursera course, entitled “Understanding Media by Understanding Google”.  Coursera is an online education platform that partners with top universities to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.   If you consider yourself a lifelong learner, you’re going to eat it up  Video lectures, readings, quizzes, essays (peer graded) - I found it surprisingly engaging.   

Remember when this was it?

Back to the media and the ‘filter bubble’.  When the Internet first became prominent, we all reveled in our newfound freedom from the information gatekeepers, the local paper and the major networks through which we received all our information (sorry, Walter Cronkite).  We wandered the web perhaps starting with portals like Yahoo.com (gatekeepers in their own right) as our jumping off point.  However, now we simply search for what we’re looking for, nearly always with Google.

What I frankly didn’t realize till the course is that Google presents a personalized experience, using 57 ’signals’ about you (your location, device, browser, where you’ve searched, etc.) to determine the ads AND the search results you see.  What this means is if you and I search for the exact same thing, we are likely to be presented with different results.  Here’s the logic: Google believes that to create a win for everyone (advertiser, user, and Google), it needs to present the most relevant information (and ads) personalized to YOU.  That way, you’re more likely to keep using Google, and maybe even click on an advertisement from time to time (Google gets paid by the advertiser only when someone clicks on the ad).  Every time you search with Google, it executes a very clever real-time auction to determine what to present.  The amount of the advertisers bid is just one of the criteria.  The ad of a lower bidder may ‘win’ and appear if Google’s algorithms believe the Ad is more ‘relevant’ to YOU.  Google also has a program (AdSense) where a website can make money by letting Google place personalized ads on their site; the telltale sign will be a little blue triangle in the upper right.   (BTW, numerous other companies like Facebook are also applying personalization techniques; it's not just Google.)

To illustrate, I just visited Fox News and was presented with an ad for the hotel in Syracuse where we actually stayed two weeks ago - guess they want me back. 

Google knows I have an interest in this hotel in Syracuse.

When I search for “North Carolina” in Google, I’m presented at the top with a box highlighting the football game tomorrow night between UNC and Duke that I am attending!

Google knows I'm a Duke football fan, so has a hunch I might be looking for info about the game this week.

Meanwhile, when I repeat these steps on a seldom-used PC I have laying around, I don't see the hotel ad and nothing is presented about the football game.   My wife and I ran a similar experiment recently - I was presented with lots of ads for Swatch (which I collect), while she was presented ads for drug stores and women’s magazines.   Once you start noticing the dynamic content being presented to you, it’s a tad creepy!

The Filter Bubble

Pariser’s point is that the gatekeepers have returned: they’re just not the human editors anymore - they’ve become algorithms!   He coins the term ‘filter bubble’ to represent the personal media experience in which each individual lives.  You’re alone in it; it’s invisible; you don’t choose to be in it. 

Is there anything ‘bad’ about this?  Don’t we want to see information germane to us, and not just content from the highest bidder?  

Overall, I see personalization as a strong net positive, but the danger, per Pariser is the loss of serendipity, or a fortunate happenstance, when we stumble upon something new.   Parser cites Arthur Koestler’s seminal work on creativity entitled "Act of Creation”: Discovery often means simply the uncovering of something which has always been there but was hidden from the eye by the blinkers of habit.

There’s also an element of limiting freedom at work here, for at the end of the day, what’s the difference between knowing about something and being prevented from doing it and just not knowing about it?    The Amish get this - teens in their communities go through “Rumspringa”, where they experience what’s possible in the outside world, before they make a lifelong commitment to be Amish.   (For the reality show lovers among us, there was actually a reality show about this: Amish in the City on the UPN.)  

Finally, the risk is that our online lives become just another echo chamber, akin to what’s happening in politics and TV.   Conservatives watch Fox News; liberals watch CNN and MSNBC  (Source: New Republic, 10/21/2014).  Each side simply becomes more convinced of their ‘rightness’ and very little meaningful dialogue occurs.

To illustrate an instance of a newspaper popping my filter bubble… I buy all my books at Amazon, and had a period where I was reading only sports books and best-selling non-fiction books.  Amazon graciously kept recommending more and more of these same type books to me.  I then started paying attention to the Wall Street Journal’s book reviews.  I read a few titles that I NEVER would have come across otherwise, loved them, and now always look for ‘hits’ among their reviews.   As a result, I’ve discovered behavioral economics (Freakaomics rocks!), brilliant American history books I’d never have encountered, and even some memorable fiction.   (BTW, my reading list is stored on Shelfari.  You may argue that the WSJ isn't that diverse a source, but I'm talking about 'pricking' the filter bubble not blow it up.)  

So keep on having a blast surfing the web, but be aware that more and more of what you see is being customized by hidden algorithms to present only things familiar to you.   This isn’t a bad thing - most people would prefer going to a chain restaurant like Pizza Hut than a standalone, ‘unknown’ family place (hence, franchises).  Familiarity brings comfort and peace of mind.  Just know that to prime your creative juices, you should challenge yourself to be exposed to new-to-you ideas every now and again.   Picking up the same newspaper everyone else is reading once in a while is an easy way to do just that.

Cinegasm: Creative Expression Emerges Only Through Collaboration - Lessons from a Skateboarding Millennial

I had the opportunity on Saturday to attend something very few adults ever get to experience - a “Skate Premiere”.  What IS that, you ask?  Think of a Hollywood film premiere. The night is filled with excitement and anticipation, the stars are in the house, the producer says a few words about his work,  the lights dim, and the movie is shown publicly for the first time.   Now, replace Hollywood with Kennesaw, Grumman’s Chinese Theatre with the Ambush Board Company skateshop, the glitterati with kids from the back of the school bus, and add a 15 minute smoke break.  There you have it!

I was there because my 21-year old son was premiering his new video, Cinegasm, to a rapt houseful of skateboarders.  This is his 3rd video, so I’ve become kind of familiar with the way these things work.   Each of the productions has become more elaborate and professional.  Think 37 minutes of Mountain Dew commercial-ish footage, with scenes of people skating in parts of downtown Atlanta and NYC into which you’d not venture wearing a clean polo shirt.  Afterwards, attendees can buy copies of the DVDs, T-shirts, and stickers as souvenirs.  

(Without a hint of parental bias, I’m sure…) I was darn impressed.  I asked Grayson afterwards about how he’d made it all happen.   What struck me was the extent to which the creative vision of a single person came to life ONLY because of effective collaboration with others.    Perhaps there’s a lesson there for all of us.   You may consider yourself the smartest/best/most creative programmer/speaker/writer/teacher, but your impact will be greatly limited if you aren’t able to collaborate effectively with others.

Be open to incorporating the ideas of others into your vision.

While skateboarding is about what one person can do with one board, once you advance beyond the "I can’t believe I made it down the driveway without falling off” stage, it’s actually a highly social activity. Skateboarders  travel in packs that discover new places and encourage each other to do new things (while somebody stands watch for the ‘evil’ Security Guard to come and chase them off).  Grayson tells me he never knows when, who, or where someone will do something extra special, so he films all the time, always open to capturing a magical moment that can later be incorporated into a video.

He’s also a voracious consumer of other videographers, at YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and sites like quartersnacks.com, seeking inspiration from what others have done.

Let others take you outside your comfort zone.

There are a number of very well known “skate spots” in Atlanta, e.g. outside the AT+T Building (hint: lots of concrete is a good thing),  For this video, Grayson and his friends intentionally drove around with no particular destination in mind, but with a lens for places that would be good to skate, but which were as yet ‘undiscovered’.   Footage from these new places really captured the audience’s attention, because they’d not seen anything similar before.

Cultivate a Relationship Pipeline with others in your same space.

Rest assured, Grayson never has (nor probably ever will) think in these terms, but he’s surely putting it into practice.  The Relationship Pipeline is a concept from Action Plan Marketing, whereby you move people through a pipeline of:

• Affiliation
• Familiarity
• Information 
• Experience

In practical terms, this means you just can’t ask people you just met for favors and expect anything in return.  

Grayson got the T-shirts printed off the account of a friend who knows that business. I asked Grayson how he’d asked the guy to help; he said that they “know each other well, and he knew I could use the information”.   The premiere was held at Ambush because Grayson began as a customer years ago, and now his work is broadly known.   His merchandise is carried for sale there and at Ruin in Sandy Springs because they also know Grayson.  

Focus on what you do best, and outsource the rest.

While Grayson envisioned and created the video content, he outsourced production of the DVDs, the stickers, T-Shirts, and the online store.   These are absolutely essential parts of the whole process, but aren’t parts of the process that interest Grayson, so he lets others do them.

Be transparent - let others enjoy the journey as well.  

Throughout the movie, people loudly oohed and ahed, screamed, and gasped almost in unison - it felt almost like a hymn sing at a camp revival meeting.   Grayson’s answer for why people get so fired up: “People want something to support.”  His website, Facebook page, and videos essentially provide the hard core skateboarders of Atlanta something of their own to rally behind and connect with.  They see the genuine Grayson for who he is, and are invited to connect.

Watch and learn from your local Millennial; Collaboration is second nature to these digital natives.

Grayson was able to successfully complete what is essentially a very complex creative project without sending an Email, having a meeting, using a PMI certified project manager, writing a business plan, having a mission statement, or even attending a college class.  How?  I’d assert it is because he’s a master of collaboration.  Perhaps it’s as simple as our being conditioned through the tools we grew up with to consume information.   I grew up on books, newspapers, and TV, so am comfortable consuming information passively and individually; I have to often remind myself to think about how best to engage others in my work.   Meanwhile, Grayson grew up in the age of Facebook/Instagram.  It is absolutely second nature to him to consider all his activities as ‘collective’ activities.  He has access to an almost infinite number of online sources; he depends on others to filter and curate the information he should act upon.  

There’s no doubt that Grayson’s creative talents made Cinegasm a possibility; but it only became real because of his almost effortless use of effective collaboration.

What creative endeavors are you (unwisely and unnecessarily) doing alone?   Find and partner with a Millennial to show you how you COULD be working.  

The new spirit of openness and collaboration innate in millennials and often practiced on social media makes many of us a bit uncomfortable.  However, the case for the benefits is pretty compelling.   From an Economist debate on whether society benefits when we share information online:

We are sharing for good reason—not because we are insane, exhibitionistic, or drunk. We are sharing because, at last, we can, and we find benefit in it. Sharing is a social and generous act: it connects us, it establishes and improves relationships, it builds trust, it disarms strangers and stigmas, it fosters the wisdom of the crowd, it enables collaboration, and it empowers us to find, form and act as publics of our own making.

I’ve come to appreciate how fortunate I have to have two ‘experts’ (Grayson and his sister) close to me to consult on how to navigate this new world.   Wishing the same for you!

The Case for Turning ON your Camera at your next Virtual Meeting

I'm struck by how often people prefer (and even enjoy) face to face meetings, but how seldom they turn on their cameras when they're in a virtual meeting.


A study published in the Wall Street Journal in August may tell the tale.   During conference calls people do everything under the sun EXCEPT engage in the meeting itself!  

That same article cites research from Wainhouse Research that projects nearly a 10% annual rate of growth in the amount of time we'll be in virtual meetings.   Great news if you're a big time gamer, but suppose you're actually hosting the meeting and you want people to engage.  What can you do?

Once you get past the basics of only having the meeting if you really need it, making sure you've gotten the right participants involved, and sharing a purpose and agenda ahead of time...  consider turning on your video camera, so you're more likable, which in turn tends to make you much more effective.

From a March, 2014 WSJ article, about likability and success at work, "Likable people are more apt to be hired, get help at work, get useful information from others and have mistakes forgiven....Likability is more important—and harder to pull off—on video than in person... People watching a speaker on a videoconference are more influenced by how much they like the speaker than by the quality of the speaker's arguments, according to a 2008 study in Management Science. The opposite is true when a speaker appears in person."

So likability even trumps the quality of your content in a virtual meeting - time to turn on that camera (and your charm).

This sentiment was echoed by Vicki Flier-Hudson of High Road Global Services, at the recent TAG International Business Annual Conference.  Vicki is a leading 'interculturalist', who is someone that helps people develop the skills required to operate productive global virtual teams.   Vicki shared that all cultures value 'seeing the whites of the eyes' of a person you're doing business with.  She advises her clients to leverage virtual meeting technologies, with video, to help overcome the cultural challenges of working on a global team.   She even suggests the use of virtual happy hours, virtual celebrations, virtual movie/book clubs... essentially, anything to make you more likable!   

The 10 Lessons about Teamwork I learned from Row 1 at Duke vs. Syracuse

I made a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Syracuse to see Duke football at the Carrier Dome last Saturday, largely because my daughter, Abigail, and I had the opportunity to sit in the first row behind the Duke bench.   A long-time friend and 'Cuse booster knew we'd get a kick out of it, so gave me his tickets (thanks, Marco!).   It was thrilling to see the action from that close, but I also have a better sense of the secret sauce for why they're having a great year: it's how the players have been coached to behave as part of a team.

1) Allow team members the latitude to be themselves.

We arrived around 90 minutes before kickoff (why not?).  It was clearly unstructured time - some players came out, others did not.  Some came out individually, others with a friend.  Some were serious, wearing their Beats headsets, while others were just goofing around.   They all weren't dressed alike, etc.

This is clearly each player's time to do whatever they're comfortable doing to get themselves mentally and physically ready for the task at hand.   But then when it got closer to kickoff...

2) Rituals help remind the team that they ARE a team.

When the team came out 'for real', they all came out together, wearing their uniforms, and lined up for stretching.   Everyone did the same stretches: whether you're on offense, defense, or a specialist, and whether you be an All-ACC safety like Jeremy Cash, or a back-up punter like Danny Stirt.

3) Leaders set the tone for everyone by their actions, more so than their words.

All of a sudden during the stretching Laken Tomlinson, the superstar offensive lineman jumped out of his place in line and started dancing around in the middle of the team.  I caught a few seconds of it on video.   Hilarious!

Laken is a rock star by any measure.  He's the co-captain of the team, a mid-season All American, has a great life story (think 'Blind Side'), but MOST importantly, is unfailingly gracious with my daughter on the occasions that we've had a chance to chat with him after a game.   

His dance seemed designed to heighten the team's enthusiasm and intensity, but also remind everyone that they are playing a game - no need to get too tight.

BTW, Laken dramatically led by his actions late in the game as well.   Duke was up 27-10, with the ball, and eating clock.   During a few plays, Laken held his block far downfield from the play, and long after the play was done.  I asked him why afterwards - he said the Syracuse defense had been talking smack all game, and he needed to respond.   He sure did, but as a great leader, he used his actions and not hollow words.

4) The team 'wins' if and only if each 'working team' does their part.

A football team is comprised of ~100 players (~65 travel to away games) plus ~15 coaches.   It's a really large organization.  What I clearly saw Saturday is that the team really operates as 3 largely separate units - the offense, defense, and the specialists.  When the offense was on the field, the defense was huddling, and vice versa.   The specialists were constantly working together to be at the ready.   Meanwhile, as the action on the field would allow, people also informally gathered in little clumps to just chat among themselves - my daughter, being the real expert on the team in our family, often pointed out that these often were just groups of friends hanging out.

A lesson here for me is that you may 'only' be the member of a single department in a bigger organization,  but each person needs to be ready to contribute.  You really don't know how things will go on any particular day.  For instance, Saturday's game was a genuine team effort that turned on a great punt from Will Monday that pinned Syracuse deep in their own zone.  The defense held, and the poor field position directly contributed to Jamison Crowder's returning a punt for a TD that turned the game in Duke favor in the 4th quarter.

Team sports really are Team sports.   You win as a team and lose as a team.

5) Leaders: when things go badly, your team needs to know you have their back.

In 2008, after decades (literally) of putting no resources into football, Duke stepped up and hired a superior person who also happens to be a great football coach.  He came to Duke despite their having won only 10 total games in the 8 years before he arrived.  I started buying season tickets when he came because I KNEW he'd turn the program around, which by golly, he's done!

In the game on Saturday, when Syracuse got a touchdown to tie the game at 10, the defense came to the bench seeming a little down.   Shortly after they sat down on the bench, Coach Cutcliffe strode over, bent down, and gave positive words of encouragement to the guys.   Syracuse didn't score again.

6) Team members: when things go badly, direct your anger and frustration at the situation and not each other.

Playing defense on football is a very intense activity, especially at the major college football level.  Naturally, the guys get riled up - if looks could kill.  You get the idea.  (Dezmond Johnson, you are a scary dude during a game.)  I witnessed a lot of screaming, but I didn't see folks yelling at each other, as if they were fighting or attacking each other.   They were just letting off steam or passionately discussing how to adjust.

I saw this attitude in spades after the game.  Devon Edwards (aka 'Mr. November') returned a punt for a TD in the game, but it was called back due a holding penalty.  We were curious who caused the flag (the referee's announcement was drowned out by crowd noise).  I asked Devon after the game, assuming he must have been at least a little bit curious whose mistake had denied him his TD.   He said he had no idea, and he didn't care.  Duke had won the game.   Amazing!

7) When things go right, celebrate (even if you didn't make the 'play').  

Will Monday, the punter, demonstrated this trait throughout the game.   Unfortunately for Duke, he was a very busy man Saturday, having to punt 7 times.   He still seemed always to have a positive word for a teammate as he made his way from the field, down the bench, back to his fellow specialists.

Will wasn't alone though.   When Breon Borders made his 2 interceptions and Issac Blakeney his two TD's, the entire bench erupted.







8) Mistakes (and critics) are inevitable.  The team is bigger than you or your mistake, so shake it off.

My daughter's favorite player is Max McCaffrey, a wide receiver.   As a result, I tend to keep my eyes on what he's up to, as I know she'll want to talk about it.

Max has made a number of great catches this year (he's got great hands), but on Saturday he dropped a 3rd down pass he should have had.  Being in NY, when Max walked the length of the bench with his head down, the crowd let him hear about it.   A guy near us sarcastically yelled "Here comes the 'All Hands Team!'"  

Max shook it off and helped his team when the flow of the game allowed.  He was the intended receiver on another ball that was poorly thrown, so he wisely turned into a DB and prevented the interception.   Max knows you have to do your best, one play at a time.

9) Live in the moment (especially when you've had a success!).

Don't believe it if a football player tells you they aren't nervous before and during a game.   I saw bucket loads of tension on the bench up until the very end of the game.  These guys are truly engaged in the moment.   But when the game is over, they likewise are engaged in the moment - of feeling all kinds of satisfaction about a job well done.   You see this in the final lesson...

10) There's a lot of good that comes from simply being nice.

David Reeves

Mike Ramsay

Family and fans of the team greeted the team after the game, as they made their way to the team buses.  Abigail loves to chat with her heroes after a game, and the guys are always a class act.  Here you see DJ Reeves,  Mike Ramsay, and Josh Snead - great athletes and even greater guys.

Josh Snead

From simply being nice, they enrich the connection Abigail and I have with Duke and the football team, in particular.   I also sincerely believe it helps the team's karma.   No reason the football gods shouldn't look kindly on a set of guys who are great role models for teamwork to all Duke fans (yes, athletes CAN be role models).