Bringing Relationship Building Back into Business

That's some alliteration for you...

If there is one thing that I strongly believe will make businesses successful, it is an all-encompassing view of business, one that looks not only at the financial bottom line, but at others as well. In much of my work recently, i've been reminded of the importance of doing business though the means of relationship-building. When I spend all day behind a machine shooting off emails, my work gets boring and lifeless. When I talk to people on the phone, I only get a glimpse of them, but certainly a better glimpse than through a simple email or facebook message. Often, I tend to write people off based on our internet correspondence, only to find out when I talk to them over the phone that they actually have a lot of interesting things to say.

Last week, I went to Nashville, TN, where I had a chance to see flesh put on the bones of the work that I do every day. It was truly life-giving to experience face-to-face interactions with the groups whose music we promote, or who I talk to on the phone from time-to-time. In all honesty, it added another unquantifiable dimension to the work that I do every day. These relationships will outlast any kind of financial profit these musicians make with their music and any up or down swing of business. Working in a place where relationships are valued and esteemed is highly rewarding. Believe it or not, good ideas come from people, not computers, and if we want to learn together and work towards a common end, I think we have to leave the screens behind and start acting like it.

I am alarmed by a society that spends more time interacting over virtual communication than via face-to-face, or atleast phone-to-phone, tangible conversation. When we are face to face, or flesh to flesh, real human interaction begins. And it is hard, it is messy, but it's also good. My vote is to bring the relationships back into business. Forget lunch in the office with no break; grab a bite with a colleague-catch up, live, feel, touch, taste. Sitting behind a screen all day is not what we were made for; I feel certain.