Category:

Culture

What Steven Tyler and I have in Common

by Ron Potter June 18, 2015

Image source: Javier Ignacio Acuña Ditzel, Creative Commons

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and I have at least two things in common:

We were born on the same day, which makes us early Baby Boomers.
We both have lovely and talented daughters. (I have two.)

I hope you can meet my daughters someday. They are indeed lovely and talented.

But in this blog, I want to talk about one of the interesting aspects of being (and experiencing the life of) an early Baby Boomer.

Living through four “ages”

We’ve now lived through at least four identified “ages.” I grew up in a small rural town and during high school, it was not unusual to see more tractors in the parking lot than cars and trucks. We were at the end of the agricultural age when chores had to be attended to before school and livestock and fields had to be tended after school. We grew up in a very different age.

But we were also in the prime of the industrial age. For the first time in history, you could work a career on manufacturing assembly line and live a comfortable middle class life. That opportunity ended in this century when middle class wages for assembly work now require higher technology skills.

Information Age

And so many of us have made our careers working in the information age: finances, legal, information technology, and engineering. We’ve moved information and data around which has proved to be very valuable over the last 30 years.

Beyond the Information Age

But, we have now moved beyond the information age and into the conceptual age (named such by Daniel Pink in A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future) which calls for a completely new set of skills.

And the cycle of change? The agricultural age lasted about 12,000 years. The industrial age about 250 years, the information age, about 40 years, and the conceptual age? Maybe it’s already being replaced and we haven’t recognized or named it yet. But what’s obvious is the increased pace of change and how much that’s going to force us (individually and corporately) to re-invent ourselves on a regular basis.

Are you ready for that much and frequent change? I think my generation (And Steven’s) is the last to actually have a choice.

My lovely, talented daughters and their spouses won’t have that luxury.

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High Tech, High Touch

by Ron Potter June 11, 2015

Image source: Mathew Bedworth, Creative Commons

I’ve referred to that line, “High tech, high touch,” from Alvin Tofflers book Future Shock often. Toffler defined “Future Shock” as “A personal perception of too much change in too short of time.” He also coined the term “Information overload.”

His term “high tech, high touch” lead into his discussion of one of the antidotes to dealing with future shock and information overload. His point was that as we deal more and more with this intrusion of the globally connected, instant on, information overload, we must also make sure we increase the “high touch” right along with it. This high tech world will not work without high touch, trusting, and personal relationships.

Now another influential voice from the past is adding to the chorus. Ray Ozzie is the inventor of Lotus Notes. Lotus Notes was the first successful and commercially viable email system that Ray and Mitch Kapor brought to the marketplace in the mid to late 1980’s. Ray is the grandfather of email.

One of Ray’s latest ventures is “Talko” that is described as an app that combines text messaging, phone calls, voicemails, videos, and picture messaging.

Why does Ray want to combine all of this text, sound, and pictures? The stated goal is richer communication whether the team is around the world or next door. But one statement of Ray’s really strikes me:

“one of the things I’ve learned over the years about collaboration is that one of the most important elements is empathy.” (Emphasis added.)

Now I’m not going to discount Mr. Ozzie’s ability to come up with a technical solution to empathy. And quite honestly, I hope he makes a good run at it. But my guess is that it will take years of refinements (if at all) to be able to “understand and share the feelings of another” as one definition puts it.

I agree with Ray that empathy is one of the most important elements of collaboration and team building. I just don’t believe you can develop empathy while you’re working remotely on a project regardless of the technical capabilities. Even if “remotely” means you’re in the same building but conduct all of your communication electronically. I believe you have to spend time face-to-face being human beings, not human doings. Establish trust and understanding, then you can function remotely and or electronically and collaborate well. But like any muscle, trust and empathy atrophy over time and must be renewed on a regular basis.

Build trust—then collaborate well.

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Blog Culture

The Power of Stepping Back

by Ron Potter May 21, 2015

In Warren Berger’s book, A More Beautiful Question, he writes

“The term stepping back is often used when we talk about questioning—step back and ask why, step back and reconsider, and so forth. But what are we stepping back from?”

Image Source: Tim Green, Creative Commons

Later he says:

“It’s necessary to stop doing and stop knowing in order to start asking.”

I have noticed—as has Warren—that the stop doing part is actually the hardest in the business environment. In another blog, I write about a destructive attitude that I see in the business world today. That’s the attitude of quick deciding. When we enter meetings with the attitude that we must decide quickly we tend to shut down the diversity of thinking and questioning that may “slow down” the deciding process and yet it’s those diverse thoughts and “why” questions that most often lead to better, more innovative decisions.

Stepping back from the fast paced, globally connected, task oriented work world is difficult.

Years ago one of my CEO clients asked me what key elements I had observed in building great teams. I was pretty quick to answer because I had seen the pattern so quickly and consistently.

Teams need to be BUILT.

Teams that get offsite twice a year to focus on team building and leadership continue to improve year over year. But, it’s critical that during these meetings you have to put down the bats and balls. You can’t be reviewing the business and the numbers. You’ve got to kick off your shoes, get real with each other and deal with each other as human beings, not human doings.

I can elaborate later on the importance of these meetings and the things that tend to sabotage them, but for now, notice that this is a way of stepping back from the business in order to gain clarity about the business. I’ve experienced time and time again that stepping back from the numbers, pressures, and routines of the business and focusing just for a couple days on team, leadership, and culture brings a tremendous amount of clarity about the business.

Management is about providing answers; leadership is about figuring out the right questions. Are you and your team stepping back enough to see that questions that will propel you in the future or are you simply frazzled trying to come up with answers day after day? Step back! You, your team, and your company need it.

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Blog Culture

I Need a New Attitude

by Ron Potter April 30, 2015

Image Source: Steve Snodgrass, Creative Commons

Control Attitude

I don’t know if this is blogworthy or not but last summer I found myself in desperate need of a new attitude. I’d been in the hospital for over a week and was facing probably another week. My patience had worn thin, I didn’t tolerate the foibles of people like I had earlier this week and I could hardly tolerate the thought of the upcoming recovery time from the next surgery. In short, I was finding it hard to find much hope in my future.
One cause for this despair was my total loss of control. There was hardly a thing in my environment that I had any control over at the moment. Not much motivation exists when there is no control.
We’ve talked about the issues for years with my leadership team. I’m usually working with the executives and leaders of the organization.

Muddle in the Middle

These leaders often have more control of their working lives than the rest of the organization. It almost always shows up in culture surveys with what has been labeled “The muddle in the middle.” Culture survey results almost always look better at the top and bottom of the organization with the worst results in the middle (management) level of the company. We usually attribute that to control. The top is more in control of their daily lives and environments and the bottom don’t expect much control. (However, as you’ll see later they’ll perform substantially better when granted even a small bit of control) It’s the middle that feels less in control and therefore provides lower scores about the culture.
In my book Trust Me I write about an experiment conducted decades ago that speaks very directly to this issue.

Individuals were given a very difficult assignment to accomplish. It was going to take a lot of concentration, mental gymnastics, and problem solving skills over several hours of effort.
Each person was placed in a sound proof both with all the tools they needed and asked to solve the problem the best they could. But as soon as they settled into the booth, the controllers began to pump in as much disrupting sound and calamity as they could. The participant’s goal was to do the best they could.
However, while the second control group was given identical conditions, they were also given a button on their desks that would shut off all the distracting sounds for several minutes and they could push the button a certain number of times during the exam.
Once all of the exams were scored, it was obvious that the group with the shut off button had substantially outscored the group without the button. But… no one had pushed the button. Just having a sense of control over their environment allowed them to perform at a much higher level than the group with no control.

Control = Productivity

Try giving your people as much control over their environment as you can afford (and that’s likely a lot more than you’re willing). The more people can control how, where, and when they work the more productive they’ll be.

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Blog Culture

Genuine Integrity

by Ron Potter April 23, 2015

Jon Falk and Brady Hoke in 2013
Photo credit: Brad Muckenthaler, Creative Commons

A friend of mine loaned me a book that thoroughly entertained me. The title is If These Walls Could Talk by Jon Falk.

I’m a University of Michigan alum and had the privilege of being a student at Michigan during a very special time. I was in the stadium to witness Bo Schembechler’s first season when he knocked off the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes that started what came to be known as the ten-year war. This “war” between Bo and Woody Hayes, is still thought of as one of the more storied rivalries in college football.

But If These Walls Could Talk is not about Bo, it’s about Jon Falk, the young equipment manager that Bo hired. Bo has since departed football, the university, and life. Jon has remained the equipment manager—and, according to the players, more the heart and soul—through coaches Gary Moeller, Lloyd Carr, Rich Rodriquez, and Brady Hoke, a feat likely unheard of at any other university. Jon retired at the end of last season. How does a man sustain that kind of longevity in the very volatile world of today’s college football? It would not have been possible without Jon’s personal Integrity!

Erik Campbell was a key player on the 1985 team as well as a summer student worker and, later, an assistant coach. Erik says:

“From each of those perspectives, I can emphatically say that there is never a change in Jon Falk. He treated me the same as a player as he did when I was a coach. He’s the same today as the day I met him.”

Brad Bates, walk-on player for Michigan to graduate assistant under Bo to his current position of athletic director at Ohio University says:

“He treated everyone the same. Jon never treated any player based solely on talent. He read your heart.”

Tom Brady, former Michigan player, quarterback for the New England Patriots says:

“Big Jon has a keen mind for history, he knows more about Michigan football than all the books written since the days of Fielding Yost (1920’s). He’s a cheerleader, historian, mentor, counselor, and friend. All players eventually have to leave the University of Michigan, but no one ever leaves Big Jon.”

And these are just a few of the quotes you’ll find in this book about Jon’s leadership and integrity. Every person regardless of position, stature, standing, or skill was a human being of equal value to be respected. That’s the image of Jon Falk that comes through the stories.

Now if you were to look at the organization chart for the University of Michigan football program, the equipment manager box wouldn’t look like a very prominent leadership position. But Jon has been one of the most influential leaders of the program for forty years.

It doesn’t make any difference which box you occupy on the organization chart.

With genuine integrity you can be an influential and remembered leader. And maybe more importantly, if you do happen to occupy one of the key leaderships boxes, right up to the top, and you attempt to complete your job without that genuine integrity or without treating every single person of your organization with equal value and respect, you will quickly be forgotten in history as if you had no impact, regardless of your accomplishments!

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Blog Culture

Time

by Ron Potter April 16, 2015

Photo credit: Nic McPhee, Creative Commons

My dad was friends with the local watch shop owner in our small town. When I graduated from high school, he bought me one of the early electric quartz watches. That may have started my early relationship with time.

Later, my engineering degree was in project management with a strong emphasis on schedule control. And through the years I worked with and mentored many corporate executives on their time management skills.

Time. It doesn’t change in quantity or pace. And yet different people seem to have very different relationships and reactions to time.

In the end, how we relate to time somehow becomes related to an expression of respect from those around us.

We’ve all known and worked with that person who is perpetually late or tardy for every meeting. At first it becomes a running joke, but in the end, a great deal of resentment grows and people begin to feel used and disrespected. Now, consider when late Larry is not just someone we work with, but someone we work for. Oh, there’s always a legitimate excuse or a logical reason with they’re late, or worse they assume it doesn’t make that much difference, you will still be in the room waiting for him and you’ll get down to business as soon as he arrives. But the reactions of feeling used and disrespected don’t go away just because late Larry is the boss. In fact, it’s actually worse. What kind of leader can late Larry be when the people he’s trying to lead feel disrespected and begin to disrespect Larry as well? Not much. The proper use of time is important. Pay attention.

There’s also a caution for efficient Edith as well. Efficient Edith is always on time, often in place even before the team arrives. Efficient Edith always seems to be on top of things and most of the time seems to be out in front of the general thinking of the company. While these qualities are greatly appreciated in the corporations, Edith needs to proceed with caution as well. Because of Edith’s nature if she makes a request of her staff without specifying an expected response time, the staff always assumes she needs it ASAP. Well, just like the old kids game, crack-the-whip, by the time the request moves down through the organization to where the data and answers can be found, it comes across as “All hands on deck, drop everything you’re doing and get this answer back up to efficient Edith!” Interesting that it ends with almost the same results of people feeling used and disrespected.

Whether you’re a late Larry, efficient Edith or somewhere in between, always respect time, yours and others and set clear expectations for responses.

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Blog Culture

What are you Feeling?

by Ron Potter March 19, 2015

Photo credit: Mindaugas Danys, Creative Commons

In an earlier post about the stages of grief, it was interesting that the question that triggered my reflection was posed by my daughter when she asked me “What are you feeling?” Notice that she didn’t ask me how I was feeling. When we are asked how are we feeling it triggers some of our natural inhibitors (or not) that can get in the way of dealing with the situation.

“How are you feeling?” If you’re feeling angry you may be embarrassed about your feelings or believe that if you express your anger is won’t be constructive for the situation. Or you may not want to express your anger toward an individual so you hold yourself back. Or, if your natural inhibitors don’t kick in, you may burst into a rant or rage expressing your anger that you may also later regret or make it difficult to move on to the next stages of the grief process.

Maybe you’re feeling pride at the moment someone asks “How are you feeling.” Again, if our natural inhibitors kick in we may not want to express our pride at the risk of sounding boastful which in the end can leave us feeling a bit under-appreciated or wishing we could have celebrated a great victory a bit more. Or if the inhibitors don’t kick in, we may go on and on about what a great feat it was, how excited we are for being so smart or good and as we go into that funky victory dance and leave other people taking side glances between each other wondering when this guy is going to get over himself. “How are you feeling?” can make it difficult for us to deal with some very natural emotions.

“What are you feeling?” When my daughter asked me this question it actually forced me to stop and reflect about an emotion that was unexpressed at the moment. When I was able to answer her question it simply came out as one word, “anger” that really didn’t carry any emotion with it. It was an honest statement of a very valid emotion.

As a leader it’s important that you know and that your team is able to express the various stages of emotion that they’re experiencing. When you ask the question “What are you feeling?” it allows people to get the issue on the table, legitimize the emotion, work through to the next stage and as efficiently as possible get to the action steps that will prove the most productive in the long run.

What are you feeling right now? Share some reactions with us.

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Blog Culture

Dirty Bathrooms and Annual Reviews

by Ron Potter January 1, 2015

Have you ever noticed that the dirtiest public bathrooms are the ones with the log pasted to the wall with the signature of the person who cleaned it and when? In fact, the log itself looks so nasty that I usually give it a wide berth for fear that something contagious might jump off the page and infect me.

Image Source: Anjana Samant, Creative Commons

Why is this so? This culture obviously has rules and regulations and a check list system for accountability and yet the place is filthy! But that’s exactly the point. Is your culture built on rules, regulations, guidelines, and check lists for accountability to make sure people are doing what they’re told? Or is your culture built on ingrained values like, “We want our customers to experience a cleaner bathroom than they would at home!”?

Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many annual review processes work like that bathroom log. The annual review starts with the check list of goals that was created the previous year. Then we check to make sure the employee signed off on each item of the list and the date of accomplishment. There, goals accomplished, bathroom clean!

No discussions about innovative approaches they tried to take to make sure the bathroom stayed cleaner longer. No discussion about lessons learned from failed attempts at trying something new. No discussion about new approaches they are proud of that did work. No discussion about where they would like to apply some of their ideas elsewhere.

Are you really inspiring your employees with values and visions or are you expecting them to do their job and check off their list? How clean are your bathrooms?

Tell us some stories from both perspectives – leaders evaluating people with annual review processes or being the ~~victim~~ (sorry) recipient of an annual review process. What made it great? What made it suck?

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Blog Culture

Boundaries vs Fences

by Ron Potter June 1, 2012

Image Source: Alex Juel, Creative Commons

I recently spent a day with Fritz Seyferth, one of my consulting colleagues. Fritz has a unique background and style that makes him one of the most effective Leadership, Team Building and Culture building consultants I know. Check out his “Foundation of Winning”.

One of the principles that Fritz emphasizes in his consulting work is the importance of boundaries. Boundaries help set and define the culture. Boundaries actually demand more creativity and innovation to keep organizations moving forward. Boundaries are very important and useful for the health and growth of an organization (and individual). But, aren’t boundaries restrictive and inhibiting?

As usual I often learn more from observing my grandchildren then they ever learn from me. Both sets of grandchildren have fenced in back yards. In the back yard fences keep them safe, secure and contained. And in fact, the “boundaries” of play and activity tend to stay inside a parameter that is even within and smaller than the space defined by the fence.

As I observe some corporate cultures I notice that when leaders erect “fences” employees seldom even test the boundaries. In fact I often hear of hidden or invisible rules that keep people away from the fences.
“Oh, we’re not allowed to do that.”
“That would never be acceptable to our boss.”
“There are consequences for going there.”
The playing field actually becomes smaller than the playing surface.

Front yards however are defined by boundaries. There are no fences and the boundaries have to be clearly pointed out and defined to the children.
“That’s the neighbor’s yard.”
“Don’t go into the street.”
“You’re not allowed to go past the corner.”
However, boundaries are almost continually tested and reset. Unlike the backyard the entire world is beyond the front yard boundaries. If we don’t test and continually expand the boundaries of the front yard, we will never explore the world or discover what’s possible.

I’m beginning to think that we should be very clear in our businesses what is a back yard fence and what is a front yard boundary. I work with companies in the pharmaceutical, food and automotive industries among others. Drug and food safety better be a back yard fence. Manufacturing quality better be a back yard fence. There should be severe and immediate consequences for climbing over the fence.

However, when we’re exploring the world in front of us we better be thinking more of boundaries. If people violate our boundaries here we want to know why. We need to have the conversation about why someone stepped out and tried something new and radical. Should that be acceptable? Have things changed? Did they discover a new environment with new opportunities? We certainly should not simply abandon our boundaries. But, innovation happens at the boundaries. New ideas come in from the boundaries. Opportunities are seen from the boundaries.

I think it’s important for you and your company to discuss what is a back yard fence verses what should be a front yard boundaries. There are actually dire consequences if we confuse or don’t distinguish the two. Leaving back yard quality and safety to a boundary discussion will kill a company. Fencing in the front yard will arrest our growth and development keep us from exploring what the world has to offer.

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Blog Culture

Re-Invention: Another Word for Change

by Ron Potter August 14, 2011

Image Source: Werner Bartmann, Creative Commons

There is constant talk of reinvention. Companies need to reinvent themselves. People need to reinvent themselves. I live in a state (Michigan) that needs to reinvent itself.

How does a state reinvent itself? The state of Michigan has been associated with the auto industry for over 100 years. During the peak of the auto industry, Michigan was one of the wealthiest states in the nation. Today it is one of the poorest and the only state that has lost population between the last two census reports. I’ve often tried to think of what Michigan would look like if Henry Ford, R.E. Olds, and many of the other pioneers of the auto industry had started in Ohio (or some other state) rather than Michigan. I have to assume that we would have an economy and state government geared to a level of a different and maybe less robust industry. We also have the cereal industry started by W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post. Our tourist industry is outstanding and we even have a thriving oil and gas industry. But… the state would look much different today had we not had the auto industry. How do we rethink who we are?

I can only draw on my personal experiences when I think about reinventing ourselves individually. My career seems to have progressed in decades. For the first ten years of my working career I worked in the engineering/construction business, building large power plants around the country and learning the project management business. Then one day I saw my first microcomputer and decided that this little box (actually a 35 pound “luggable” machine in the early days) was going to change our lives. Six months later I was developing software for the new and growing microcomputer industry. After ten years of working with computers and software I had to ask myself the age old question “what do I really want to do when I grow up” and came to the conclusion that I had felt fulfilled working in two very different industries because my goal everyday was to create (and be) the best leaders and develop the best functioning teams. I believed that if I could grow myself, help grow the people and develop good team dynamics, the business would take care of itself. My developing vision was helping leaders and teams continually improve their performance. I thought that would be fun if I could get up and do that every day. Thus began twenty years (and counting) of consulting and coaching in the leadership development and team building arena.

What fulfills you? Have you stopped to ask yourself that question? It may be scary and risky but it will also help you to continually reinvent yourself. A necessity in today’s rapidly changing world.

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Blog Culture

I’ve Solved the Education Problem

by Ron Potter June 12, 2011

Image Source: Corey Leopold, Creative Commons

Well, I haven’t actually solved the education problem but I think I have the solution. And it’s not exactly my idea but it’s still a great idea. In other words, for the first time I believe the solution is out there to our education problem. And we do indeed have an education problem. In spite of what we might hear from the NEA or the government, ranking in the bottom half of the top 34 countries of the world is a complete failure of the system as near as I can see.

Over the last several years, I’ve had a great concern and burden for our education system. Beyond the global rankings it seems to me that the system is failing on all fronts. In depressed areas like Detroit, the percentages of kids that even make it through the secondary system in abysmal. And even in areas where there is a functioning high school system, look at the number of parents who are choosing either home schooling or private schooling while still carrying the tax burden of supporting their local public schools simply because they can see that the public school is not going to prepare their children for the globally competitive future.

I’ve done a great deal of reading, thinking and talking to people about how we solve this problem. Bill Gates and his foundation have donated a great deal of money to the system and haven’t come up with much yet. One of the more inspiring books I’ve read is A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century by Oliver DeMille. It is inspiring in describing the elements of a good and powerful education. It is depressing when it explains the original design and purpose of public education and you realize it was never intended to produce a high quality, globally competitive education.

So, what’s this great solution that “I’ve” come up with? Sal Khan is the guy who really came up with the solution. If you haven’t already seen what’s he’s doing (and yes, he has also caught the eye of Bill Gates) check it out ASAP. I immediately wrote to my two daughters and recommended that if they want their kids (actually they’re my grandkids, I just loan them to their parents while they’re growing up) to get a great education, tap into the Khan Academy. There is way too much to explain in this blog so I’ll let you explore on your own (the YouTube reference will give you a great overview) but I do want to focus on a few of the elements that I believe provide the solution to our education system.

The first thing that struck me is that the teachers no longer teach, they help the kids learn. That shifts us from a teaching environment to a learning environment. In a teaching environment we’re dependent on the skills and knowledge of the teacher. Recently a teacher that I know said that 70% of his class was failing and didn’t even seem to understand it was an indication of teacher failure, not student failure.

It also eliminates the one-size-fits-all approach to teaching. Once the teacher finishes a segment, the exam is taken, the student receives their score (A to E) and we move on to the next segment. How many students achieve mastery of the topic? Virtually none and based on the current system, it doesn’t make any difference anyway. The teacher disseminated the information, the students were scored, move on!

But, once we shift to a learning environment, the students are encouraged to experiment, fail and finally master the subject. Can you imagine the power instilled in the student when they actually master a topic? They can’t wait to get to the next level. And, they’re better equipped to master the next level. Under the current system, a good student might get 85% on the exam. But, what happens when that 15% lack of understanding makes it even more difficult to learn at the next level. And so-on and so-on. It’s a system that will indeed produce failure at some point.

I think there is much more to learn about this topic and I want to encourage as many of you as possible to check out the Khan Academy and talk to parents in your local public, private or home school. This will change your own kids (grandkids) lives and improve our education system. Notice that the Khan Academy is available to the world, not just the United States. If we don’t adopt this approach, we will rapidly fall even farther behind.

I will pick up on this topic more in future blogs and I also believe there is great learning here to be applied to leadership as well. Enjoy and be inspired by my solution to the education system. Ha!

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Blog Culture

Bloging is Easy

by Ron Potter May 20, 2010

Image Source: Dwayne Bent, Creative Commons

Blogging is easy.

Writing is difficult.

I started blogging for two reasons. The main was that many of my clients were asking for some regular input and reminders of the many things we talk about during our consulting and coaching engagements. The second reason was that I wanted to experience the technology of this relative new media form and for the discipline of writing. Well, I’ve experienced it and found myself to be lacking in the skill and discipline of writing.

I’m surrounded by writers. My wife has that wonderful ability to write well. She can finely craft the written word in ways that just amaze me and has at times done professional writing. Both of my daughters are also talented writers. One of them could make a living as a professional writer and the other one writes very witty blog posts. Because I’ve “written” a book, one of my clients asked me where I learned my skill because he wanted to upgrade the writing skills of his team. I had to admit that I had not learned the skill but rely on my writing partner, Wayne Hastings, for our published materials.

Blogging is easy. Writing is difficult.

But, when I take the time and make the effort, I enjoy the practice of writing. I’m concerned that through texting, email and powerpoint presentations we are losing the art of well written documents. We recently discovered a newspaper published by my great grandfather (another writer in the family) in Colorado in 1892. That newspaper was written for the common man in a small town west of Denver. The vocabulary and writing structure was well above what we receive today in the few papers that even put out a printed edition anymore.

Consider doing more writing. It forces you to organize your thoughts more than texting, emailing or powerpoint presentations.

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