I was a millimeter away from closing a HUGE sale. The customer was sitting right in front to me — he even came to my office. However, I also had my laptop open and was looking at something on it (probably an email). And I also had my cell phone in hand and was texting a client, or a colleague, or another prospect, or a friend, or a family member. Can't remember who.
Now where was I with that sale? Oh yeah. I was closing it. Except I wasn’t. The dude split. I lost a HUGE deal. And I don’t blame the guy for walking away. If someone would have “phubbed” me, I would have done the same thing.
Recently psychologist have come up with the very real and very scary term called “phubbing”, which means “phone snubbing”. That is, ignoring — or snubbing — a real live human being in favor of your cold artificial cell phone that runs your life. And what a big phubber I had become.
And chances are you, your colleagues, clients, prospects, friends, and family members are phubbers too. Phubbing is killing your leadership, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. We are all fighting a losing battle against our phubbing phones.
However there is hope. Take 30-seconds and jump into action below on these three simple steps to start kicking your phubbing habit to the curb:
30-Seconds of Action to Stop Being Such a Phubber:
Step 1. Turn off all “push” notifications to your phone and manually “pull” whatever information you need into your phone.
Step 2. Delete all unnecessary apps that have accumulated on your phone. And even if they are necessary, consider deleting them if they don’t serve a higher purpose in your life.
Step 3. Read this hilariously fascinating New York Times article on how to further win the losing battle against our distracting phones: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/business/cell-phone-addiction.html
Cell phone addiction is real and it is negatively impacting your leadership and your ability to make the right decision at the right time. Implement these three action steps above to take back lost ground and increase sales, productivity, happiness, and plain old effectiveness in your organization.
If you have questions, comments, or other innovative ways to not be such a phubber, leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter @mpveltri. I’d love to hear from you.
From life or death decisions on the battlefield to the boardroom, Michael Veltri draws on his background as a battle-hardened business executive, decorated U.S. Marine veteran, and 10-year resident of Japan to teach CEOs and senior executives better decision-making skills that deliver stunning results. Michael is also a cancer survivor and Master Instructor in classical Japanese martial arts. His inspiring leadership keynote speeches and breakout sessions deliver practical tools that can be used immediately to increase productivity, drive better organizational outcomes, and deliver stunning bottom-line results while creating a culture of servant leadership at every level. And he is no longer addicted to his cell phone. Learn more at: https://michaelveltri.com/about