The death of the business card !
Posté par ITgium le 30 avril 2016
It is like a ritual scene, the unbeatable gateway to the Guanxi, the norm for the average active people.
The head tipped slightly downward, the smile blended with seriousness; the hands clasp a piece of glossy paper or, worse, made of plastic.
Here, it comes, the sacrosanct business card !
Many times, the movement is dishearteningly sluggish and short on enthusiasm. No compassion. But it is obviously a practical gesture, full of pragmatism, the way to do it.
When the operation is completed, we breathe, of course! Job done!
Instantly, the cards swipe into one jacket breast pocket or in a towel holder. A while after, back to the office or at home, they fall into a solid wood housing in a somewhat crowded conditions. Others are deposited in laminated pouch as prison cells. If the worst comes to the worst, because some are originating by what we believe as disgusting or awkward people, they will directly torn up and thrown away. Sometimes, the garbage is too small to welcome the failed ones.
The stored ones, according to an arbitrary choice, are classified under different names: “high ranked executive”, “middle position”, “consultant” and so on.
Business card weekly race
One of my friends has invented a game, what he called the “Business card weekly race”. We must respond to a very easy question: “who is the winner of the larger stock of business card?” My friend always wins in spite of the appearances because his job, I would say, is not at the top. He mentions that he travels around the world, four meetings a day. It’s by hundreds of thousands of cards that at the end of the year cram together in his office drawer.
For another friend, this is absolutely not a game-like but something very serious. “The cards I got are my treasure trove! This is a pool of competencies essential to my long-term career. It’s worth millions of yuans!” he said abusively.
And what about myself?
Each New Year, I meticulously root out the cards from their sheltered boxes.
My intention is to send my greetings to all those who have crossed my path over and over the years. In a nutshell, my greetings, more of the same, a copy-paste. Here, it comes:
“I am happy to address to you my best wishes for a joyful feast and a life of peace and serenity.”
I further state that “I will be happy to sit down with you to work out what your options we could collaborate”.
On the offensive, I choose the mailbox angle and take aim.
I’m laughably proud of myself. I think pretentiously that I am making well with all that potential.
Unfortunately, the upshot is as logical as it is unpleasant.
Undelivered mail messages represent the vast majority of the answer. Because of this, each year, I tear up and scrap so many cards. I have to acknowledge that I have always a deep feeling of guilt. May be, one of them could have become my best friend? One, even more precious, could have given to me a wonderful love story? Why should I close the door to the fate? Simply because those sacrosanct business cards are useless!
For the remainder, only a few answered to me, and almost all negatively to my request of collaboration. No more that usual formulas of courtesy and expression of common civilities.
I find it curious, a bit strange to receive so little good answers, one in a hundred.
What went wrong?
My nephew, a computer ace, brought me the explanation:
“The business card is and old fashioned and archaic material. At the long run, it is going to disappear. Thanks to advanced new technologies, a mutual facial electronic recognition will replace it. No need anymore to carry your cards in your pocket. No need to obstruct your hands. In the future, the way to build your network is the one as follows. Look the person in the eyes, stand tall, shake hands firmly, keep smiling, and try turning yourself into a responsive listener by him with more feedback. As you do so, he will immediately recognize you, recording everything that comes out. Among endless interlocutors, parameter setting will define the ones that truly merit his attention. At every meeting, a transmitter code changes according to a complex algorithm, synchronized with data awaited by his interlocutor. Instead of thousand of contacts, as before, only will remain a bunch of good fellows, I mean, potential friends, very good friends, one in a hundred, as always, as ever.”
François de la Chevalerie (jùn mǎ 俊 马)
Publié dans Les cartes de visite, The end of the business card | Pas de Commentaire »