The New Way is the Old Way.
One difference I have noticed here in New York, and in the new HXK Village in London, is how we communicate together as an agency.
In New York, and more and more in the new HKX Village, I have noticed that people take time to communicate, meeting up in person and communicating face-to-face.
Face-to-face communication is not a new idea, but perhaps seems like an old fashioned idea due to the growth of other communication platforms such as the telephone, then email and now slack and instant messaging.
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) British novelist said the following in a work titled The Wreck of the Golden Mary,
I admire machinery as much as any man, and am as thankful to it as any man can be for what it does for us. But, it will never be a substitute for the face of a man, with his soul in it, encouraging another man to be brave and true.
Dickens could not have imagined how the telephone invented in 1877, just a few years after his death, would begin a declining trend in face-to-face communication.
I believe, like Dickens’ character, that there is a role for electronic communication; however, we should try to communicate face-to-face whenever the opportunity presents itself because that is where we communicate best.
This is why the Lofts programme works so well — whilst a similar experience could be facilitated by technology using video links and other electronic forms — there is no alternative to sitting opposite someone and having 100% of their attention face-to-face.
This is what I have enjoyed most, making real connections with people.
