Support Your Listening with Pen and Paper

• 00:04 We discussed, it's not really a good idea to record everything
• 00:10 in audio format, or try to write down every single word.
• 00:14 But I do think for some meetings, for some presentations,
• 00:18 you can't go wrong by taking notes.
• 00:22 This is different from going out on a dinner date or meeting with a friend.
• 00:27 It would look a little weird if a friend wants to tell you
• 00:31 about troubles they're having with their spouse and
• 00:34 you pull out a pen and paper, but this is just about the workplace.
• 00:37 Certainly if your boss calls you into his or her office, or
• 00:41 wants to meet with you, especially if you're relatively new on the job.
• 00:47 You cannot go wrong coming in with these two things, a pen and
• 00:52 a piece of paper, it shows I respect you, I want to get it just right.
• 00:57 I'm listening and I'm not relying just on my memory, I'm going to take notes.
• 01:03 I realize that times are changing, we're in a digital world.
• 01:07 Here's the problem with taking notes on a cell phone.
• 01:12 If you're taking notes on a cell phone, there's always a part of
• 01:16 the person speaking to you, part of their brain thinking,
• 01:20 is this person really taking notes on what I'm saying?
• 01:24 Are they checking their email and tweeting and updating their Facebook status?
• 01:30 Because if you're three feet away from me and my phone is like this and
• 01:35 then I can't really know what you're doing.
• 01:39 If you walk into the meeting, and you pull out a clean sheet of paper, a notepad,
• 01:45 and a pen, sure in theory you could be writing a grocery list, I understand.
• 01:51 But in general, it shows a tremendous amount
• 01:55 of seriousness that you don't want any distractions.
• 01:59 My recommendation, only make a note when it's something really important,
• 02:04 certainly if it's a to do item, from a client, customer, or boss.
• 02:09 But any other big insight, write just enough words to really jog your memory
• 02:14 when you're looking at your notes again, you're not the court stenographer.
• 02:20 Do not try to write everything down, because that's going to
• 02:23 destroy your eye contact, you want to be looking at the person.
• 02:27 So I'm a big fan of notes, but in the old fashioned format pen or
• 02:33 pencil, talking about really old fashioned, and paper.
• 02:39 I realize this may change two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from
• 02:43 now, and there may be people in the workplace will say I've never learned to
• 02:48 write printing or cursive, everything I've done has always been on a keyboard.
• 02:52 At that point, change, but we're not there yet.
• 02:57 In fact, in some high tech industries, If you're going for a job interview, or
• 03:02 you're going to get venture capital,
• 03:04 it's seen as a kiss of death to be taking notes.
• 03:07 You're seen as kind of a real clod,
• 03:10 someone a little bit uncouth to be taking notes on a cell phone.
• 03:16 Well known entrepreneur, venture capitalist,
• 03:20 Angel Investor Jason Calacanis has even written in his book on advice to
• 03:26 Those seeking angel capital, he says,
• 03:29 when someone comes to him seeking angel investment, and
• 03:33 they're taking notes on a cell phone, he already writes them off.
• 03:37 Just the way to do it for both people in the room,
• 03:41 the person who is the angel investor but
• 03:45 also the person seeking capital is paper and a pen.
• 03:49 Great old fashioned tool, still highly useful.

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