In a true sign of the times, I had a round robin of phone conversations this afternoon with two successful, mid-30’s CEOs, in which we were trying to coordinate a breakfast meeting.

I had to hang up on the first one because I walked into my house where my daughter was busy falling down the stairs.
The second one hung up on me because he was walking into his house.
The first one hung up on me because he walked into his house and it was mayhem.

This never would have happened in previous generations… the combination of self-defined hours plus active daddy-hood (I say ‘daddy’ because we have 6 daughters between the three of us) plus cell phones makes for a whole new set of work/life balance issues for dads. I’m not sure what the etiquette is for that 6pm-half-business-half-social-call-with-ankle-biters-in-the-background, but that seems to be the next frontier for Ms. Manners to tackle.

I’d come up with the etiquette plan myself but someone’s finger painting the kitchen floor, and as much as I love blue…

Posted under Gen X & Gen Y, Current Trends, Communications