Remain Relevant in Changing Times

Is the Rolodex still relevant? Spinning for contacts can still trump the click of a mouse

Saturday's Wall Street Journal carried a fascinating story that addressed the question, "Whatever happened to the Rolodex?" (Subscription required). In a nutshell, the story featured several business professionals who still cling to their Rolodexes, despite living in a Blackberry world where it seems you aren't real if you aren't connected online or found in an Outlook Contacts listing.

The article made me smile because I, too, am one of those people who never throws away a business card. I put them in large ziplock bags and store them in a file cabinet drawer. I've been too embarrassed to keep them on a Rolodex, believing it would mark me as a dinosaur. Still, as much as I love technology and am good about keeping my key contacts filed electronically, there's a part of me that just knows one day there's going to be a huge technical glitch that causes me to have to rebuild from scratch.

Yes, I know half the cards will be out of date, but the point is I'll at least have names I can look up using other means. Besides, I like to look at business cards. I think they tell a lot about the person who gave it to me (unless they're from a large company that requires a standard card that emphasizes the brand over the person).

According to Newell Rubbermaid, makers of the Rolodex, the 6,000-card flip files of the past have given way to much smaller flip files; in fact, the largest one the company makes holds "only" 500 cards, a nod to the decreasing desktop space resulting from the surge in cubicles. But hey, despite the fact that these card wheels aren't exactly a growth industry, they also don't require frequent updating; hence, they're cash cows. The standard business card just hasn't changed much over the years in terms of size and shape.

Generally speaking, sales of card wheels have fallen steadily since the 80's when personal digital assistants (PDAs) first came on the scene. Now, companies that traditionally relied on card files and even card scanners are looking for ways to expand their brand and tools to the digital world, lest they go under altogether.

Meanwhile, Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn provide ample opportunities for us to keep up with one another electronically. I love and hate these tools equally: I love 'em because, used properly, they're powerful and undeniably easy to use; I hate them because they're so easy to use people tend to "collect people" with the click of the mouse without giving much thought to why the person is worth collecting. At least with a Rolodex, you have to make an effort to attach the card to the wheel, file it and even occasionally remove some if the file gets too unmanageable.

In our efforts to become as paperless as possible, I think we sometimes fail to recognize that "the old-fashioned way" can still be relevant. After all, the relevance isn't in the  way the information is filed: it's in how the information that's filed is used.

How do you keep up with your contacts?

Whole Foods board tells officials: stay off the Internet forums!

Remember last summer's big story about John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods? Seems he got carried away posting on various Internet forums more than 1,000 messages offering his opinion on his company's stock, the competition and even vendors. He didn't think to mention to anyone who he was. (He participated in these forums from 1999 to 2006.)

Along came the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with an informal inquiry into whether Mackey's posts influenced Whole Foods shares. Meanwhile, the Whole Foods board did its own internal investigation, though the results haven't been released publicly. One insider said the board knew about Mackey's activities, but did nothing to stop him.

Now the board has issued an amendment to the company's code of business conduct. In a nutshell, the board is formally discouraging and even forbidding the grocer's officials from getting involved in online discussions.

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal (online subscription required), the board is taking a stand that Whole Foods' "company leadership" is to refrain from commenting about the company, its competitors or vendors on blogs, chat rooms or other Internet forums that aren't specifically sponsored by the chain. No more anonymous postings anywhere. No more pseudonyms or ghost writing.

I can just imagine how many internal memos are flying around today about this situation as executives ask HR and Communications if their company business conduct guidelines are adequate. Good idea. It should just be expected that employees, perhaps even key officials, will participate in online discussions. Unless told otherwise, they may feel anything is fair game, short of obvious proprietary information. NOT addressing online conduct isn't just a mistake, it's tantamount to inviting problems.

I just hope this debacle doesn't scare away thought leaders who should be sharing their opinions and ideas online. We don't have enough company leadership involved in intelligent online conversations as it is. Ignoring the online community isn't the answer. The answer is to monitor it closely to find out where the conversations are taking place, then engage when and where it makes sense and do so in a transparent manner. That's one way a company can remain relevant.

This board is keeping the whole class after school because of one naughty boy. If they think Whole Foods has been talked about before, wait'll the blogosphere lets 'er rip now!