A Century of Communication: Much Changed, Nothing Changed
This week my Dad turned 100. At dinner he regaled us with stories from the farm, his war service and his many adventures. He reminded us again that his century has been one of rapid and accelerating change.
When Dad was a boy, horses were more common than tractors or automobiles. His first “city job” was a bread route which he didn’t have to learn because the horse already knew it. Self-driving vehicles are nothing new.
He saw the early days of the telephone when everyone shared a party line and the switchboard operator knew more about you than did the local clergyman. He remembers the Saturday evenings with the family gathered around the crackling radio to listen to Hockey Night in Canada with Foster Hewitt.
Over the years some technology, such as the microwave oven, made sense, but some did not. He never figured out why you’d pay forty bucks a month to carry around a phone so people could bother you when you were busy with something important.
What my Dad has showed me is that you don’t need apps to be a great communicator. He’s understood all along the importance of some eternal essentials of human communication– clear language, active listening, storytelling, warm and respectful personal engagement, and (key for him) knowing what you needed and wanted to say before starting the conversation. Now officially a centenarian, these skills and instincts continue to serve him well.
Blog: A Century of Communication: Much Has Changed, Nothing Has Changed (http://www.purposeful.ca/blog/a-century-of-communication-much-has-changed-nothing-has-changed)