Sometimes, I Feel Outdated….

I laugh about being an “Old Fart.” I can actually remember the days before email, but only a few years before we started actually using email. And I remember our research scientists talking about an interesting new technology called “The World Web,” spawning the term www. My first mobile device was the size of a brick and weighed about as much.

I pride myself to adjusting and adapting to current times. I have all the latest technology, I pepper my language with words like Rizz, Slay, Delulu. Acronyms like TL:DR, ICYMI, SMH are all commonplace (OK, OK, ChatGPT helped me with these.)

I still purposefully, do some things that are very old school. My clients tease me about my wardrobe. I still wear suits to meetings–the whole thing, white shirt, french cuffs, suspenders, a suit, black wing tips. To me, business casual means I don’t wear a tie. But that’s my vibe (Aren’t you proud of me 😉

But a few weeks ago, I was stunned! Before I go into it, here’s a pop quiz: What’s is the object I am displaying in the picture below?

It’s something, we old timers called a “business card.” This image shows both sides of my business card.

Now here’s what happened and made me feel so outdated. A few weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a round table discussion with a group of CROs. It was a fantastic discussion, afterwards a number of people came up suggesting, “We should get together and talk more!” I immediately reached into my jacket pocket (Yes, I wore a suit jacket, but the pants didn’t match the jacket). I pulled out a business card, suggesting we talk later.

No one gave me their business card!

One participant said, “I’d love to get a copy of your book…” I said, “Glad to send you one. Just send me your address.” I gave her a business card expecting an email later. She wrote her address on my business card and gave it back to me.

By this time I was scratching my head. No one seemed to have a business card????

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing an informal survey. These are clients and good friends, the kind of people who are comfortable laughing at me, rather than with me. I’d ask, “Do you use business cards?” None of them use them. They said, “We just use LinkedIn.” One showed me his QR code that had all his contact information (I now have a QR code).

I sat down with another “seasoned sales executive.” We reflected on the days, perhaps as far back at 2019, when we would go to an event with our jacket pockets filled with business cards to hand out. It became a competition to see how many we could collect, bring back to the office and add to our CRM.

Jack said, “Dave, when we moved, I had a box with 1000s of cards. It was difficult, but I decided to trash them–I hadn’t looked into the box for years, so they only had sentimental value.”

There are places in the world where business cards are still respected. Exchanging business cards in Japan is somewhat ceremonial and you have to gratefully receive the business card in both hands, study both sides, and bow slightly in acknowledgment.

Even in the casual exchange of business cards, there was always something special about it. There was something special about looking at the card when I got back to the office. Somehow a QR code doesn’t quite capture it.

And I do miss it…..

Do you use business cards?