No voice...

I spent all day yesterday on the phone. 12+ hours of phone conversations – and I went to bed last night with a sore throat. So when I woke up this morning with no voice, I wasn’t completely surprised.

I had two entrepreneur pitches and one board meeting in New York City today – and I felt OK – so I decided to take the meetings. Initially, I was extremely concerned that my laryngitis would dramatically reduce my effectiveness and productivity in the meetings. However, as the day went on, I noticed something interesting. Because it was so difficult for me to talk, it forced me to make every word count. Where I previously might have interjected with a question, now I was writing them down to see if they got answered elsewhere in the presentation. If I wanted to provide feedback or an opinion, I was much more concise than I otherwise would have been. And, I found that my meetings were just as productive/effective as they would have been if I could speak freely.

So what should I learn from this? Well, I guess it shows that I should talk less and listen more (something my wife has been saying for years). And when I do choose to speak, I should conserve my words. It will be interesting to see if I have the discipline to continue this when my voice returns…\