I don’t know about you, but I am always misplacing things. I work pretty hard at keeping my papers organized, but like anything else, papers can get lost. When they do, it makes me absolutely crazy. Even when I have another copy on my computer, I am obsessed to find the copy that is on my desk.
Finding information on documents I also find maddening.
Back in the early 70’s when I worked at B. Altman & Company as an Internal Auditor, I was just amazed at the inconsistencies in invoicing formats by the firms doing business in the same industry.
I know you won’t believe this, but sometimes I can be a little impulsive. Yeah, I know, how could a financial type like yours truly be like that? Perhaps a defective gene or something is at play here.
Anyway, I get these messages from all of you, and once in a while I will actually want to pick up the phone and call you. Then I realize that you haven’t signed your message. Or, if you have signed your message, your phone number isn’t there. Or, if your phone number is there and you have signed, I am pretty sure that you don’t actually go by Robert, just as I don’t go by Matthew.
So, I consider myself fortunate in having what I refer to as my “secret decoder ring.” Yes, no matter how hard you try, I know your name and I know how to find you. As they say, you can run, but you can’t hide. At least you can’t hide from your esteemed Chairman.
But, I wonder, how does the rest of the world get by? How do all of the “others” out there in the world “reach out and touch you?” If you haven’t written to them before or they can’t tell from your email address who the “heck” you are, what do they do?
I kind of feel like you are sitting at your desk hoping the world will contact you and you are looking for the glasses that are sitting right there on top of your head.
Now look, I could set up a website called “anyfinancialperson.org” and let it be known that anyone who would like to reach a seasoned member of our profession who has written to them could contact me and I would look them up so they could call you and not be embarrassed that they don’t know your name, or, we could do it the hard way and all of you could add an outgoing signature to your emails.
Yes, I know what you are thinking: Matt, I may have to call tech support to figure out how to do that. Or, I might have to ask someone. (Boy, I sure wouldn’t want you to do that! Think how embarrassing that could be!!)
In the interest of helping one another communicate and be communicated with I would ask all of you to do the following to make the world a better place. (Or, at least our part of the world.) Anytime you get a message from anyone in The FENG that doesn’t have a proper outgoing signature, I want you to write back and send him or her the following message:
“May I suggest that you add an outgoing signature to your email? You will find that it is MUCH easier for folks to get back to you and that your emails will be deleted less frequently if others know who is writing to them. It is VERY easy to add an outgoing signature, even on a smart phone. Call me if you need help doing it.”
Who knows, it might even make their messages look more professional! (I know we wouldn’t want that to happen because then they would be fierce competition for the few jobs that are out there in the marketplace.)
Regards, Matt
Matthew R. Bud
Chairman
The Financial Executives Networking Group
32 Gray’s Farm Road
Weston, CT 06883
[email protected]
(203) 227-8965 Office Phone
(203) 820-4667 Cell
(203) 227-8984 Fax
(This is my outgoing signature.)
