Picking up the phone and talking to someone is my preferred way to get a point across these days.  Email is the crutch of the business world where people can communicate in a way they would never contemplate in a direct conversation.  It dominates our daily communications and has changed the way we work (not necessarily for the better) where typing has replaced talking.

Here’s a story from the NY Times (via Instapundit) on the demise of the office phone and how that is impacting both work dynamics and organizational learning.  I especially like this quote:

"That brings up another reason the office phone call is worth preserving: there’s no ready substitute for practicing the necessary summoning of courage for potentially fraught encounters. Advancing in business is often a matter of gaining capacity for confrontation; to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever had to steel herself before sitting down to type a tough e-mail message."

If you have ever made a cold call, the quote above should hit home.

In a related post, Fred Wilson does a nice summary here of the running discussion on money saving tips for start ups including this bit of advice "Don’t buy a phone system. No one will use it."  Although the advice is based on the fact everyone already has a cell phone, I’ll still give Fred credit for scooping the Times.