Non-tech-utives

Bruce Nussbaum writes an interesting post today. He says:

The more I listen and learn, the more I'm convinced that members of the corporate elite of America are technologically backward and a threat to their own companies. Outside the tech/net space itself, CEOs, by and large, do not go online, know little about blogs, and are increasingly divorced and distant from their customers, their employees, their managers and their global partners (most of whom live and work online).

My experience totally agrees with those observations. And it's not just CEOs. Lots of senior executives I've known, some responsible for product development, have absolutely no direct connection with the online world.

And that's scary.

Why would a smart executive shy away from one of the richest sources of customer/business intelligence?

One word: Typing.

I'm only half kidding.

Remember when "Typing" was a course that girls preparing to be secretaries took in high school? Smart kids, certainly not smart boys, didn't take typing. It was a menial skill, a sign of permanent "clerical" status. The faster one typed, the lower one's prospects in a company. "Keyboard skills" were a sure ticket to second-class citizenship.

"Williams can type? Hmmm...I've always wondered about him..."

Of course, that's all changed today. Touch-typing enables one to quickly move through large amounts of data, enabling the typist to quickly capture ideas and effectively express them.

But, I fear, the generationally-divided stereotype remains.

And this means a whole cohort of (non-typing) senior executives with no idea of what YouTube is. Never having heard of Engadget. Thinking Technorati is a guy in IT with a tic and a fear of open spaces. Still concerned about needing change for the toll booths on the Information Superhighway. Wondering if Doc Searls makes house calls.

What's spooky is that this is somehow OK. As Nussbaum points out, boards don't seem too concerned about this huge hole in their senior executive's skills. (Oh yeah, many of the people on the boards are other senior execs. Or head hunters, who sure as hell don't want to add more complexity to their lives.) Neither do investors.

Can you imagine another area as important as technical literacy not being required of a senior exec? What if the CEO couldn't read a P&L? Impossible. What if she couldn't use the telephone? Ludicrous. How about not reading the Wall Street Journal. Unthinkable.

But, technical proficiency? Strictly for the underclass.

(Soon, this too will change very dramatically...)

Tags: Bruce Nussbaum

Comments

[Niti Bhan]

Heap big insight, indeed! I was recently asking out loud whether carpal tunnel syndrome was something that one finger typists were more prone to rather than touch typists? Because it's not as prevalent anymore except within a particular generation.

[Tom Guarriello]

"Carpal tunnel syndrome" is old school...new injury is Repetitive Motion Disorder!