The easiest and most valued gift you can give another is your attention.
-Brian Sullivan

Are you one of the millions of American’s recently afflicted with diseases such as PDAD (Personal Digital Assistant Disease), iPA (iPhone Addiction), CSTD (Can’t Stop Texting Disease), TBPNTKMLSS (Twittering Because People Need To Know My Life Story Syndrome). Forget Swine Flu, these disease effects can be much longer lasting and are NOT cured a round of Tamiflu ™. The only way to cure these diseases is to stop checking email during sales meetings, quit texting when your kids are with you at McDonalds, and realize that people don’t care that you have something stuck in your Twittering teeth.

Don’t get me wrong. These electronic tools, when not abused, can bring people closer to you. But when those people finally get close to you, would it be right to then start texting somebody else? So this week, make a special effort to put the electronic tool down every time a real human is standing or sitting next to you. And let them know that there is absolutely nobody in cyberspace who you would rather be chatting with then them. By doing so, you will give them the greatest gift you have to give…your attention. And the gifts you will receive in return will the type of relationships that will make you a better leader at work and at home.