Traveling The World By Desk

Years ago, I was flying 350,000 miles per year to reach clients in every corner of the globe. I am a million mile flyer on both United and American...not something I am particularly happy with. While I was in the air, away from the family, and working at 35,000 feet, I felt certain that there would come a day when all that travel wasn't necessary...in my lifetime.

So, yesterday I was on the phone with a client in New York I've only seen once face-to-face in six months; Skyping a new client in Egypt who has a program in the U.S. that is going to affect Pakistan; emailing a client in Germany about a global service; going to dinner with a prospect from Austria; and finishing the evening with a call to an old friend with a new renewable energy product in Turkey. And I didn't log one frequent flyer mile.

And none of us felt that the distance between us was a problem. Well, except for my dinner guest, who asked that I curb my enthusiasm and move back out of his personal space.

My wife, who is a psychologist, tells me that real relationships can't be formed inside the internet or telecommunications networks. I beg to differ--something I can do now that I'm not five time zones away from her. I have good friends and clients who are thousands of miles away. I met one last month when I was in Nuremberg, Germany. "So, after all these years, I finally see what you look like," she said. "You're nothing like I expected."

Well, that might be a good thing, right?