Effective communication is never one sided, but that’s exactly what you get with email. One person writes and transmits; the receivers read and reply. These monologues are never, ever effective dialogues as there is a time delay that allows too much room for misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and miscommunication. Email strips away not only the tone, and too often the context, from the message, but it also removes the very essence of efficient and effective human conversation.

Is email bad? Of course not; it’s just poorly used by too many people. Salespeople, leaders, customer service staff, recruiters, and, for that matter, anyone in business can breathe new life into their relationships by simply picking up the phone or meeting with someone for a brief dialogue.

Email is not a form or communication; it’s a means of transmission and documentation.We’d all do well to use it just for transmitting a contract or proposal, or sending one to two sentences, at most, to schedule a meeting or confirm a time for a call. Otherwise, let’s all have real conversations, versus the fakery that poses for one in our emails inboxes.