Gadgets

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by Susan Lyne, Gilt Groupe

My BlackBerry is my best friend. I honestly don't know how I lived without a BlackBerry because I am not a phone person. I mean, I hate getting calls at home. I've never been someone who liked to chat on the phone. I'd rather not take calls at the office if I don't have to, and a BlackBerry is such an efficient way to communicate. You don't have to do the five minutes of chatter at the beginning. You don't have to make the lunch date. It's just a wonderful thing.

This answer originally appeared in Want to Talk to the Chief? Book Your Half-Hour»

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by Brian Dunn, Best Buy

I'm a gadget freak. I love my gadgets and I've got to tell you why. Many pundits will write that we need to go back into a quieter and simpler time and the technology is separating us. I think that actually the technology brings us together, if we use it right. We can become prisoners to it if we don't. I want to give you a real-life example. My sons are big basketball freaks. My wife, too. So I'm in London and I can't sleep. It's 4 in the morning, so I go on NBA.com and I'm watching the Lakers and Utah game. And all of a sudden my little Skype video chirps, and it's my three sons on their computer talking to me and they're whispering. I said, "Why are you guys whispering?" And it's about 11 at night back home. They said, " 'cause Mom will kick our ass if she knows that we're up." And so I said: "Well if she walks in the room, click me off, man. Don't let her know I'm part of it." But I'm sitting there watching the game with the boys and the only thing I can't do is put my arm around them. I'm on the road 100 days a year, so those moments are really important.

This answer originally appeared in You Want Insights? Go to the Front Lines»

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by Gary E. McCullough, Career Education Corporation

I live by my BlackBerry, as most of us do. I do make it a point on Friday night to turn it off and I don't turn it on again until Sunday morning. I do that for a couple of reasons. One is, you have to try to separate at some point during the week. Anybody who needs me, whether it's a board member or one of my leaders, they know how to reach me if something comes up that's a crisis. The other reason I turn it off is because when things come in, if I respond, then I've got people in the organization who would see that I've responded on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. And the next thing I know, I have a response to my response at 8:15 and so it goes. And I want people to have a life.

This answer originally appeared in The Lesson of the 38 Candy Bars»

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by Daniel P. Amos, Aflac

I didn't think I would be. I didn't get on BlackBerry until maybe two years ago. I'm so hooked on it I can't stand it. If that red light goes on, I've got to know what's going on.

This answer originally appeared in Stumping for Votes, Every Day»

How do you break the habit?

Answered by Daniel P. Amos, Aflac

You leave it at home if you're going out to dinner or else get a divorce. I say that in jest, but really, I think you have to. I hate to leave it at home, but in our society, if the conversation lulls for a second -- then let me see what's happening in the world -- I'm not sure it's good for us.

This answer originally appeared in Stumping for Votes, Every Day»

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by Jacqueline Kosecoff, UnitedHealth Group

I am basically not a gadget person, but when I adopt a gadget I tend to be quite loyal, and I'm a BlackBerry user. One of the things I do -- that I don't see my colleagues do too often -- is read the manuals. In my early days, we used to create software products, and I was constantly trying to figure out how to write manuals that were easy to use. So I became an aficionado of manuals. I actually read the manuals and I usually know that on Page 17 it tells you how to do X, or Y or Z. And whether it's my car or the BlackBerry, or my GPS system, I read the manuals. Men aren't allowed to do this, I think; women can read manuals.

This answer originally appeared in The Divine, Too, Is in the Details»

Are you a gadget person?

Answered by John Donahoe, eBay

I couldn't do without my cellphone. I would love to do without my BlackBerry. On the one hand the BlackBerry's a productivity tool. On the other hand, it can be a very fragmenting thing. If I'm spending all day checking my BlackBerry, by definition I'm reactive. And so I try to only do e-mail first thing in the morning or in the evening, because I find if I check e-mail during the day, I go from being proactive about what I want to get accomplished that day to being reactive, and that's a bit of a trap. Being reactive is a lot easier than being proactive, and e-mail and the BlackBerry are natural tools to facilitate that.

This answer originally appeared in There's No Need to Bat .900»

And are you a gadget person -- BlackBerry, iPhone?

Answered by Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox Corporation

We're definitely a BlackBerry company and, yes, the answer is I'm totally addicted and rude and typing under the table during dinner with the family -- all the horrible behaviors that I thought I'd never do. But it is great. I used to work a lot more weekends in the office. I'm kind of glass-half-full here, and believe that BlackBerrys and all the remote capabilities that we've got now probably give me more flexibility than I ever have had before. I'm not tied to a desk or tied to an office, and that's much more conducive for the way I prefer to work.

This answer originally appeared in The Keeper of That Tapping Pen»

Do you have a favorite gadget?

Answered by Greg Brenneman, CCMP Capital

I'm pretty addicted to the BlackBerry. I love the iPhone technology, and I'd like to find a way to switch completely to Apple because I think they've so figured out computing. It's hard in business to make that leap when you've distributed systems that use I.B.M. and Microsoft so much. But I'm pretty addicted to that BlackBerry. I started taking them away in meetings at Quiznos, but the C.F.O. there is just addicted to it, beyond probably what most people are, and he was just watching that light, and he wouldn't answer it because I said you couldn't answer your BlackBerry in this meeting. But he'd look at the light and the light would drive him nuts, so I had him turn it over. And then, of course, I took it. He was doodling during the meeting as we were talking, and when he got up to leave the room I grabbed the paper he was doodling on, and he had doodled a complete, to scale, picture of a BlackBerry. Subconsciously, he doodled one while we were sitting in the meeting. That's how addicted he was to it. I actually still have this. I'm going to give it to him framed. The technology can become a bit of a slave driver. It is so efficient, though. What I like is when the plane's coming down, you can actually get the messages coming in and you can answer them while you're taxiing in, and then you're done. That piece of it is really nice.

This answer originally appeared in Can You Pass a C.E.O. Test?»