I used to stay away overnight for business, when the kids were young. Jane was often jealous. No screaming and getting up in the night. The hard work argument never cut it, and to be honest, she was right. When home, I often brought the kids a small gift. A pad, a pen or the girls liked the free toiletries in the hotel.

Recently I brought them a pen each, free from a customer. The oldest being 12 and the youngest being 5 the response was, Thanks so much Daddy, but it does not have a rubber nib, I cannot use it on my iPad”. What? Really?

Even free pens, the go-to last minutes gift of the stay away parent, stolen from the hotel cannot escape the technological advance. What happened to kids just drawing, doodling and drawing those great pictures of the stick men family – with mummy having a bigger middle body than Daddy (love them – kept them all).

Nope, not anymore, my 5-year-old tried to expand a magazine page with his fingers to zoom in the other day. It is all they have known, and from 5 to 12 or 25 years old, from kids to the staff you are recruiting, the odds are they will know more about technology than you, and certainly me.

My daughter is communicating with friends with texts, snaps and grams, and yes some are boys. In the future, staff will be recruited, interviewed, searched and selected with a digital footprint. I cannot read the map that well and struggle to parent never mind lead a business. However, like the old tale about two men running from a Lion, I do not need to outrun the Lion, just the other guy.

If your main competitor understands technology more than you, the Lion will get you first.
We can give you a lift.

WSC February 2018