The Power of Pulling the Plug
Beyond Community Table every Wednesday at Babson, we now host Thursday Tables in Boston and this Friday will launch our once-a-month series in New York City with local partners Foodmaker Media and NYU’s Food Studies Program. We are excited about how quickly the model has spread, and encouraged by the warm and enthusiastic response.
But on a pretty regular basis, people reply to invitations to Community Table with one of the following:
Can I phone or Skype in?
Can you send me notes from the meeting?
Do you ever film these discussions?
We certainly appreciate the interest, but find ourselves wondering what actual value any of these options would provide. We believe that sometimes – Community Table being one time – there is simply no replacement for in-person, fully attentive human-to-human interaction.
Good Business Fridays follows the Community Table model. At last week’s discussion, Professor Fritz Fleischmann described the quality of being off-line together as “not necessarily efficient, but absolutely effective. Communities like this help people to push boundaries in their thinking and action that sitting in front of a computer, no matter the resources available, simply cannot.”
Serial entrepreneur and Babson alumnus Vik Kapoor calls Community Table “a great refresh on my day. Taking time out to share questions and ideas and perspective is always valuable.”
And, isn’t there enough online content anyway?
For those of you in New York this Friday (March 14), Community Table runs from 11-1:00 p.m. – and we have a few spots left!
So for you food-focused Babson alumni and Blended Learning MBAs, considering unplugging for 90 minutes to feed your mind the “old school” way.
Email Rachel Greenberger (rgreenberger1@babson.edu) for details.