Book Review: Before You Hit Send: Preventing Headache and Heartache by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

How often in this quick-paced world of email and online collaboration have you hit send and regretted it about 2 minutes later? In my case, I still blush thinking about a couple of times that this happened and wish I could take that send command back. While computers have their advantages and online collaboration has made working with groups in other countries and other regions of the USA so much easier, we are IT-workers and IT-dependent works still need some adjusting to this interconnectivity. Looking at our current president, probably a good example that tweets, even with misspellings, have a tendency to somehow survive, even if only as a screenshot.

If we make a mistake within our family, we may be forgiven, but as professionals, forgiveness is reserved to a few lucky few and embarassment is not something anyone of us wants to suffer as a result of an email error. Due diligence with email, computers, social networks, some things are hard to learn and that is one thing for sure.

Early on in law school I was introduced to the concept of netiquette and this book can be added to the ever growing body of documentation on how to adjust to the online world of communication. Email is just words, not emotions and no facial expressions. A joke may not be clear to someone reading the email and voila another notch on the embarrassment scale and lessons learned for the future.

This book is intended to help people navigate the world of email, social networking and avoiding the pitfalls of sending something that is ambiguous or wrong too early.The author is touching on four basic points that are part of every communication:

• Is it true?
• Is it kind?
• Is it necessary?
• Is it clear?

I would argue that the last point, is it clear, is really critical. Email and online communication is all about speed, but we still need to be clear in the absence of facial expressions or gestures. So choosing out words wisely and being clear about what we want to express and how we want to express it are critical.

This book is a must read for everyone that needs to navigate this online world as part of work and feels that some guidance is needed on how to navigate the use of email safely. 

available on amazon.com

Disclaimer: I received a free product in exchange for an honest review. The opinion expressed is solely my own and has not been influenced by any third party.