Could Open Email Work for You?

Having a morning chat with JP Rangaswami, who will be on a panel session with me today at the Cutter Summit. JP has adopted an unusual approach to email.

JP has set up a stringent approach to filtering his email. He throws all email where he is CC’d directly into the trash. Basically, he only reads email directed to him, alone. Of course, for this to have any influence on people’s behavior, he has to loudly and regularly let others know that he is doing this.

More interestingly, he has opened access to his email to his staff. By treating his email as an open forum, he has found that his associates are more involved in his interactions with others. He has found that they can use this — particularly his sent mail — is a great learning opportunity.

I am personally not in a position to leverage this thinking, being a soloist, not an executive in a large company like JP is. But I can see how revolutionary open email could be in a historically closed and secretive corporate context.