Memory Loss Drains Business Resources

March 8, 2006 — -- What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name David Letterman? If you're not a late-night Letterman devotee, your first thought might be his famous routine at the Academy Awards where he had the crowd chanting "Uma and Oprah." If this is your prime memory of him, chances are pretty good that you remember he bombed.

I recently heard an interview with Jon Stewart as a lead-up to his night as host of the Oscars. He watched the show as part of his preparation and said that Letterman got a huge laugh when he added Keanu to the bit.

But of course, no one remembers that Keanu laugh, and that got me thinking about how fragile our main resource -- our memories -- is at work

Don't believe me? The proof is right there on your business card. Look at the phone number. When Ma Bell was setting up the phone system, it chose seven numbers for a very specific reason. Research showed that was the maximum number of digits we could remember at one time. If you think that this underestimates our brain power, think back to the last time that you tried to remember someone's phone number. If you are like me, today even seven numbers is more than an already full brain can handle.

With all our hard drives (in our head, that is) overworked and overwhelmed, work often presents us with some interesting challenges. Take, for example, the people you feud with there. Admit it, if you are like most of us, you probably have at least one or two.

Ask yourself what started the bad blood. I did this exercise a few years ago and, remarkably, I couldn't remember why I went all Hatfield and McCoy on people at work. I dare you to explore your broken relationships to see how many are off-track. and you don't even remember why.

The "Uma, Oprah and Keanu" phenomenon points out that what we remember might not always be the full recollection of what really happened. And our feuds remind us that we often forget what went wrong with key relationships at work.