Do not – repeat – do not send stupid, overly emotional, inappropriate emails.
Have you ever sent an email that you wish you hadn’t? Of course you have. And I stand guilty as charged myself. I’m not just talking about an incomplete one, or hitting the Send key before proof reading typos or such. Everyone has done that! What I am referring to is the REALLY stupid ones that could come back to bite you big time. Like ones that are sent:
- In anger,
- Without thinking through the ramifications,
- That could hurt you or your firm’s brand (read: marketing damage), and
- Heaven forbid, any of the above sent to a client (read: marketing disaster).
Other email blunders include “I really shouldn’t put this in writing” or “I could get in trouble for telling you this.” Those are a couple of Bernadette Bulacan’s favorites posted over on Legal Current as takeaways from the recent 2012 Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting in Orlando. Her favorite though was “DELETE THIS EMAIL IMMEDIATELY.”(Yeah, right!!!)
So, type, read, correct, review again…..and then maybe send it. But before you do, ask yourself would I be uncomfortable (as in break out in a cold sweat) if a client saw it or it appeared on the front page of The New York Times.
If so, it is a DUMB e-mail.