Apparently the new governor of New York limits his e-mails pretty much to the words “call me”. It is something that I try to emphasise to my staff all of the time and that is, that you get very much less done by e-mail or SMS compared to either meeting a person face to face, or picking up the telephone and having a phone call with them.

I love the recent article in the New York Times about Cuomo’s style in terms of making phone calls, that he is never rushed, that he very seldom keeps you on hold with his secretary but calls you directly and he never puts you on hold. If the governor of New York has time to do that, the rest of us should make the time. Sometimes staff tries to rely on e-mailing things, and hoping that the other person will reply or trying to sort out their problems by continuous back and forth e-mails. At a time like that, I normally jump in, pick up the phone and sort out the problem. Mr Cuomo in an interview said, “I am not an e-mail person, you don’t get context, you don’t get emotion and you don’t get a connection.”