The 2011 season of HBO’s True Blood is coming this summer and the vampire lovers in the office are buzzing about the possibilities of the opening episode. In last year’s season opening episode, the mobile phone carrying Vampire Queen ignores the advice of one her underlings to “discuss other options”. She promptly picks him up by the throat, issues her command and clearly explains the fatal consequences of disobedience. She departs in that swooshy vampire way and the camera zooms in on the underling. It is obvious – to him and viewers – that her hasty decision could lead to her downfall.

A few months ago, in the heat of business battle, I sent an email and then desperately searched for the ‘recall’ function on my iPhone (there isn’t one.) By contrast, after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, aides found his desk drawer stuffed with letters expressing anger and frustration that he wrote – and never sent – to the incompetent General McClelland. The idea that we must reclaim think time and reflection as a stand against a culture that demands immediacy is a trend almost as big as the vampire phenomenon. In Rapt, Winifred Gallagher teaches us that by taking charge of our attention, we improve our experiences, increase our concentration, and lift our spirits. In Consider, Daniel Forrester shows us how the flood of data and the ease of communications afforded by technology have led to snap decision making and that our best insights, ideas and outcomes result when we take sufficient time to think and reflect.

Does this mean we should drop our keyboards and pick up quill and ink again? No. (Where would we find that stuff anyway?) These writers are telling us the same things our grandparents would tell us: Slow down. Take a few yoga breaths. Look around you. Remember the past. Remind yourself of the things that will be important next year not just next week. Then, decide and act.

When it comes to patience and a measured response, the Lincoln standard is beyond most of us. However, since I don’t have a desk drawer to store my letters and do want to avoid the true death, I think I will start using my Draft folder more often.

James Heughens, SVP, General Manager at Organic