Road Warriors Getting Squeezed

I like to travel. But I hate traveling by plane. You know the complaints - the security, the second bag charge, the lack of space on the plane, the bogus delays and cancellations. My favorite video on overseas flights is the one that gives in-seat exercise tips for happy fliers. The smiling passenger bends over and touches her toes, then lifts her arms and does little swirly motions. As I watch, I'm so tightly squeezed into my seat I not only can't touch my toes, I'm forced to take shallow breaths. I'm not sure if the video is a cruel joke or a sociopsychology experiment. 

I don't know how you road warriors do it. Some of the authors we work with are on the road half the year. Our 50TopCoaches co-host, Marshall Goldsmith makes it sound easy. Go light on the clothes, only use carry-on bags, eat before you fly. But for most business travelers I think things are a bit more grim. 

Apparently, it's only going to get worse with the economic downturn and rise in energy prices. According to the NY Times, "scrutiny on travel has increased dramatically." Meaning fewer business class flights, fewer luxury hotels, more meetings squeezed into each trip, ad nauseam. 

New "travel management technology" is supposed to help alleviate some of the pressure. But somehow, I doubt it. Road warriors seem pretty efficient already. Instead, I think new communication technology will be the answer. Instead of traveling to conferences or meetings, we'll participate virtually. We're not going to see the end of all business travel, but I believe a serious curbing is on the horizon. CISCO Systems, for example, has a goal of reducing all business travel by 20 percent, and they're developing the communication technology to make that plausible. Not only will it alleviate the squeeze on road warriors but it will help reduce energy consumption, too. 

Peter Tertzakian talks about how energy prices are changing our work lives in his webinar on October 29. He's got compelling things to say about how we're going to get ourselves out of the squeeze we're in right now. It's been rough lately in corporate America. Analysts like Peter help explain what's going on and where we're headed.