A while back I heard about "that guy with the nametag". He wrote a book called HELLO, MY NAME IS SCOTT . Scott Ginsberg, who has been wearing a nametag 24/7 since November 2000 (and even has a nametag tattooed on his chest), advocates wearing nametags to help you become friendlier and more approachable to people. It sounded like an interesting concept to me, so today I wore a nametag.
I picked a busy day for this Thing so that my nametag would be really noticeable. It's no fun trying to be different if no one will notice. I had a meeting to attend, and a half-dozen other stops to make. Before I left the house, I printed my name on the nametag and stuck it on my shirt.
I don't think that in my short experiment, the nametag made me more approachable to people. One person in my meeting asked why I had it on, and Tony asked at the end of the day. No one in the stores I shopped in commented on it. I started up conversations with the same number of people I usually do, and did the same amount of chit-chatting.
For a while I actually forgot it was there. I introduced myself to a couple of people at my meeting; they were nice enough not to tell me that they already KNEW what my name was because it was on my chest!
Here's an interview with Scott from 2003, where he explains how the whole nametag idea started:
I have a professionally made nametag that looks similar to something you would see a bank employee wearing. All of us in the department had them made years ago, and I pull mine out for fieldtrips. I am amazed at the number of people who will comment not on my name, but my place of employment. try that next time, put your title, or workplace name on the tag. Bet you get lots of comments.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried to intentionally do this but I was at a job conference a week or two ago and we had to wear nametags (they also had the name of the company on it) I didn't get any more hellos from people although I did get some sidelong glances. Overall it made me feel a little weird to be walking around with my name on my chest.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link love!
ReplyDeleteHappy Nametagging!