I’ve always tried to approach business travel from the point of view of the traveler, rather than that of the travel trade. Which means identifying with the traveler as a manager, an executive, struggling to survive in the Organization. Travel is just one more stress factor – thanks to congestion, hassle, degrading experiences at airports, and all manner meanness and injustice, thanks to the War on Terror, which creates ever more terror throughout the world.
Back in the old days, the road warrior could depart fairly gratefully from the office and look forward to the prospect of an enjoyable, purposeful, trip and the ability to focus on what he or she needed to achieve. You could escape more or less in peace from the corporate Kremlin.
Nowadays, thanks to information technology, the traveling executive is both enabled and obliged to do two jobs at the same time – the one on the road and the one back at the office.
So I was intrigued the other day with an invitation to link up in some way with a new venture in the UK – Diggory Lifestyle Management, with the strapline, ‘Taking care of business.’ Diggory is an online ‘concierge’ service designed to support execs – especially management consultants – in their personal and office lives.
Dee Hope, founder and managing director of Diggory, says: ‘At Diggory, we believe in making things easier. We take the busy out of business, and put the person back into personal life. Through unparalleled experience, quality service and robust systems, we run your life – so you can enjoy it.’
That’s a big promise. But having met and corresponded with this personable, dynamic lady, I think this may be one of those proverbial ideas whose time has come.
Meanwhile, check out Diggory at www.diggorylifestyle.co.uk.