Teaching my Grandpa How to Use a Flip Phone

When I was a young adult, my grandpa lived with our family and I was his personal flip phone tech support. I must’ve walked him through how to answer and place a call more times than I can count.

To him, it was frustrating. To me, it was funny….and sometimes a little frustrating.

He didn’t grow up with cell phones. Or computers. Or internet. And by the time tech arrived in his life, it wasn’t an opportunity but instead an obstacle.

I Made a Promise to Myself

I also come from a time before smartphones. Before Google. Before email.

Back when pay phones were how you checked in, and “logging in” meant showing up in person.

Technology isn’t something I was born into, it’s something I had to choose to learn. Again and again.

Watching my grandpa struggle with something so basic to me, I made a quiet promise:

I will always lean into the newest of the new tech. Because I never want to get left behind. I want to stay sharp, stay useful, and stay relevant.

That promise to myself still shapes where I put my attention.

Now I See It in Business

Years later, I’m seeing the same dynamic play out but it’s not grandpas and flip phones anymore. It’s executives and AI. Platforms. Dashboards. Automations. Integrations.

People are confused. Intimidated. And too many are choosing not to lean in. They dismiss the tools that would give them speed, clarity, and a competitive edge.

They delegate the tech learning and with it, the leadership. And that decision? It’s a threat to your relevance. A drag on your team’s momentum. A slow bleed on innovation.

Leadership Isn’t a Lifetime Pass

Your past wins don’t buy you immunity from the next wave of change.

Leadership used to be about decisiveness, confidence, and experience. That still matters but now, adaptability is the ticket to the table.

You don’t need to be an engineer or build your own automation stack.

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

We’re in a velocity era now. Tools evolve monthly. Teams evolve weekly. The leaders who thrive are the ones who stay curious even when they don’t understand it yet.

If you’re not the most tech-savvy person in the room, fine. But be the most coachable. The most curious. The most adaptive.

The one who says:

• “Walk me through that automation, what problem does it solve?”
• “If I wanted to learn this platform myself, where would I start?”
• “What’s the one tool we’re not using that could double our speed?”

Because the minute you stop learning, you stop leading.

Lean In

For my grandpa, that flip phone wasn’t just new, it was a wall. A reminder that the world had moved on, and he had to ask someone else just to keep up.

I never wanted to feel that way. And I don’t want today’s leaders to either. So I’ll leave you with this:

Are you still laughing at the flip phone… or have you become it?