“Working on Planes, Trains, and in Automobiles”
The Business of Furniture - 8/03/16 Edition
Stephen Says Column

 Dear Stephen, 

 
 I travel a lot for work and it seems like I am always sitting near someone who has a laptop open and is doing work -- especially when I’m on a plane. I get it, but a recent experience gave me pause. On my flight back from Chicago last week I saw an entire legal firm’s cases against a major pharmaceutical company. The lawyers weren’t using screen protectors, and I didn’t even have to pretend I wasn’t reading it. 
 
 This week on the Acela from New York to D.C., I was sitting next to a sales manager from a computer software company who was writing employee reviews and reviewing sales figures. I half thought to myself how crazy it was that everyone was worrying about hacks. I wouldn’t have needed to hack Hillary Clinton’s server to see all her e-mails. I only would’ve needed to sit next to one of her aides on the train. The information is out there for all to see. 
 
 Sometimes the snooping is more interesting, like the time I could see a young woman must have caught her boyfriend cheating. 
 
 From what I could read, they lived together, and she traveled for business and came back early to surprise him and found her best friend with him. I could read just about every word and it looked like she was taking the blame and apologizing for not being affectionate enough and pouring her heart out. 
 
 The Long Island Railroad, which I take when I work locally, is essentially the same, although I have less time to get acquainted with the stories. On a longer flight from New York to L.A., I can learn a lawyer’s client’s entire legal strategy, maybe get a stock tip if I’m sitting next to a broker or hedge fund guy, or pick up a sales strategy. The irony is, I don’t hear so much as a peep from the person sitting there. Not that I need that, but no one talks to each other on the plane anymore, yet I seem to have learned all their business secrets during the trip. 
 
 Usually I’m in coach, but sometimes I upgrade to first class, and no matter where I sit, I find information. Obviously, if I were working with any of these people, I’d be furious at how easy they’re making it for strangers to read over their shoulders. All of this makes me wonder about the way I conduct my business and how the people I work with conduct their business. There must be a safe way to do work while traveling. How can I make sure my work is protected from prying eyes?
 
 -Snooping on Planes, Trains and Automobiles
 

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 Dear Snooping on Planes, Trains and Automobiles

 
 On planes, trains or in automobiles, you really need to be aware of your surroundings and what you are working on. I’ve noticed the exact same behavior on planes and trains, and in NYC I do not even understand how people can think talking business in elevators of office buildings is an acceptable practice. I can be in an airline club and hear a company’s entire sales strategy or a juicy story about someone having an affair at work.
 
 When I see this sort of carelessness on an airplane, I just shake my head. I, like you, often spend much of my airtime spying on intriguing business writings or reading over the shoulder of someone who is writing about going through a divorce or the lawyer who is handling it. I don’t need the small televisions; just sit me next to an interesting person with bad privacy practices. I absorb it like a sponge. And like you, I make it no secret I am reading along.
 
 If you decide to work in public, assume the public is watching. Personally, I love being a voyeur, especially when it’s on a plane or train in the business world. Now, I have yet to read or hear any gossip or kernel of a business plan related to anyone I know professionally, but sooner or later it seems inevitable, in the same way that it seems inevitable you’ll run into an ex on a date -- even New York City is too small.
 
 I write about this in my book “Bulletproof Your Job” (Harper Collins) and explain that confidentiality is so important because whatever you blab about or write about becomes gossip that is gold to someone else. All of this is obvious enough, but there can be real consequences. The answer is simple. I appreciate that as a hard-working, conscientious employee, you feel like you’re saving time by getting more work done on the plane, and I know that as a boss you think how great it is to have your employee working away while flying on your dime. But if people are working in these environments, the reality is you’ll never really know if you’re giving away corporate (or state) secrets.
 
 I give my employees a directive to never ever conduct our private corporate business on an airplane, a train or in public anywhere, especially when using public WIFI. Everyone is quick to talk about work-life balance, and, to me, whether you’re commuting to and from work or travelling on business, that’s the employee’s time to decompress, unplug and read a good book or watch a good movie. Although you may be losing some productivity in theory, you’re adding a level of professionalism that should be standard operating practice.
 
 That old adage, “loose lips sink ships,” is not just an old wives’ tale, it has real meaning. And just because your ship has yet to be sunk, doesn’t mean the next leak won’t send you spiraling down to the bottom of the ocean. Honestly, if the leak comes from a snooping stranger, you’ll never know. In a world of leaks and hacks, we’re constantly reminded the lengths to which some people will go to extract information from our personal devices. If you’re writing about all of this on your computer in plain sight of God and all his creations, you are giving away all of this information for nothing. Triple encryption means very little if you don’t have a privacy screen. Now that smartphones are ubiquitous, it just takes a moment for someone to snap a picture. Working hard is one thing, but think about if you’re working smart.
 
 More and more clients and people with whom you might do business are becoming concerned about leaks of confidential information. To be competitive in this economy, it’s imperative to keep your confidential business confidential, and you should make sure information protection is a top priority of all other members of your team. In a world where people are trying so hard to find sensitive information, why make it easy for them? If you must work in public, work carefully, use a privacy screen and take care of the most boring, least confidential jobs on your to-do list. The only foolproof solution though is to not work in public. Make people like me use our little TVs.
 
 Stephen
 
 You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press.
 
 Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global executive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @WorkplaceGuru, Like Stephen on Facebook; and follow him on LinkedIn.