Chat Room: LIFE AFTER WATER COOLERS

Remember the game of "telephone"? You whisper something to a friend, who whispers it to the next kid, who whispers it to the next, and on and on. A message that begins: "There are three bugs in Susan's soup" inevitably ends up something like "Hair and tree bugs live in Susan's coupe." The nonsense is a lot of fun, but this kind of communication snafu may hit a bit too close to home if you're among the growing number of execs trying to manage and motivate virtual teams.