"His staff filters important messages, prints them out and puts them on his chair for review" A desire to filter out noise and apply their attention in a selec

"His staff filters important messages, prints them out and puts them on his chair for review" A desire to filter out noise and apply their attention in a selective manner is probably the biggest motivation to avoid email. At this level, I imagine people would like to receive a concise written or spoken summary, think about the content, discuss it with the relevant people and then make a decision. Since they control their own time, and have staff to respond to "tactical emergencies," they're free to organize their schedule and staff in order to optimize the decision-making process.