Smart Steps

Thomas Davenport

Director
Institute for Strategic Change at Accenture
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Five years ago, a lack of material and financial assets limited success in business. Today, ideas and human attention are the limiting factors. People talk about a frictionless commerce, but the information glut has made human inattention the friction in commerce. Like everybody else in our society, I am suffering from information anxiety. I am overcome by the knowledge flow, and to keep up with it, I've practically had to learn how to be less reflective. We've lost focus in the current economy, and it's only going to get worse. So pay attention; the ability to concentrate is the most valuable resource in business today.

You only have so many seconds of attention to give to your work and to your personal life. Think seriously about what you think is worthwhile, what isn't, and what difference it all makes. Be engaged -- don't just let waves of information wash over you.

We live in a browsing society that focuses on the shallowest, most hype-oriented aspects of life. Nobody goes deeply into any topic. It's bound to mean that we're not making the best decisions in the areas that matter most to us.

Thomas Davenport (thomas.h.davenport@ac.com) is the director of the Institute for Strategic Change at Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, and is a distinguished scholar in residence at Babson College. His book on attention management, The Attention Economy, is scheduled to be published in April by Harvard Business School Press. In FC 1, November 1995, Davenport wrote "The Fad That Forgot People."

Mike Abrashoff

Founder
Grassroots Leadership LLC
Boston, Massachusetts

More than ever, it's critical that leaders figure out how to motivate and energize their workforce. You have to work at creating the right climate for your organization. Ultimately, your people will produce the results; you need to produce the vision and put the mechanisms in place to support those people.

Before I took command of the USS Benfold, I decided to focus my full attention on my people. I wanted to treat everyone the same by genuinely engaging whomever I talked to. By working at what I call "being here now" for that person, I began to understand the awesome power that I hold. I fully realized my impact on my people. Today, if someone doesn't comply with my wishes, I want to figure out why. I first look inward and ask myself three questions: Am I clearly articulating the goal? Am I giving that person enough training to accomplish the job? Am I giving that person enough time and tools to get the job done? When I don't get my desired result, I've found that 80% of the time the answer to one of those three questions provides me with a reason why.

Recruit your people every day, even though your crew is already on board. You have to grow your people to grow your business -- especially in sluggish times. I'm not some charitable organization. Growing my people is a cold, hard business decision to compete in today's rapid-fire economy. We play to win.

Mike Abrashoff (mike@grassrootsleadership.com) recently founded Grassroots Leadership LLC, a leadership-consulting firm. Previously, he was the deputy director for Global Information and Network Systems. In 1997, he served as the commander of the USS Benfold, which was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of contingency operations with Iraq. That same year, the ship won the prestigious Spokane Trophy for having the best combat readiness in the fleet. His book, It's Your Ship: A Lesson in the Art of Grassroots Leadership, is scheduled to be published later this year by Warner Books. Abrashoff previously appeared in FC 23, April 1999 ("Grassroots Leadership").

Eric Schmidt

CEO and chairman
Novell Inc.
Provo, Utah

The most powerful thing that I've learned is how incredibly communications-centric and network-centric people are. As we have increased our ability to build networks, we have exploited those networks more quickly -- and in more interesting ways -- than anyone could have ever forecast. The rate at which fiber-optic capacity increases, the rate at which disk drives improve, and the rate at which Internet traffic and Web sites propagate doubles about every year. Compound that for even a few years, and you have enormous interconnection. It seems destined to be.

In general, the benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the costs. The most obvious advantage is that people with specific affinities can find one another around the world. For example, scientists who weren't able to communicate easily with one another can now exchange ideas and move their research forward more rapidly. As CEO, I can make a comment in Australia and get a response almost instantly from someone in the United States. It's odd to be on the global stage constantly, but the speed of communication does hold you more accountable.