Pay Attention!

I was walking through a client's hallways recently, getting a bit worn down by the sameness of the cubes, when I spotted a statement on a whiteboard that's stuck with me for a few days.  On the white board, in big, messy handwriting, was the statement:

A wealth of information leads to a poverty of attention.

Often we believe that we need more information.  In any circumstance we'll be presented with a list of options or decisions and demand more information to use to make a decision.  On top of this information is the amount of information that is flying by us every day, in many forms, written, oral and on the web.  As the number of information portals increases, and the range and types of information increase, we reach a tipping point where there's simply too much information, and instead of using information to make decisions we are seeking ways to identify the most important and relevant information.

However, at the same time, information about a host of other issues or circumstances is flowing our way.  Distinguishing between relevant and useless information in this stream of information is almost impossible, and many of us are reduced to snatching at information or narrowing our filters to receive and ignore information that may be helpful but just overwhelm.

The point of the statement is that what we are missing - what many of us lack in today's working environment - is not enough information, but enough attention to the important things.  We've migrated from decision makers who had to "go with their guts" and could focus their attention on important things, to those who simply cannot (and will not) get enough information and who are distracted by the search and analysis of information, rather than focusing the right amount of attention and effort on any particular problem.

The poverty of attention means that many important opportunities are bypassed simply because the search for information and the analysis of the information found seems more important.  Perhaps the right question to ask ourselves in any information gathering exercise is:  what the the minimum amount of information necessary to make this decision, and what opportunities are we willing to forego to gather that information and make the decision.  Or, perhaps we should ask what opportunities we miss due to a poverty of attention.

Comments

[reema]

wonderful post

[Everything Counts]

Success lies in the details. Everything you say; every thought you entertain; and everything you do has a direction, which serves as an advance or a retreat in respect to your pursuit of excellence. Everything, regardless of size or intent, has bottom-line consequences; therefore, everything counts — this is the golden rule of excellence.

[Mike Marn]

Excellent. I'm as guilty as anyone. Information gathering has a way of becoming the end in itself, perhaps in the hope that if we can just collect ENOUGH info, the decision will make itself and be risk-free. Truth is, it often does -- by allowing someone else to beat us to it, and we've no decision left to make. Every decision can't be a "gut" decision, but making a timely one often requires guts.