Have We Become Attention Deficit Tacticians?

by Janice Giannini

As a trusted business consultant and advisor, Janice has been helping clients achieve their stretch goals and create a new normal since 2005. She engages with senior executives and teams, particularly in complex businesses where misalignment is blocking their desired success, to develop and execute practical business strategies and plans. Clients have found her especially helpful when they recognize they must integrate an eagle’s eye and worm’s eye view in order to identify and remove obstacles. Janice has consistently taken on those challenges that others chose to run from. This typically involves those challenging times when failure is not an option and integrating business, technology and people changes must be accomplished simultaneously. As a result, many of her clients are complex organizations who won't settle for anything less than developing widespread professional competence.

I had the opportunity recently to attend the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Leadership Forum. Our guest speaker was Susan Eisenhower, President of the Eisenhower Group and granddaughter of President Dwight D Eisenhower. Susan provides strategic counsel on political, business, and public affairs policies. For almost a decade, she has been involved with our nation’s strategic energy policies in one capacity or another.

As Susan outlined the challenges we face at the 50,000 foot level, it became immediately clear that we need a strategic, long term focus. I believe she shared with us that over the next 10 to 15 years, global energy needs will likely increase by 50%. In the US alone they are estimated to increase by 35%. In order to meet this burgeoning need, it will probably require that we address some unpopular solutions.

Susan's perspective is that we have become a nation of tacticians vs strategists. One needs only to reflect on headlines today to understand. One might also opine that as we become a nation of "attention deficit tacticians", we will struggle with maintaining the focus needed to implement a viable solution.

Why am I including this in our newsletter? As I sat back that day, thinking and chuckling a little about attention deficit tacticians- I realized that it can be a contagious disease.

Are you running your company or enterprise with a balance of short/mid/and long term focus? Are you so focused on the here-and-now, and addressing the problems of the day, that there isn’t enough focus left over for "strategic vision"? More importantly, if you looked through the lens of longer term, would you, in fact, behave differently, prioritize differently, and implement differently to at least enable a pathway to tomorrow?

In these potentially uncertain times, what is the balance needed? We will get through these times. The question is, are we doing what we need to do to emerge stronger and economically vital, or are we just getting through and telling ourselves we’ll worry about it later? Answer, decide and act accordingly.