As you probably guessed from the tag line in the header of this blog…at least if you get it as a web page, and if not, look here…I am extremely interested in the ideas around attention. I’m even writing a book that might have the tag line as its title: Pay Attention · Add Value · Have Fun
The ability to Pay Attention is critical to creativity and executive success but it’s really how you Pay Attention and what you Pay Attention to rather than attention itself that is the issue. Most important is understanding that paying attention is not the same thing as being focused.
Focus keeps you aimed in one direction, aligned towards a goal or objective. Paying attention is expansive and involves monitoring the big picture as well as overseeing the details. Creativity and success come from the ability to notice what’s happening around you and take advantage of it…to grow and adapt as circumstances change.
Julia Sloan wrote what is probably the leading book on creative strategic thinking: Learning To Think Strategically. As part of her research she interviewed many CEOs of multinational companies. It turns out that they share the characteristic of knowing how to pay attention expansively…and use what they notice to guide their strategic thinking.
A key component of success turns out to be expanding your experiences. And the best way to do this is…travel, lots of travel. But not travel in a cocoon of sycophants. Travel where you get out and walk around with regular people, visit places as different from your normal life as possible, continually find new places to explore, talk to people about their daily problems…and hopes.
The skill for success is sifting through all the experiences and learning how to Pay Attention to the critical ideas you hear while ignoring all the noise that surrounds them…focusing in on what makes the difference. And then letting this knowledge guide your decisions and help you take advantage of changing conditions.
Go someplace new and different…and Pay Attention.
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