What triggers your ADD? For many of us, fear is the number one trigger. Fear of a difficult task, a negative outcome or an unpleasant encounter makes us look for any new candidate for our time and attention. The only requirement for the new thing is that it feel less stressful.

We’ll write more on this topic at the ADDexecutive, but let’s start with this quote from Frank Herbert’s Dune. Dune is known as a work of science fiction, but it spends a significant fraction of its time discussing business, economics, and the leadership mind:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

– Frank Herbert, in Dune

‘Be Quick But Don’t Hurry.’ By that, I meant make a decision, take action; decide what you’re going to do and do it. Keep this word of caution in mind: ‘Failure to act is often the biggest failure of all’.

– John Wooden, from his website CoachJohnWooden.com

“Be Quick But Don’t Hurry” is usually quoted by itself, without extra explanation from the coach.  For the ADDexec, the “don’t hurry” part may be the most important part of Wooden’s advice.  But the full explanation has value, too.  Especially when unmanaged attention fails to engage the gears of action.

Coach Wooden is widely regarded as the best coach in the history of college basketball. After winning ten national championships at UCLA, Wooden has also emerged as a voice of leadership and ethical behavior. His most-frequently quoted advice is the title of his new book.

Available at Amazon: Be Quick But Don’t Hurry

Bad signage contributes to more people getting lost than a poor sense of direction. Consider the times that you failed to see a sign because it was too small or obscurely placed. Or stood baffled before a directory that was illogically organized and badly lit. In the realm of graphic information, wayfinding systems abide by their own set of rules. Many typefaces that are easy to read on a printed page are frustrating to make out in signage. The same goes for colors. This is why some designers and their clients are chagrined to find that the system that looked so stunning in miniature mock-up failed miserably when installed at actual size. [For guidance on how to do things the right way, a] recommended source is “Wayfinding: People, Signs and Architecture” by Paul Arthur and Romedi Passini (Focus Strategic Communications Inc.)

From: @issue The Journal of Business and Design, Fall 2005

Our businesses may not have to worry about wayfaring and road signage, but are there other ways we make it hard for people to see what we want them to see, and to find their way to the place or message we want them to get to? “Signage” has analogues in many things we do: from the way we organize our speeches, write our reports, or “sell” our plans. To build good signage, we need clear thinking, we need clear commitment to our message, and we need consideration for our audience. Failure to give good signs may be a symptom of missing something even more important.

How effectively you allocate your attention in traffic is influenced by your emotional state at the moment. …

Learning to allocate our attention more proficiently while driving is an attitude. …

Improving visual attention skills is not limited to novice or elderly drivers. These skills can be developed over a lifetime.

Professional trainers believe that we can improve our attention skills year after year. However, most drivers do nothing to hone their skills during long hours in the car. Many drivers assume that their attention skills are adequately developed; they have become comfortable with their day-to-day driving challenges. This familiarity promotes a sense of immunity from accidents. Some drivers don’t recognize the value in attention training because they assume this training is intended only for professional drivers. Others simply don’t believe that such an easily acquired skill can yield a large payoff.

– from Disciplined Attention: How to Improve Your Visual Attention When You Drive by Kenneth Mills, PhD (2005)

In reading this book, I was surprised at how much of the text about attention in driving seemed entirely relevant to attention in managing our businesses and ourselves. Two themes in the book seemed most apt for transfer to the business world:

(1) “Paying attention to paying attention” is a critical attitude.

(2) Attention management is a trainable skill — not a “you have it or you don’t” talent.

Disciplined Attention is a resource book used for various “traffic school” programs in North Carolina and elsewhere. The book draws on two highly but differently qualified pools of experts: (1) cognitive psychologists who study how the brain and body work while tracking multiple streams of info, and (2) expert driving instructors from areas such as law enforcement and auto racing.

For the executive with attention deficit disorder, Disciplined Attention may be useful on two counts: (1) for the insights into ADD that may come in a little more clearly because they’re framed in a different context from our usual readings about attention deficit disorder and (2) for the important lessons on attention management for driver safety. I haven’t read any studies about ADD and traffic safety, but it’s a fair guess that adults with ADD are extra prone to distraction-oriented accidents.

Buy a copy at Amazon from $10.93: Disciplined Attention: How to Improve Your Visual Attention When You Drive

I started practicing law at about the same time that personal computers were becoming affordable. The firm where I worked decided to provide PCs to all of its lawyers and to teach us how to use them. The idea was to increase productivity by allowing lawyers to revise their own documents instead of having a secretary do it, and to shorten the overall time it took to produce a new document. Both goals were fulfilled, sort of… But something else also happened. Where once a document might go through three or four drafts before it was finished, it became commonplace to see eight, nine, ten drafts or more, all in about the same amount of time it had taken to do three drafts before. And yet the quality of the writing did not noticeably improve; the tenth draft was no better than the third, and we weren’t winning or losing more cases or motions than before. The tenth draft was different, yes, but not better, and it soon became apparent that the process of going from start to finish was taking about the same amount of time as before. One thing had changed, though–the drafting process had become more harried and anxious, in part because of the proliferation of drafts.

– Benjamin Sells, in The Soul of the Law — Understanding Lawyers and the Law, an excellent book in the tradition of Thomas Moore. When this book was published in 1994, Sells was a psychotherapist (and former lawyer) who specialized in counseling legal professionals.

The stories in this book are vivid, and Sells provides commentary that is both sophisticated and clear. Much is useful for ADDexecs and anyone who needs insight into why professional careers too often turn out to be far less rewarding and healthy than they might be. As the jacket-notes describe it:

Sells addresses issues that face people in all walks of life–workaholism, materialism, stress, fear of failure, and ethical dilemmas–and explores the loss of meaning, not only in the law, but in busienss, politics, and our every day lives… [and] offers ways to bring fundamental ideals and passion back into our work and balance into our lives.

Faster does not make sooner, more does not make better.

No Quick Fixes. Lasting and effective change and improvement come from moving beyond bolt-on programs to built-in processes. Many people are looking for what’s new in quick-fix improvement programs. But what works are fundamental improvement practices that become a habitual way of life.

– Jim Clemmer in the introduction to Pathways to Performance: A Guide to Transforming Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization

Clemmer was writing about businesses, not people. But there’s truth in there for executives learning how to work with their attention deficit disorder. The fixes don’t happen in one day. So we keep at it until they become habit.

Even in casual conversation, the point guard’s eyes dart enigmatically around the gym, rarely focused on the person in front of him. Jason Kidd can’t seem to stop himself from seeking the better opportunity, the next best play.

Be it personality affectation or genius at work, who wouldn’t want to appear night after night Kidd’s enabling field of vision and enduring championship dream?

- Harvey Araton, in the New York Times, 15 May 2007

Jason Kidd, point guard and captain for the New Jersey Nets, is one of the best ball handlers in NBA history. Against the strongest defenses in basketball, he has an almost precognitive sense of which teammates are about to be in position to score, and then he whips and threads passes through space that any other player* would consider impenetrable.

What’s the relevance for attention deficit disorder? He doesn’t do this by “focusing on one thing at a time.”

——–

*except Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns. Kidd and Nash are widely regarded as the best  ball passers currently playing in the NBA. Both of them can score and defend, too. Kidd recently eclipsed the legendary Larry Bird to become the NBA’s all-time No. 2 in triple doubles” (with Kidd earning his in points, rebounds, and assists.)

Image credit: SportsResourceZone.net, vendor of autographed photos, apparel, and other pro-sports collectibles.

[Douglas] Tieman said that the very character traits that make executives successful can also lead to their belief that they can overcome alcoholism or other addictions themselves.“They have a big work ethic, are very clever and creative,” said Mr. Tieman, whose company treats about 1,200 executives a year at its centers in Pennsylvania and Florida. “They also have the notion of invincibility. They suffer from terminal uniqueness. They think: ‘I am different. I can drink again.’ That creates a very slippery slope.”

- One Misstep and They’re Out the Door by Geraldine Fabrikant, New York Times, 15 May 2007. Douglas Tieman is chief executive of Caron Treatment Centers.

How much of “it’s lonely at the top” comes from bosses making it that way? How often do we reject the useful counsel of peers, or neglect to use competent professional help? In this quote, Douglas Tieman is talking about substance abuse. But what about other things like deciding on corporate direction, figuring out how to deal with a troublesome employee, or even managing our attention deficit disorder?

Are there places where our mindset (or pride, or habit) keep us from seeking help that will pay off? Or even from noticing that help might be available?