Now these are two people (who need no introduction) who are highly intelligent, successful, accomplished, engaged in many things - you get the picture. Not folks who fritter away time, who engage in idle nonsense. I say idle nonsense tongue in cheek, as someone who is not addicted to sports, I could accuse those who are ... Maybe I shouldn't go there.
I am frequently asked about the value of Twitter and social media in general. Is this something C-Suite execs should invest time and energy in?
In responding to questions about the welter of social media and networking sites that are around, and the extent to which we are daily bombarded with a constant stream of techno-distractions, to borrow from a savvy friend, I have a few things to say to execs and a few bits of coaching. For example:
- Notice the extent to which you are in a state of continuous partial attention as another tech savvy friend of mine expresses it. We live in a state of partial fragmentation of attention - we flit from a conversation in progress which we interrupt without even thinking to look at our PDAs, or to switch to a cell phone conversation, or an incoming email, or an alarm reminding us of a meeting, or CNBC constantly on in the corner ready to pull us off. Whatever we are doing it is with partial attention. Which means that Twitter et al can be just one more source of distraction.
- Notice the extent to which all the things you engage with are, or are not, part of a narrative theme - a vision, a mission, a clear purpose, a clear set of organizing principles and values.
- In today's world especially, we cannot live in an unmediate fashion. We have to have some way to distill or filter inputs and we have to be clear what we intend to generate as outputs.
So Twitter is both another tool for effective focused people to extend their range and impact - which is how I coach executives to use it, and every other piece of technology, to reach and move people in furthering their mission, vision and values. And, it has the potential to be just another means for the unfocused to be yet more distracted. It's a choice!
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3 comments:
Peter, your high-level commnets are bang on! The important question for us as leaders is not whether Twitter is good or bad, it's whether we as leaders are focused or unfocused, clear about our mission and purpose, or not.
I also really appreciated your coaching advice to notice ... About Twitter I notice in myself a reluctance to add another thing, to devote time to exploring a new technology when I don't know whether my investment will pay off.
But as a leader that's exactly what I need to do. I need to lean into the unknown and try it out. How will I know I'm making the kind of impact I want to make without experimenting (albeit with a critical and evaluative eye) with this "new" thing?
Tweet you later!
Vince Brewerton
Executive Director
Centre for Spirituality and the Workplace
Peter, good post! It does boil down to how we use the technology not inherent goodness or badness. Technology allows workaholics and professional distrators to enagge their diseases even faster. It can fuel their obsessiveness to be human doings or serve us in becoming even more effective human beings.
Thanks,
John
Peter,
Spot on! The notion of focus and attention seems to go by the wayside whenever new tools come into vogue. My mental sorting device with technology (and many other things, come to think of it) is "just because you *can* do it doesn't mean you should."
Do I have the means to use my Blackberry when dining with family, friends or colleagues? Of course, but the more important question is "should I being doing this?"
The answer seems self-evident to me, but based on countless personal anecdotes I've heard, other feel differently about what they should or shouldn't be doing when interacting with others.
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