Mike Morrison is a Management Consultant, Dean University of Toyota, and author of a well known business book titled “The Other Side of the Card:Where Your Authentic Leadership Story Begins”. In his recent fortnightly column he touched upon something quite interesting and insightful which we would like to share with you…

Our lives - and our leadership journeys - tend to follow one of two paths:  the “conventional” and the “unconventional.”  The conventional path is driven by our work cultures - cultures that tend to thrive on action, activity, and results. That’s why it’s called work.  So, when we are at work, we need to be “doing” something (anything).

Here is where we will start the journey.  Our lives are accelerating in terms of increasing complexity, unmanageable aspects of time, escalating expectations, and declining resources.  Welcome to the age of anxiety. In the process, we are losing our sense of community and our ability to be fully present for each other when we are needed most.

“I’m so busy -  I have lots of meetings to manage, goals to meet, and a to-do list that just doesn’t quit. You should see my e-mail.  Lunch date?  Maybe next week.  Gotta run, I’m late for my next appointment!”

Busyness gets noticed in work.  It’s praised by others.  It also gives us a sense of self-importance (I must be important . . . look how busy I am). 

Busyness also makes it difficult to relate to others who are not being swept forward with the same level of determination and flurry of activity. 

Unfortunately, “busyness” also absolves us of our need to do the deeper and more profound work that will truly make a difference in our personal and professional lives.  We can’t stop, look, or listen.  We are simply too busy going to meetings, saying yes to all requests, and “doing our best.”  However, in the process we lose sight of the bigger issues that underlie our work.  We continuously attack the surface issues - failing to identify and solve the core source of the problem.

Our bias for action is so strong that we no longer question - “why are we even doing this?”

When we are forced to slow down, we miss the sense of urgency that comes from the “busyness” pace.  In fact, slowing down (e.g., having to stay home with a sick family member) creates a sense of vulnerability that occurs when we get pulled from the game.  We dutifully complete our responsibility to family but somehow it still feels like a distraction and we cannot wait to re-enter our go-go world. 

Here’s the deal.  “Busyness” - the wrong answer to the complexities and responsibilities of life - has never been associated with great work. To be in the moment - to be fully present and attentive to the person or task at hand has become a lost art in our go-go, web-based culture.  We are physically present but our mind, psychic energy, and deeper capacities have been unwittingly diverted or diffused by the three sins of distraction:

1.  Trying to do too much:  We often fall into the “busyness trap” -eventually becoming addicted to the high that comes from a caffeine-fueled over-engagement.

2.  Trying to do too many things:  We also fall prey to the multi-tasking madness that is enabled by our hand-held and desktop devices that are grossly mismanaged at the personal level (leading to TADD - technology-assisted attention deficit disorders). 

3.  Trying to fit one more thing in:  This is also known as the time management trap.  We believe we can manage time - but it’s the wrong focus and leads us to do dumb things.

For example, you look at your watch and it is five minutes before you meet a friend in the lobby for lunch.  You could leave now and arrive comfortably in time - but you don’t.  You turn to your e-mail, quickly opening all new deliveries without fully responding to any of them. Unfortunately, the e-mail from your boss has a troubling tone to it - and the anxiety it produces follows you into your lunch date.

The non-conventional leader refuses to be swept along by this new cultural current. They protect and enjoy slack time - savoring quiet moments of reflection and rejuvenation.

For the non-conventional leader, “reflection” is just as important as “response.” Through reflection, they facilitate their own potential to create meaning.  They slow down.  Go off line.  They think - not just process information - but bring their fullest cognitive and emotional capability to the issue at hand.

You don’t need a mountaintop.  You just need to create some time and space.

Another key element of reflection is that we remain open to adjusting our ideas about our selves and the world.  By doing so, we learn to view our challenges differently. It allows us to counter the automatic, “busyness” thinking that leads us to the same insights and solutions.

Simply stated, the non-conventional leader is not “busy.”  They have a presence that suggests the opposite…  they have purpose.