Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence

by Daniel Goleman

Attention tends to focus on what has meaning—what matters.

As Clay Shirky observes of the failure to disengage focus from comfort zones, “First the people running the old system don’t notice the change. When they do, they assume it’s minor. Then it’s a niche, then a fad. And by the time they understand that the world has actually changed, they’ve squandered most of the time they had to adapt.”

RIM during its difficult days offers a textbook example of organizational rigidity, where a company that thrives by being the first to market a new technological twist falls behind successive tech waves because its focus fixates on the old new thing, not the next.

Leaders who inspire can articulate shared values that resonate with and motivate the group. These are the leaders people love to work with, who surface the vision that moves everyone. But to speak from the heart, to the heart, a leader must first know her values. That takes self-awareness.

The common cold of leadership is poor listening.

nonacademic abilities like empathy typically outweigh purely cognitive talents in the makeup of outstanding leaders.

Accenture interviewed one hundred CEOs about the skills they needed to run a company successfully, a set of fourteen abilities emerged, from thinking globally and creating an inspiring shared vision to embracing change and tech savvy.5 No one person could have them all. But there was one “meta” ability that emerged: self-awareness. Chief executives need this ability to assess their own strengths and weaknesses, and so surround themselves with a team of people whose strengths in those core abilities complement their own.

“If the leader has low empathy,” Druskat told me, “and a high level of achievement drive, the leader’s goal-orientation drags down the team performance. But, importantly, if the leader has high levels of empathy and low levels of self-control, performance is also reduced—too much empathy gets in the way of calling people on their misbehaving.”

those results will be more robust in the long run when leaders don’t simply tell people what to do or just do it themselves, but have an other focus: they are motivated to help other people be successful, too.

Such leaders take the time to mentor and advise. In practical terms all this means: • Listening within, to articulate an authentic vision of overall direction that energizes others even as it sets clear expectations. • Coaching, based on listening to what people want from their life, career, and current job. Paying attention to people’s feelings and needs, and showing concern. • Listening to advice and expertise; being collaborative and making decisions by consensus when appropriate. • Celebrating wins, laughing, knowing that having a good time together is not a waste of time but a way to build emotional capital.

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, an innovations consultancy, calls it “serious play.” He says, “Play equals trust, a space where people can take risks. Only by taking risks do we get to the most valuable new ideas.”

The good-enough leader operates within the givens of a system to benefit a single group, executing a mission as directed, taking on the problems of the day. In contrast, a great leader defines a mission, acts on many levels, and tackles the biggest problems.

Then there are those rare souls who shift beyond mere competence to wisdom, and so operate on behalf of society itself rather than a specific political group or business. They are free to think far, far ahead. Their aperture encompasses the welfare of humanity at large, not a single group; they see people as We, not as Us and Them. And they leave a legacy for future generations—these are the leaders we remember a century or more later. Think Jefferson and Lincoln, Gandhi and Mandela, Buddha and Jesus.

While the rich hold power, as we’ve seen this very status can blind them to the true conditions of the poor, leaving them indifferent to their suffering.

“Civilizations should be judged not by how they treat people closest to power, but rather how they treat those furthest from power—whether in race, religion, gender, wealth, or class—as well as in time,” says Larry Brilliant. “A great civilization would have compassion and love for them, too.”

No matter what we are doing or what decision we are making, the Dalai Lama suggests these self-queries for checking our motivation: Is it just for me, or for others? For the benefit of the few, or the many? For now, or for the future?