Comments on: Is Concentration the New Competitive Advantage?

By: Narconon

Narconon — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:58:06 +0000

I think this is throwing out the baby with the bathwater: “Despite these amazing technical breakthroughs, these technologies haven’t added to human wellbeing.”

By: Tolmet

Tolmet — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 18:56:36 +0000

If you’re looking at the gerbilator project wiki, you’re already thinking about gerbilators. If you’re looking a the salary planning wiki, you’re already thinking about salary planning. If you thought those young wippersnappers were snatching up your jobs before.

By: Gary Bourgeault

Gary Bourgeault — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 04:38:12 +0000

You said that:

“Concentration, focus, execution, the ability to tune out the fluff – that will be the competitive advantage of the future.”

The discipline to concentrate and focus will result in the most important thing – execution.

I have found it harder and harder to convince some of those I consult with to believe this. They want to endlessly know what the next big thing is; the answer will come from their competitors that execute.

By: Razib Ahmed

Razib Ahmed — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:18:48 +0000

Yes, concentration is becoming a very improtant thing. Everyday, a busy man receives 30-40 emails (minus spams) and some times more than 100. So, even going through all the emails consume a lot of time.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:28:18 +0000

Your absolutely right. Concentration is most important thing right now, both in the business world. But don’t overlook the academic world.

I’m a student at a private school. I can tell you from firsthand experience that the use of Ritalin, Adderall, and other ADD/ADHD drugs has exploded, simply because one of their side-effects is increased concentration. (Some peers smoke marijuana for this reason, although I find it to be counterproductive… concentration w/o memory retention is inneffecient.) Other peers use drugs such as Modafinil (narcoleptic meds) to get the competitive edge, as it allows the user to stay up for days at a time w/o rest.

Just wait, this new “stimulant-generation” will be migrating into the workforce soon. If you thought those young wippersnappers were snatching up your jobs before… well just wait… because now you’ll be competing against teams of 20-something, uber-concentrated, hyper-energized, know-it-all’s.

By: mark safranski

mark safranski — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 06:40:03 +0000

Thank you very much for the link ! Rob wrote:

“The reason he is so damn good at understanding the health of a company is because much of his understanding of financial statements has become automated”

Automaticity in action. Experts who seem to make unerring snap or intuitive judgments are often working with a very large cognitive map. New data tends to be sorted at a very high rate of speed.

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 00:50:12 +0000

Mark,
That’s funny. I actually caught that when I read through it the first time. I could have sworn I changed it but, perhaps, in keeping with the spirit of the post, I lost concentration and was distracted by something else, only to think I changed blog to block. Sheesh.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 00:14:34 +0000

“Will you be able to win by building a workforce that can execute because they can **blog** out the mass of digital distraction and get things done?”

Sorry, Rob, I couldn’t resist the irony.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 22:18:19 +0000

E-mail really can be harmful to concentration. For a wide range of intracompany work, it could usefully replaced with blogs or wikis. That way, you have already established the context for what you’re looking at. If you’re looking at the gerbilator project wiki, you’re already thinking about gerbilators. If you’re looking a the salary planning wiki, you’re already thinking about salary planning. (Obviousy, triggers need to be built in so you don’t completely forget about something important)

There are very few things in business (outside of the factory floor or the retail sales floor) where a delay of a few minutes or even hours is all that critical. Somehow, we have converted vast numbers of knowledge workers to the belief that they are like air traffic controllers, who need to react instantly when the “confict alert” shows up on their scope.

By: SportsLizard

SportsLizard — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 21:01:42 +0000

You raise a very interesting point. One of the biggest distractions I face is email – if I leave Outlook open all day I am constantly distracted by new emails popping up and my mind is all over the place. But if I close it and only check a few times a day, I risk not being able to reply to people in a timely fashion (especially customers). Right now I do sort of a hybrid – I keep it open most of the time, but when I really need to focus for an hour or two I close it…not perfect but it’s a start.

Over the next few years with the increasing use of cell phones for all things entertainment and business, we are going to have to add that to the list of things that distracts us all day long, if it already isn’t there now.