Stop the world, I want to get off!

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that things seems to be going just a little too fast? One minute we’re dealing with the images of peaceful revolution and the suspense of wondering whether Hosni Mubarak will go and then we’re hurtled on to Libya and now the devastating scenes of the power of nature coming out from Japan. 

It seems to me that in our 24/7 news fed world not a single day goes by without us being catapulted into some extreme circumstance, mostly on topics that we are completely powerless to react on and can only try in despair to somehow rationalize.

When I was a boy in school, even the slightest distraction was enough for me to lose concentration on topics that my teachers tried in vain to teach me.  However, now in my sixth decade I am sometimes left wondering how it is that people at work manage to focus at all?  Apart from the obvious distractions of e-mail, we have Facebook and Linked-In and all kinds of social media networks that we are encouraged to keep up and to follow, but how?  When will we ever find the time and the motivation to do any work again?

And then I remember that the two things that all of us need in times of distraction are discipline and leadership. There is nothing better to keep us focused on the job at hand than a reassuring voice and a short-term deadline.

So as we are reminded that outside (and not so far away) there is another world where going to work will never be the same again,  we should not worry about letting it become real, even if it is only for a few moments of each day. By doing so we become more human and more compassionate, even more tolerant to the short comings of those around us with whom perhaps we would normally find no affinity at all.

Have a good week,

Harley