Was just sent a link that the Drucker Institute’s Blog not only mentions “Consider,” but they suggest that the legend would have agreed with my diagnosis below .  All I can say is: Wow!

Granted, it might seem in our highly connected, 24/7 world that we cannot afford to luxuriate in our thoughts. But a new book by Daniel Forrester proposes that without sufficient “think time,” our organizations are imperiled. “While technology allows us to act and react more quickly than ever before, we are taking increasingly less time to consider our decisions before we make them,” Forrester writes. “With all the speed and immediate reaction practiced within organizations today, we are witnessing countless real-time examples of the very edge of man’s ability to ‘corral’ the same technologies he so proudly deploys.

“From shocking market fluctuations with no logical explanations,” Forrester adds, “to an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico revealing countless engineering, managerial, and oversight missteps, we are living through the simultaneous conditions of technology enablement of mankind’s most profound insights and poorly executed ideas.”

As we’ve noted, Peter Drucker surely would have agreed with that diagnosis—as well as with the cure. “Follow effective action with quiet reflection,” he said. “From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

LeadershipNow’s 4th and final installment on reflection. It has been a very rewarding week to read what some of the country’s best minds have to say about the value of reflection in the age of the knowledge worker.  Michael McKinney has done a world of good with this week’s series.  My thanks for using Consider as the basis to start this important conversation.

In the final part of this series, Marshall Goldsmith explains the relevancy of reflection in today’s world. It has always been a vital ingredient to success, but it becomes critical in the age of the knowledge worker. Jeremy Hunter teaches courses on The Practice of Self-Management at The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management. He emphasizes a focus on reflecting in real-time—in the present—in order to align both our intentions and behaviors so that we might bring about the results we seek.

Marshall Goldsmith, executive educator and coach: I believe that the process of reflection is more important today than ever before. I also believe that it is more challenging.  We live in the age of the knowledge worker. Peter Drucker defined knowledge workers as ‘people who know more about what they are doing than their boss’. Knowledge workers need to think and reflect. They have to listen and learn. They cannot just ‘do what they are told’, since their managers know less than they do about what they are doing.

On the other hand, we live in a world of constant stimulus. Our minds are barraged by media of all forms. Cell phones, emails, text messages and personal computers have reduced our already-limited attention spans. One of the great challenges for the knowledge worker of the future is finding the time to think – in a world that is screaming at you to act.

Jeremy Hunter, Adjunct Professor, The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management: When we think of “reflection” it tends to be retrospective. Where I think my work is a bit different is that I focus on what a leader is doing right now as it is happening––reflection and awareness in the moment. Most people’s immediate action will very likely be an automatic non-conscious process that they’re not aware of. Throw in a little stress and emotional reactivity and people find themselves doing and saying things that are destructive to themselves, others, and their goals without understanding why nor knowing what to do about it.

The big issue is that the retrospective analysis alone can’t necessarily change a person’s immediate habits. Science tells us that 90% or more of the brain’s activity is automatic and non-conscious. However, we have a worldview that focuses largely on conscious processing, we think that having the answer makes change automatically happen. A friend might say, “You know, Ruth, when you’re confronted with a challenge from a superior, you react too strongly.” OK, now Ruth knows that. We assume that just because Ruth knows what she does, she will change it. But there’s a whole other process that has to happen to change the wired-in, non-conscious, automatic pattern. Ruth may be 100% aware of what she does but then the trigger happens and it plays out in the same way. And then it’s, “Oh no, I did it again.”

Change happens in the choices we make right now. So my interest is in, how you actually retrain the brain by interrupting that automatic habit and doing something differently. You may have to do it over and over again but at some point the rewiring function will happen. And that’s a function of interrupting that immediate non-conscious habit and doing something different.

I give people a model of this process from the triggering moment of contact to the final result. All along there are intervention points. Of course, the earlier you can intervene, the better. Not everyone can interrupt the process early on, but I what I emphasize is you need to just interrupt it somewhere. And the more practiced one gets at it, the earlier you can see what is happening. It’s really about becoming more conscious about what you are doing, why you are doing it, what result do you want and do these behaviors get you there, and if they don’t, what do you need to be doing instead?

You always start with the repeated unwanted result. What’s the thing that keeps happening that you don’t want? For example, Ruth might say, “I notice that whenever I’m confronted, I fight back too aggressively or I get too hostile.” So now she knows that about herself and that’s the reflective piece. Now, let’s tie that reflection to action.

The next step is to build awareness of when and how that habit plays out. For example, “I have this meeting with my boss and I know he’s upset about something. What is it I do that might push back too hard, that gets me in trouble?” And so in that moment she’s bringing attention to all the things that happen automatically–what is she doing? What is she feeling in the body? Tension? Pressure? What emotions are arising? What are the stories in her head? Directing her attention to her internal experience creates the awareness of the non-conscious habit. She now has the opportunity to step outside all those automatic reactions and make a different, more conscious choice. We’re tying the process of reflection to immediate behavior. Again, change happens in the choices we make right now.

LeadershipNow and Michael McKinney have done it again. A full week on reflection following a review of Consider.  I am repeating the post from Michael’s blog with full credit to him as its simply excellent.   Each post Michael is doing this week ends with a quote he picked from “Consider.”  I recall writing the lines he picked below.   I am in awe of what the others have written and I am so thankful to Michael for taking an interest in my book.

Taking Another Look: Leading Minds on Reflection Part 3

In part three of this series, James Strock talks about the importance of taking time “off” from one’s customary activities. He also gives insight into gaining perspective through reflection. Mark Sanborn talks about the essential nature of making time to think so that we might learn and gain insight from our experiences. He lists some areas we should be thinking about so that we might get the most out of our time reflecting.

James Strock, speaker, consultant and entrepreneur:

There is nothing more important—or more easily overlooked—than making time for disciplined reflection. Indeed, it should be scheduled—and protected and enforced—with the utmost seriousness.

Religious traditions include notions of a Sabbath, a day of rest and reflection. It’s a recognition that taking time “off” from one’s customary activities is necessary to fulfill one’s obligations, to perform effectively over time. It’s also an act of humility, pulling people away from a prideful presumption of the significance of their personal contribution and control when it tends toward isolating, habitual overwork.

It’s surely not a coincidence that so many of the greatest leaders have been noted for multiple interests. Winston Churchill was active as a painter, speaker, historian, and commentator on current events. Theodore Roosevelt was, in the memorable description of Brander Matthews, “polygonal.” George Washington and Abraham Lincoln maintained perspective through theatre. Though it would be an error to say that effective leaders have “balanced” lives at any given moment, they tend to bring a number of interests to bear—thereby increasing their capacity to see things from various perspectives, and to discern and appreciate the contributions of others.

In business, one thinks of Bill Gates’ semi-annual, week-long sabbaticals for study and reflection. Many enterprises—from Google and GE to sports teams—encourage regular meditation or related mental exercises. To the extent each day can be seen as a sort of lifetime in itself, meditation or prayer can also be viewed as a sabbatical of sorts.

In my personal experience, travel can be invaluable. Simply being pulled out of one’s daily routines and habits, and being inspired by new surroundings, can be mentally and spiritually invigorating. You may see familiar notions with new eyes.

Though disciplined reflection has always been important for leadership, it’s arguably more important now than ever before. In the 21st century, information and data are often ubiquitous. The value added by leaders—either in high positions or not—increasingly arises from those invaluable intangibles: judgment and insight. Both of those are more likely to be found with disciplined reflection. And there’s no better place to start than from history and the observations and experiences of others, such as is offered so notably by LeadershipNow.

* * *
Mark Sanborn, author and speaker:

Someone once said if we don’t slow down occasionally nothing good can ever catch us. I think that sentiment applies to the good that can come out of reflection.

One of the reasons we don’t learn—truly internalize lessons—and keep making similar mistakes is that we don’t pause long enough to gain any insights.

Most of the busy and successful professionals I work with—and myself included—can go for long periods of time without actively thinking. We reactively think—response to questions, problems, opportunities, etc.—but don’t make time to proactively think.

I frequently say that nobody has time for anything; we make time for what is important. So often we live life be default and let circumstance and the demands of others determine how we spend out time. I believe we need to make time for reflection. We make time when we priorities, eliminate and adjust our schedules.

Specifically, I think leaders should reflect on:

1. What they are accomplishing versus how busy they are.
2. What they have learned. Leaders need to extract lessons from both the positive and negative things that happen.
3. How they are feeling. Leaders can’t divorce their intellect from their emotions and succeed over the long run.
4. Relationships that need attention.
5. Their vision of the future, for their organizations, those they lead and themselves.
6. And for leaders who believe in the spiritual realm, as I do, that is a critical area for reflection (prayer and meditation in the Christian tradition I follow).

Reflection usually requires “getting away” whether that requires a physical relocation to a peaceful thinking spot or simply blocking time to avoid interruptions.

And finally, I think those leaders who value reflection and benefit most from it make it a regular part of their schedules.

* * *
There is a hierarchy of communication we all practice, in which electronic and immediate data responses reign far above in-person and more time-intensive, dialogue-driven interaction. The trade-off is easy to make: we gain speed, immediate connection, and reactions while giving up richer contexts that emerge only when we take time to think. There are times when the arrival of each new electronic message or data-driven distraction has become a digital proxy for the sound of a bell once used by a doctor named Pavlov.
—Daniel Patrick Forrester, Consider

A really nice review just went live off Leading Blog. Michael McKinney will be interviewing leaders all week on the topic of reflection.  John Kotter is up next.  Click here for full book review; intro is below.

While reflection seems to have no place in a competitive business environment, it is where meaning is created, behaviors are regulated, values are refined, assumptions are challenged, intuition is accessed, and where we learn about who we are.

Some of the greatest barriers to getting the results we want lie within us. Growth happens when we stop repeating our habitual patterns and behaviors and begin to see things in a new way and in the process, discover the power to create the results we want. That makes Consider: Harnessing the Power of Reflective Thinking in Your Organization, one of the most important books you’ll read this year.

Many who are first told of the “no email Friday” concept that I write about in “Consider” simply reject that it is possible.   CEO Scott Dockter of PBD based in Atlanta responded to the article from yesterday where a writer questioned the efficacy of such a policy.   Here is Scott’s response to the article that he posted to their comment section:

Our company, PBD, is still using no email Fridays 4 years later.  It has been extremely successful and is a great reminder to all PBD employees that communication is more than just email.   It reinforces this concept with clients who are better served with all forms of communication, not just email.  Of course, if a client needs information on Fridays via email, no big deal.  Our policy is only for internal emails, thus the reason I am emailing you on a Friday.

I would have gladly responded to your email if you had sent one on this topic.  We seem to be one of the only companies still following what some defined at that time as a fad.  It stays relevant today due to the new youth in our workplace that aren’t very familiar with communication outside of texting or email.