The Distracted Executive

I read an account of an American executive who was placed in a position to monitor a potential crisis in Europe. A capable man, he brought strong opinions to his job, but none in particular about the main topic. As matters grew worse, his opinions began to develop to the point where they became fairly sophisticated and he was able to catch items some more experienced hands missed. His problem was that he became sidetracked with relatively minor operational matters that pushed his "hot buttons" and kept mentioning those in his reports to headquarters. Not only did he make enemies with his trivial observations, he also eroded the effectiveness of his reports on the truly important issues. In his case, the ancillary threatened to become the main focus.

Fortunately, events soon dragged him back to the right priorities. The bad news is that shift came in the form of the crisis he was appointed to avoid. I wonder if he could have been more successful had he chosen to overlook the irritating but minor items and dedicate his attention to the big picture.