These distractions – often referred to as cognitive distractions – are best described as thinking traps. They distract us fundamentally from our ability to focus on the one goal, person, event or activity that matters to us.
We will all have heard sports commentators say that the most important space to an athlete is not on the pitch, course or field, but instead the space between his or her ears. Building on that concept, the following six categories summarise the most common thinking ‘viruses’ that enter that important space of our mind. There is some natural overlap between them, but take a step back and see which you commonly fall victim to.
These six traps kick in especially when the stakes are high or we perceive some kind of ambiguity or threat. Take a coachee of mine, at senior manager level of a large energy company, who after being turned down for a directorship six months ago, has just been put forward for a second opportunity. She finds it very hard to secure a positive focus in preparing for the upcoming promotion process. Notice the types of thinking traps she falls into over a period of six months:
• Black and white thinking. ‘I’m not going to try again. If it had to work it would have worked the first time. Not again’. This all or nothing stance leaves no room for coping with the shades of grey.
• over-generalisations. ‘I knew it – just my luck, something always goes wrong’. Taking one fact and turning it into a general rule. In other words, this is a kind of gross magnification (‘that’s always the case! It is all over’), an exaggerated sense of gloom, or minimizing (‘never ever does it work’) and a lack of perspective on the real extent of a particular problem.
• Mental filtering. ‘I told you so’; ‘see, I knew it wouldn’t work’.
Allowing a negative state of mind to disqualify the positive.
• Mind-reading. ‘I noticed my boss was always tense on my promotion topic – that must mean he didn’t rate me anyway’.
Second-guessing and jumping to false assumptions is one of the worst draining thinking traps ever.
• Blaming and labelling. ‘That’s me. I tried my best. I know my manager simply didn’t try hard enough to push my case,’ A refusal to take responsibility for something and assuming someone else is always the cause.
• Personalising. ‘The business missed its target. It must be because I am a failure’ . Here we inject a disproportionate personal
responsibility even when the wider context has little or even nothing to do with you.
Haven’t we all succumbed to most or all of these thinking-traps at some point? We form false emerging beliefs as to why something has happened and what might happen next. These in turn hamper us, weaken our resolve and dilute our energies. Think back to the box and the shelf in the first ingredient – self. Consider your thoughts as individual entities. They can be rearranged in order and in content. You can therefore make a conscious effort of what you keep, take out and what you put into them. As I say that, what thoughts are entering your mind now? What thoughts do you wish to exit? Gauge the mood you are in before and after this process and take inspiration from Star Wars ‘Always remember, your focus determines your reality.’ [Qui-Gon to Anakin, Star Wars Episode I] Or for a wiser reference point, turn to Buddha who said ‘All that we are, is the result of what we have thought’.
You can control what enters your mind. Even though new thoughts will always enter, you can learn how to ignore them or use a virtual parking lot to capture them for later. Not every thought is worth indulging or investing in.
Let me introduce you to someone who is a star at focus, who is adept at not only avoiding, but neutralising thinking-traps.
Stacey Cartwright, CFo of Burberry Group
We all know Burberry, the British luxury brand famous for its iconic trench coat, widely coveted for its timeless style. Stacey Cartwright is EVP and CFO of Burberry. I met with Stacey on a sun-dappled afternoon at Horseferry House, Burberry’s global headquarters in Westminster, a block away from where I live.
The conversation started with her roots and the people who have influenced her choices. ‘My dad was a great role model, but he had a harder start than me. I had an easier start so I strove to go higher’. This is arguably a measure of her perspective of both where you come from and how you should always challenge yourself to achieve more.
For someone who became a Group Financial Controller at 27, this mother of three has a relentless focus and clarity that is undeterred by experience and responsibility.
I was keen to see Stacey for a number of reasons. Women have been pouring into the finance pipeline for decades, yet, the drop-off at the top is dramatic.
Breaking into this select group and constantly delivering stellar performance takes a lot of determination and stamina. Stacey has plenty of both. Her guiding principles on focus are clear:
1. ‘Exposure to complexity early on helped me focus – you sit around the top table with senior people and learn by absorbing what’s around you, seeing what works but equally what doesn’t.
You learn a healthy business is not just a profitable business but a growing business, lead by a connected senior team’. This
highlights Stacey’s clarity of thought on the impact of culture in driving growth – valuing ‘right-brain’, or non-finance-like skills in combination with the precision and analytical ‘left-brain’ – has pushed Burberry into the FTSE 100.
2. ‘Ability is a necessity, but finding the right opportunity and focusing all of one’s energy into that moment is what drives success. It is taking a door that’s partially open and relishing the challenge to push it wider than it has been before.’
3. ‘Clarity on what you don’t want is as important as knowing what you do. Whether it is standing my ground in a business situation or prioritising putting my children to bed, knowing one’s values and choosing a business which respects them, is integral to long-term performance.’ Stacey conveys a calm integrity that confirms the clarity of what she wants is underpinned by the knowledge of what she doesn’t.
We then discussed how her partnership with CEO Angela Ahrendts is driving the success of Burberry. Considering that the CFO is often the CEO’s closest confidant, the nature of the CFO/CEO relationship can be
the biggest enabler or obstacle to delivering your role succesfully. ‘Angela is my alter ego. Her balance of EQ and IQ is what inspires me’, Stacey says.
Playing that partnership role with natural flair and charm, Stacey infuses her work with an intelligent approach and practical management to achieve challenging goals. In a self-effacing style, so accomplished is her delivery that it is arguably one of the most successful CEO/CFO pairings in business today. Later on in our adventure with this ingredient, we will discover another focused partnership: Bob and Al’s from CommVault.
We heard about the Big Bangs in the first chapter, but let us now look at an example of the Big Rocks needed for focus via a story I heard in Hong Kong some years ago. Its roots lie in Confucian thinking.