On A Clear Day....

[John Jamison]

As I was updating the "What am I doing" section of the page here, I found myself ranting about the difficulty I'm having keeping track of all of the options being thrown at me in this digital culture I'm trying to live and work in. Just today...actually just since about four hours ago today, I've had three different meetings in which three different people were telling me what I "need to do" for my business to take the "next steps", and to "tip", and to "break through". And honestly, every one of those three people have real expertise in their areas, and are people I truly respect. They are people I want to listen too.

The greatest challenge I face in this digital culture (this is that rant I was telling you about) is deciding what and who I should listen too as I make business decisions and chart the direction for the work of ImagiLearning, Inc. And in the meetings I fill the rest of my day with I know that I am not alone. I keep meeting other business leaders who begin the day believing they are ready for it, and that they have a pretty good plan in place for what they are doing. But before they get to the office, someone has reached them through radio/cell phone/email/Linked-in/Twitter and thrown a totally new idea at them that makes them wonder if they are missing something. It's enough to make you ask for those extra shots at the coffee shop.

I'm curious how other leaders are working through this? It seems to me that we need to keep some good momentum going, and keep some focus going along the line of brand and message. And we need to keep a fair amount of time available to "do" the work, as well as keep that "unclaimed" time available for the thoughts to process and gel and create our futures. So I'm wondering how others deal with the constant flow of "try this" and "have you seen this?" and "are you on this?" coming at them all the time. What does it mean for a leader to "lead", when there are so many people standing out in front in so many directions, saying...."here it is....over HERE!"

Just curious about that....