Story 30: Focus
The story: Focus on the subjects that really matter. Then the report card arrived: three absences, all Geography. Why did you skip Geography? You said to focus. She had meant spend more energy on the important ones. He had heard stop going to the rest. She wanted a reallocation. She got a deletion.
What it means for organisations: Focus sounds like the most decisive word available and contains two different instructions. Do more of what matters. Stop doing what does not. Tell a team to focus and some will sharpen their priorities while others quietly close things down, and both will report back that they focused. Nobody will mention which one they did, because to each of them there was only ever one meaning.
Where next?
Read the comic as text
The Alignment Gap, Story 30
by Stavros Stavru, Ph.D. (weallagreed.com)
Scene 1: The study room
A cozy room at home with a bookshelf, a hanging lamp, a framed apple picture, a globe, and a stack of books. A child sits at a desk, writing in a notebook. Ally stands in the doorway, one hand on her hip, offering some advice.
Ally: Focus on the subjects that really matter.
Child: Okay.
Banner between scenes: “What could go wrong?”
Scene 2: The report card
A close-up of Ally's hand holding a "1st Quarter Report Card" from Classic Elementary School. Under "Times Absent" it shows 3, next to the class "Geography."
Ally: Why did you skip Geography?
Child: You said to focus.
Ally: …Not abandon half the curriculum!
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