Can I Have Your Attention?

Can I Have Your Attention?

by Curt Steinhorst, Jonathan McKee
Released October 2017
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119390466

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Book description

"A must read for anyone in the business of leading others."
Ken May, CEO of Top Golf; former CEO of Fedex

"If you want your team to stay focused, you will want to read Can I Have Your Attention?"
Chester Elton, New York Times Best-Selling author of All In, The Carrot Principle and What Motivates Me

Inspire better work habits. Focus your team. Get stuff done in the constantly connected workplace.


As our workloads expand, attention has never been more valuable. Or more difficult to keep.

In Can I Have your Attention?, Curt Steinhorst shows business leaders how to cut through the noise and get their employees back to work. Curt has spent years helping Fortune 500 companies overcome distraction and achieve focus. With technology creating endless opportunites to "improve productivity", people spend so much time responding to the interruptions that they've lost the ability to focus and do their jobs. Yet, the potential for harnessing the power of your team's attention has never been greater--if you can capture it.

You'll learn how to:

  • Implement a comprehensive organizational strategy to increase focus and overcome digital distraction.
  • Take back control of the technology in your organization and life.
  • Establish a Communication Compact, defining how, when, and why your team will communicate with each other.
  • Create a "vault" to increase productivity, decrease stress, and boost your creativity.
  • Free yourself and your employees from the never-ending flood of emails and messages.
  • Achieve unmatched focus in the age of distraction.

The smartphone isn't going away. Learn the simple rules and guidelines that will improve focus and create the mental space needed for your people to work to their full potential.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Foreword
  4. Prologue: You Don't Have Jack
    1. Popular Harry
    2. Enigmatic Jack
    3. Spoiler Alert: Harry Works for You
    4. What Jack's Really Doing
    5. What This Book Will Do for You
    6. Where We're Headed
    7. How to Read This Book
    8. Notes
  5. Section One: NOBODY'S WORKING
    1. Chapter 1: The Curse of the Overwhelmed
      1. Hey, I'm Doing My Job
      2. Notes
    2. Chapter 2: It's Not Their Fault
      1. More Valuable Than Cash
      2. Notes
    3. Chapter 3: Tools of Our Tools
      1. Technology Is Not the Problem
      2. Millennials Are Not the Problem
      3. Poor Productivity Is Not the Problem
      4. The Problem Is Much Deeper—and Much More Costly
      5. The Problem
      6. Are You Part of the Solution?
      7. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      8. Notes
  6. Section Two: FINDING FOCUS
    1. Chapter 4: The Science of Attention
      1. Our Two Systems of Attention
      2. Broken Models
      3. The Magical Mysteries of Multitasking
      4. Full Focus, Medium Focus, Light Focus
      5. Notes
    2. Chapter 5: Focus-Wise in the Age of Distraction
      1. The Raft
      2. The Sailboat
      3. Drop That Marshmallow
      4. Allocating the Right Focus at the Right Time
      5. Choices and Consequences
      6. Note
    3. Chapter 6: The Four Elements of Focus
      1. Energy
      2. Environment
      3. Emotion
      4. Experience
      5. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      6. Notes
  7. Section Three: FOCUS-WISE SPACE
    1. Chapter 7: In Praise of Walls
      1. Environmental Protection
      2. Mental Space
      3. Notes
    2. Chapter 8: Office Space
      1. Open Office
      2. Cubicles
      3. Working Remotely
      4. The Focus-Wise Space
      5. Notes
    3. Chapter 9: The Vault
      1. A Gym for Your Mind
      2. Forming the Vault Habit
      3. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      4. Note
  8. Section Four: FOCUS-WISE TECHNOLOGY
    1. Chapter 10: Relationship Status: It's Complicated
      1. Thank God for the Gift (?!) of Modern Technology
      2. Technology Meets Culture
      3. Technology Meets Greed
      4. Notes
    2. Chapter 11: Message Undeliverable
      1. Barriers to Access
      2. Limits to Excessive Switching
      3. Utility and Simple Design
      4. Notes
    3. Chapter 12: Free at Last
      1. Capture and Share
      2. Automate, Automate, Automate
      3. Be Easy to Use
      4. Note
    4. Chapter 13: Best Buddy or Big Brother?
      1. My Buddy and Me
      2. Big Brother Is Watching
      3. Finding Balance in Technology
      4. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      5. Notes
  9. Section Five: FOCUS-WISE COMMUNICATION
    1. Chapter 14: Can You Hear Me Now?
      1. Lost in the Noise
      2. Notes
    2. Chapter 15: Digital Communication: E-mail, Messaging, and Everything in Between
      1. Connected But Disconnected
      2. Bring the Noise
      3. Improving Quality
      4. Reducing Quantity
      5. Notes
    3. Chapter 16: Face to Face in a Facebook World
      1. Face Time (Not the iPhone Kind)
      2. Efficiency
      3. Emotional Connection
      4. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      5. Notes
  10. Section Six: FOCUS-WISE WORKDAY
    1. Chapter 17: The Balance Myth
      1. Separating Work and Life
      2. Not Either/Or But If/Then
      3. Blurred Lines
      4. Notes
    2. Chapter 18: Managing the Minutiae
      1. Delineation
      2. Delegation
      3. Take a Minute
      4. Note
    3. Chapter 19: Can We Get an Extension?
      1. Cut Bad Expenses
      2. Spend Them Wisely
      3. Now That I Have Your Attention…
      4. Notes
  11. Section Seven: FOCUS-WISE LEADERSHIP
    1. Chapter 20: The First Filter
      1. Applying the First Filter
      2. Notes
    2. Chapter 21: Individual to Institutional
      1. Change as a Value
      2. Notes
    3. Chapter 22: Filling the Digital Skill Gaps
      1. The Skills to Train
      2. How to Train These Skills
      3. Notes
    4. Chapter 23: Competing with Zuckerberg
      1. Digital Disconnect
      2. Analog Leadership
      3. A Direct Link to Motivation
      4. Notes
    5. Chapter 24: After All, We're Here to Work
      1. Your People Are Bored
      2. Increase Your Expectations
      3. Now That I have Your Attention…
      4. Notes
    6. Chapter 25: The Focus-Wise Leader
      1. What Are Better Undercurrents for Power?
      2. How Do We Shift Undercurrents?
      3. Notes
  12. About the Authors
  13. Acknowledgments
    1. Where It Begins and Ends
  14. Index
  15. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Can I Have Your Attention?
  • Author(s): Curt Steinhorst, Jonathan McKee
  • Release date: October 2017
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119390466