Impromptu

6Be Focused

In December 1944 the German army surrounded the American 101st Airborne Division in the Belgian town of Bastogne. The Germans sent the besieged Americans a letter, explaining why they must surrender. The U.S. commander, Anthony McAuliffe, replied with one word, “NUTS!” The American officer, Colonel Joseph Harper, who delivered this statement to the Germans was equally succinct when the Germans asked him just what the message meant. Harper said, “In plain English? Go to hell.” The Americans held on, and the German offensive, called the Battle of the Bulge, collapsed. Those few words had made the American position—and resolve—unmistakably clear. Great leaders show a single‐minded focus.

Information Overload in the Internet Age

The need for focus is important today because everyone is on information overload and you'll lose your audience if you don't deliver clear, focused thinking. In Brief, communications expert Joseph McCormack writes, “In 2008, Americans consumed about 1.3 trillion hours of information outside of work, an average of almost 12 hours per person per day.”¹ At work, the demands are even greater. This onslaught of content is not likely to disappear, because everyone has become not only a consumer of information, but also a purveyor of information. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remarks: “Now everybody who has a Facebook account has a voice. They can publish a status update, or they can put a link out there with content they think their friends ...