Random musings ... "I'm too busy." Okay, fair enough. Executives are busy people both by nature and by profession. A lot of the job is communication, which means a lot of it is spent in meetings. That leaves less time to focus on doing real work. It's a good thing so much of the job is communication. Here's the problem ... and it is a problem, not an issue, not an opportunity, but a problem: An increasing number Random musings …“I’m too busy.”Okay, fair enough. Executives are busy people both by nature and by profession. A lot of the job is communication, which means a lot of it is spent in meetings. That leaves less time to focus on doing real work. It’s a good thing so much of the job is communication. Here’s the problem … and it is a problem, not an issue, not an opportunity, but a problem: An increasing number of executives are too busy to think. There just isn’t time left on their calendars to cogitate, figure things out, peel the onion, or gain perspective, let alone reading anything beyond today’s headlines in The Wall Street Journal. They have no time for such non-action-oriented concerns, and even if they did, their work habits preclude sitting still with a pad of paper noodling over conceptual matters.What do they do in place of thinking? Too often, they trust their gut feelings – a notoriously unreliable source of information. They have no choice but to shoot from the hip. It’s ready, fire, aim, and often they have to cut out the ready and aim steps.That’s too bad, because making dumb decisions isn’t, in the long run, very healthy, either for the company on the receiving end of a poor decision or the executive’s career. What’s the solution? There’s no magic bullet. If you find yourself headed in this direction, though, there are a few steps you can take:* Raise your sights: If you have too many balls in the air, consolidate several into one higher-level concept. Own that, and delegate what you had been handling yourself. * Take control of your calendar: Make appointments with yourself to reserve time to just think. If you have trouble thinking by yourself, make appointments with peers or direct reports with the specific purpose of thinking through an issue. * Know when it’s good enough: The worst offenders I know in this regard are perfectionists. Given any time at all to think they focus on how to make something or other even better. There’s always a way to improve whatever-it-is even further, which leads to further drains on their schedules.There are, I’m sure, plenty of other ways to increase the amount of time available for thinking. I can’t figure out what they are, though … I don’t have time.– Bob If you have any suggestions, I’ll cheerfully publish them here. Just let me know if I can include your name or not. ——– Technology Industry