Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

— Albert Einstein

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Hey, Albert:  I’m no Einstein (!) but I’m not sure there’s quite enough attention being given to the driving either! 🙂

I can totally relate to this quote lately.  (Note to wife: not literally!)

Let me explain.

There is a whole lot going on at the office these days.  Some days, too much for me to get a handle on, to feel on top of things, to feel, well, confident.  Lately I am finding myself catching balls just as they are about to hit the floor … and revisiting work that I delivered to meet a deadline because it wasn’t comprehensive and/or clear.

Multitasking these days seems to be a success-requisite job skill.  I’ve actually gotten a whole lot better at this over the last couple of years; traditionally, I’ve been a “go deep” guy while working on mostly one thing at a time.  It is now, though, a luxury — honestly, more like a pipedream! — to work on one thing at a time.  There’s a lot of “irons in the fire” these days.

And I think there is a larger consequence to this.  I’m not doing anything really well.  Everything is acceptable — meeting expectations — but nowhere close to the best that I can produce.

I don’t think I’m alone.

If I’m not alone, then we can surmise that my organization is not performing at its highest level.  Maybe not even at a high level.  Certainly not at the capacity of its talent.

And what might this mean for employee engagement?  Of course I don’t feel great about not doing my best work.  Certainly others in the same situation don’t either.

And with a thawing job market, it’s not a stretch to project an increased risk of a losing talented people should this status not change.

This is dangerous, and not really satisfying. 

Kissing while driving.

Of course, I could be wrong.  Perhaps our driving is safe.  Perhaps the kiss is satisfying enough … at least to keep kissing.  And driving safely.

If I were you, I’d stay off the roads!

🙂