In today’s distraction-heavy world, leadership attention is fragile. This episode reveals how fragmentation, emotional regulation, and presence shape modern leadership - not as flaws to fix, but rhythms to master.

We explore Gloria Mark’s research showing that self-interruption is the norm, not the exception - and that multitasking often functions as emotional regulation. From there, we examine how personality traits, environments, and system design all shape attention.

Finally, we zoom out to the team and cultural level: how shared leadership, healthy boundaries, and attention-aware norms can restore clarity. We close with a powerful reminder: presence isn’t about being everywhere - it’s about showing up when it matters.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why fragmentation isn’t necessarily a failure - how our minds manage competing demands
• What “attentional residue” is, and why task switching carries a hidden cognitive cost
• How emotion drives attention: the “control paradox” of multitasking
• The role personality traits (e.g., neuroticism, impulsivity) play in focus patterns
• How environment and system design amplify or attenuate fragmentation
• Practices to design rhythms of attention, presence, and recovery
• How presence becomes leadership, even across distance

Useful Resources:

• González, V. M., & Mark, G. (2004, April). " Constant, constant, multi-tasking craziness" managing multiple working spheres. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 113-120).
• Dabbish, L., Mark, G., & González, V. M. (2011, May). Why do I keep interrupting myself? Environment, habit and self-interruption. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 3127-3130).
• Mark, G., Iqbal, S., Czerwinski, M., & Johns, P. (2015, February). Focused, aroused, but so distractible: Temporal perspectives on multitasking and communications. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (pp. 903-916).
• Mark, G., Iqbal, S. T., Czerwinski, M., Johns, P., & Sano, A. (2016, May). Neurotics can't focus: An in situ study of online multitasking in the workplace. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1739-1744).
• Mark, G., Czerwinski, M., & Iqbal, S. T. (2018, April). Effects of individual differences in blocking workplace distractions. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-12).
• Akbar, F., Bayraktaroglu, A. E., Buddharaju, P., Da Cunha Silva, D. R., Gao, G., Grover, T., ... & Zaman, S. (2019, May). Email makes you sweat: Examining email interruptions and stress using thermal imaging. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14).
• Book a call to work with Joseph: (https://bookings.foresightleadershipgroup.co.uk/#/coaching-services)
• Connect with Joseph on LinkedIn: (https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephwcooper91/)

Your Next Steps:

Notice where your attention drifts during the day. Which shifts feel intentional - and which are just habit? Share your reflections in the Facebook group, or message me directly. And if you want to dive deeper, the show notes have links to work together.