Peter Drucker is credited with developing the concept of management by objectives, a management philosophy that focuses on clarity and agreement of goals. When employees visualize what needs to be done and how, they can focus on doing the right things. In this episode of By Your Life, we discuss how what you focus on matters.
Mass Readings Audio
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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 9, 2020
Welcome to the one hundred and twenty-fourth episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. (Cycle A) Peter Drucker, a university professor, freelance writer, and business consultant, was one of the best-known and most widely influential thinkers and writers of management theory and practice of the 20th century. He is credited with developing the concept of management by objectives (MBO) and self-control and is quoted as saying that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. ~ Peter DruckerThe Value of Clear Objectives
Over the years, there have been many successes attributed to the implementation of MBO in corporate America. The benefits include increased job satisfaction and employee commitment through involvement in the process of goal setting and improved relationships between supervisors and employees through frequent reviews and joint problem-solving. But the most obvious benefit is clarity and agreement of goals. When the objectives seem attainable, they enable the workers to visualize what needs to be done and how, and to focus on doing the right things to accomplish their goals.
Good Idea but Poor Implementation
There have also been many critics of the approach, however. Among them are professor, author, and management consultant W. Edwards Deming, who argued that a lack of understanding of systems commonly results in the misapplication of objectives. Liz Ryan, author and former SVP HR for a Fortune 500 company, said, “The vast majority of important things we manage at work aren’t measurable.” Additionally, Deming claimed that setting production targets encourages workers to meet those targets through whatever means necessary, which usually results in poor quality.
My own experience throughout my career was that MBO is conceptually good and poorly implemented. For example, I was responsible for strategic business development for my company which involved identifying, assessing, planning, and implementing new business initiatives. The more we were able to develop new opportunities, the more our company could grow. So, the natural tendency would be to set an objective and measure the number of new business initiatives successfully implemented.
The problem with this thinking is that part of our job was to screen and eliminate bad opportunities as early in the process as possible, thus reducing continued investment in concepts that were not likely to succeed. An objective focused solely on pushing concepts through to implementation could lead to investing in initiatives that were losers.
Another challenge was that new opportunities varied significantly in scope. Some of our initiatives involved new evolving technology while others were proven technology applied in new markets, while others were merely extensions of existing products in existing markets. Projects that were smaller in scope needed less time and resources to pursue while larger projects took more than a year and could eat through the pool of funds budgeted to invest in new business initiatives.
So, setting measurable objectives for my department was not a straightforward exercise. Even Peter Drucker acknowledged that there were issues with the implementation of MBO when he said, “Management by objective works – if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don’t.” Focusing on the wrong thing will yield the wrong results.
Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't. ~ Peter DruckerWhat You Focus on Matters
Why am I talking about MBOs and what does this have to do with our readings this Sunday? Because what you focus on matters and when you focus on the right things, the right things happen.
In our Gospel on Sunday, we heard the about the disciples in a boat being tossed about by the waves and Jesus came toward them walking on the sea. (Mt 14:24-25) Thinking it was a ghost, the disciples cried out in fear, but Jesus said, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” (Mt 14:27)
What happened next is really interesting. “Peter said to him in reply, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’” (Mt 14:28) Why would Peter want to get out of the boat when the waves were crashing about him? What would make him ask such a thing?
The answer is simple. Peter not only recognized Jesus, he acknowledged Jesus as “Lord,” and trusted his divine sovereignty over nature. So when Jesus said, “‘Come.’ Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. (Mt 14:29) He was centered on Jesus and trusted the power of God over the wind and the waves. But then, he got distracted and “when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, [he began] to sink.” (Mt 14:30)
Brain Science
What you focus on matters. What you focus on is what becomes powerful in your life. There is scientific evidence that supports this. It is called experience-dependent neuroplasticity and at the heart of the research is the finding that experience changes the brain. Our brains are made up of billions of neurons and different neurons are responsible for different parts of our experience, whether it’s eating, sleeping, laughing, spelling, or sensing threat, loving, nurturing, or learning. Every time you have an experience, the relevant neurons switch on and start firing. As this happens, neural connections get stronger and new synapses start growing. Or, as they say in neuroscience, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” The neurons that aren’t as needed will eventually wither away.
According to Rick Hanson, psychologist, senior fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author of Hardwiring Happiness, “Mental states become neural traits. Day after day, your mind is building your brain.” What you focus on will determine the parts of your brain that fire, wire and strengthen, influencing what the brain will focus on in the future, whether positive or negative.
Psychiatrist Karen Young wrote in her blog Hey Sigmund, “If you let your mind settle on self-criticism, self-loathing, pain, distress, stress, worry, fear, regret, guilt, these feelings and thoughts will shape your brain. On the other hand, if you focus on positive feelings and frame situations with a tilt towards the positive, eventually your brain will take on a shape that reflects this, hardwiring and strengthening connections around resilience, optimism, gratitude, positive emotion, and self-esteem.” And, Dr. Hanson says, “If you want to develop more gratitude, keep resting your mind on feeling thankful. If you want to feel more loved, look for and stay with experiences in which you feel included, seen, appreciated, liked, or cherished.”
If you want to develop more gratitude, keep resting your mind on feeling thankful. ~ Rick Hanson @drrhansonReinforce the Positive
Focusing on the positive requires us to overcome a natural tendency to notice the bad. While it is helpful to be aware of negative forces in our lives and learn from them, there is a problem when we fail to recognize the good right in front of us. How often do you have a perfectly good day, but let your mind fixate on the jerk who cuts you off on the way home while letting the positive experiences slide away? To combat this tendency, you must deliberately notice positive experiences and focus on them.
Quiet in the Storm
Peter Drucker may not have been a neuroscientist, but he understood this phenomenon when he said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” Jesus himself gave us this example. After he had fed the 5,000, he dismissed the crowds and “went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” (Mt. 14:23), following effective action with quiet reflection.
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action. ~ Peter DruckerWe certainly are living in turbulent times. Some of us are out in the middle of it, stirring up the water, while others are hunkering down in their boats trying to ride out the storm. Some view these times with a sense of despair, while others manage to find the rainbow. All of us are driven by what we focus on.
Focus on the Lord
We can’t escape the circumstances of living in these times, but we can control how it affects us by choosing to focus on the Lord, and like Peter, trusting his divine sovereignty over the trials we face. But, we can’t focus on the Lord when we allow negative noise to distract us. As Elijah discovered in our first reading, the Lord isn’t in the violent winds, nor earthquakes nor fire (1 Kg 19:11-12), but in “a light silent sound.” (1 Kg 19:12) We need to take time for quiet reflection and find him there. Matthew Kelly refers to this as spending time in “the classroom of silence”.
So whether you are stressed about going to work or being out of work, managing kids schoolwork at home or having them head back into the classroom, wearing a mask or being near someone who refuses to wear a mask, recognize that you have the power to fixate on the stressful aspects of your life, or you can choose to find the blessings in these circumstances. Choose wisely because what you focus on matters. What you focus on is what becomes powerful in your life.
Let’s pray: Lord, help us to choose to focus on you, knowing that you are sovereign over all creation. Help us to quiet the noise in our lives so that we may hear the tiny whispering sound of your voice. Help us to trust in your love and that you’re here to guide us. And, help us to recognize your blessings in our every day lives.
May God bless you abundantly this week and may you glorify the Lord by your life.
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