Let’s start with the lie.

If you’re a tech or engineering leader claiming, “I just don’t have enough time,” you’re focusing on the wrong problem.

Time isn’t your bottleneck.

Focus is.

Most of what consumes your week doesn’t deserve your attention. But it still gets it because the urgent always overpowers the important when clarity’s missing.

Until you fix that, until you learn to filter signal from noise, your calendar will stay bloated, your team will remain scattered, and your results will stay mediocre.

The numbers are brutal.

• 80% of workers (including leaders) say they lack time and energy to do their jobs
• The average person is interrupted every 2 minutes, adding up to 275 times a day
• Only 22% of employees say their leaders have clear direction (Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025; Gallup, 2021)

Even worse? 41% of the average workday is spent on non-strategic tasks (Deloitte, 2025).

Let that sink in. Almost half your energy may be going toward work that doesn’t move the needle.

This is a leadership focus problem. Not a time management one.

Busy ≠ Clear.

I’ve coached high-performing CTOs, EMs, and heads of product who were quietly drowning in noise.

Slack, Jira, off-hours messages, last-minute fire drills. Their calendars were full. Their teams were exhausted.

But when I asked what their top 3 strategic outcomes were for the quarter?

They couldn’t name them. Or they listed vague categories like “hiring,” “scale,” and “improve process.”

Good intentions. Zero focus.

The Focus Gap: The real leadership breakdown

Here’s what’s actually going on:

The Focus Gap = A chronic mismatch between what leaders pay attention to and what drives strategic value.

When this gap opens, here’s what you see:

• Constant task-switching, even at the exec level
• Teams chasing low-value work because it’s loud or visible
• Strategic decisions delayed while micro-decisions flood the week
• People checking their inbox before 6 a.m. and calling it commitment

And this has a ripple effect.

Studies show that leader depletion directly reduces trust, innovation, and team performance (Scientific Reports, 2022).

When you’re mentally exhausted from attention overload, you default to the easy thing, not the right thing.

Mini-story: James, Head of Engineering

James was sharp. He was running multiple pods, doing skip-levels, keeping PMs unblocked, hiring like mad.

But he was also stuck in what I call “Execution Fog.”

His team delivered… sort of. But they weren’t gaining traction on customer impact, innovation, or roadmap clarity.

I asked him:

“What are your top 3 focus zones right now?”

He paused. Then said:

“Honestly? Just keeping up.”

We built his Impact Zones together. Three strategic lanes. Aligned to what the business actually needed that quarter. He pushed back on 30% of work requests. His team finally had breathing room. And 6 weeks later? They shipped a bold new release ahead of schedule.

That’s what happens when you lead with clarity.

You don’t need another task list. You need a new lens.

This isn’t about being more efficient. It’s about choosing what deserves your leadership energy.

Here’s how I help leaders get that clarity fast:

🔧 1. The Focus Ladder

Map your work from low to high impact. If 70% of your time is in firefighting, you’ve got a visibility problem, not a productivity one.

🎯 2. Impact Zones

Pick 3 strategic areas you’ll commit to this quarter. Not 10. Not “whatever’s loudest.” Just 3.

✅ 3. The “Hell Yes” Filter

If a request doesn’t align with your zones? It’s a “no” or a “not now.” Default to protect your focus.

🧠 4. The Not-Now List

Capture good-but-distracting ideas somewhere visible. Let your team see what’s paused, not ignored.

Want to build this muscle?

I’ve hosted a live session on August 12 called: The Focus Gap in Leadership – When Everything Feels Like a Priority

It’s was 40-minute tactical training for tech and engineering leaders who want:

• Less reactivity
• Sharper decision-making
• Better team alignment
• And a calendar that reflects what actually matters

We didn’t talk theory. People left with 4 frameworks, 1 worksheet, and a way to protect their focus, without apology.

If you want access to the full replay of that exact session, including the worksheets, comment “FOCUS” below, and my team will DM you a link. ;)

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P.S. Are you in Gothenburg, Sweden, or in the area? It will not be a ridiculous idea not to save the date for Live2Lead Sweden 2025 – A half-day for future-proofing your leadership

📅 October 23rd

📌Uni3 by Geely, Gothenburg, Sweden

Registration is not yet open, but you can join the early-access list so you are the first to know when seats open. Read more and save your seat below: