Completely agreed. I’ve been in the productivity trap at startups, design firms, and large companies. I believe it’s how technology companies, in addition to higher ed, is also set up. It’s the same hamster wheel to maximize short- and long-term profitability.

While at Facebook, we were continually slave to metrics and goals for each half. Each person would optimize for those goals, and also everyone’s individual rating. It’s hard to balance the softer metrics such as “belonging” or “social ties” against watch time tied to advertising. Especially when it takes a long time to move the softer metrics. Completely agreed that leaders have to much more deliberate to protect strategic long-term planning.

Thanks for adding the org aspect of busy-ness. It’s something I’ve long thought about but didn’t focus on for this article.