It is about time. The three most important questions a modern executive can ask a colleague are:

1] Where are you spending your time?
2] How long does [insert critical task] take?
3] How fast is your world changing?

Where Time is Being Spent
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently examined where people are actually spending their time. The following statistics were produced:

Working                       8.8 hours
Sleeping                      7.6 hours
Leisure & Sports         2.5 hours
Other                           1.7 hours
Caring for Others       1.2 hours
Eating & Drinking       1.1 hours
Household Activities           1.1 hours

In an age of sensors and Fitbits this is admittedly a low-fidelity assessment.

Getting inside the 36.6% of the day spent working we learn from Gallup that:

41% of Global Workers are employed Full Time;
30% Self Employed Full Time;
13% Employed Part Time, who do not Want Full Time;
9% Employed Part Time, Want Full Time; and
8% Unemployed

Then there is the physical aspect of time – as in WHERE are you physically? In Sao Paulo, the average resident spends 3 hours commuting each day. In New York, an hour and 17 minutes; Boston, an hour and 15 minutes; Chicago, an hour and 12 minutes; Atlanta, an hour and 8 minutes [Waze].

Historically, senior executives spent a lot of time at corporate headquarters. This is no longer the case. Executives have mobilized. “Over the years, people in our headquarters, in Frankfurt, started complaining to me, ‘We don’t see you much around here anymore,’” said Josef Ackermann, the former chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank. “Well, there was a reason why: growth has moved elsewhere—to Asia, Latin America, the Middle East.”

In the technology space the troika People, Process, and Technology has served as a framework since the days of mainframes. Historically most IT shops have spent 80% of their time on technology; 15% on process; and only 5% on people.  Daniel Barchi, award winning CIO and Senior Vice President at Yale-New Haven Health Services Corporation and CIO at the Yale University School of Medicine suggests reversing this à 5% on technology; 15% on process; and 85% on people.

Three Horizons Models
Many high performance organizations are becoming much more proactive managing multiple time zones [e.g., Now, Next, and Later]. There is consensus that today has to be managed; that emerging initiatives have to be developed/commercialized; and that new frontiers [i.e., viable options] have to be researched. There is not consensus as to how long each of these time zones last.

Geoffrey Moore pegs Horizon 1 “Extend and Defend Core Business” as running 0-12 months out; Horizon 2 Current Business + Tomorrow’s Cash Flow, running 12-36 months; and Horizon 3 running 36 to 76 months.

Revered as a world-class time manager, Dwight Eisenhower was said to use a four-box matrix to help he and his generals spend time wisely. On the X-axis was “Urgent” and “Not Urgent”. On the y-axis, “Not Important” and “Important”. Upper left hand quadrant [Important and Urgent] àDO SOMETHING. Upper Right Hand Quadrant [Important but Not Urgent] à DECIDE WHAT TO DO. Lower Left Hand Quadrant [Not Important but Urgent] à DELEGATE. Lower Right Hand Quadrant à [Not Important and Not Urgent] à DELETE.

Where are you spending your time? How do you decide where you spend your time?