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Key Takeaways
- The article explores how our attention habits during meetings can shape both personal effectiveness and organizational culture.
- It shares insights from a top CEO and personal experiences on managing focus in an age of constant connectivity.
Jamie Dimon doesn’t take his phone to meetings.
The CEO of the multibillion-dollar company, JPMorgan Chase, recently said he keeps his phone in his office during the workday and turns off all notifications except for text messages from his three daughters. If someone needs to reach him urgently, they call his office. When he sees someone staring at an open screen during meetings, he tells them to close the screen, calling the behavior “disrespectful.”
For Dimon, it’s not about control. It’s about something we’ve lost in the age of constant connectivity: presence.
I learned the importance of being present, both at work and in my personal life. the hard way. Before the pandemic, I had all the hallmarks of success: leading a highly successful, global organization; a loving family and a career that allowed me to share stages around the world with icons like Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson. But I was also burned out, disconnected, and deflated.
One of the patterns I had to break? The illusion that I could do several things at once and do them well.
I tried to run meetings, but my mind was racing with getting to the airport on time or responding to follow-up messages about a previous meeting. At home I was on my phone, distracted and disconnected from my family. I was physically present, but I was not there. It made me feel miserable and my loved ones felt neglected.
At work, my employees followed my example. We believed we were being effective by juggling multiple things at once. I’d look up during a meeting and half the team would be on the phone, while the rest would be trying in vain to accomplish even the basic objectives of the meeting.
What we didn’t understand, and what science has proven time and time again since then, is that the concept of multitasking is a myth.
Related: 5 Simple Productivity Hacks You’ll Wish You Knew Earlier
Your brain can only do one thing at a time
The human brain is unable to perform more than one cognitive task at a time.
Respond to an email while listening to your colleague’s presentation. Review a contract while on a video call. Write a report while monitoring your inbox. These aren’t things you can really do at the same time. Instead, your brain quickly switches back and forth between competing tasks, resulting in what’s known as a ‘switching costs“.
Studies shows that people almost always take longer to complete a task and make more mistakes when switching tasks than when focusing on one task at a time. Research also shows that trying to rely on ‘multitasking’ can, ironically, lead to a 40 percent drop in terms of productivity.
According to neuropsychiatrist Dr. David Vago“Every time you switch tasks, your brain pays a toll. Those little mistakes result in hours of lost clarity and connection. Attention is the most intimate energy we have. When we give it fully, we transform distraction into purpose.”
You know the feeling. You’re talking to your child and he or she is scrolling on his phone. You immediately know that they don’t really hear you. Your words compete with the endless scroll.
If that’s the experience at home, imagine what it looks like in a corporate environment.
If your CEO sees you looking at your phone during a meeting, what message does that send? That the meeting is not important. That their time is not valuable. That what’s on that screen is more important.
Or a photo of a customer who keeps checking the notifications on his watch, his eyes darting downwards every few minutes. How confident are you in closing that deal?
It’s hard to realize at the time, but your divided attention communicates louder than your words. In an age when everyone is overwhelmed by information and hungry for real connection, presence can become your competitive advantage.
Leading through presence
Dimon explained that not having his phone on hand means he is fully present and “100% focused” during meetings, rather than being distracted and “thinking about other things.”
That level of focus doesn’t just benefit him. It transforms the culture of the entire organization.
When you, as a leader, model presence, you give everyone else permission to do the same. You indicate that the work you are doing together at that moment is more important than what is happening outside that room. You create space for deeper thinking, better questions and more creative solutions.
Here’s what I learned about building a culture of attendance:
1. Set the tone from the top
Start your next meeting by putting your phone away in plain view. It sends the message that the meeting is important and that you are there to hear from your team. It is a small gesture with a huge impact.
Your team will mirror your behavior. If you check messages, they feel entitled to do the same. If you are fully present, they will rise to meet that standard.
2. Manage your connectivity
In one interview with CNNDimon said that if someone texts him during the day, he probably won’t read it. He does not avoid communication; he is strategic when he deals with it.
Instead of checking email and messages hundreds of times a day, set specific times for this work. Maybe it’s 20 minutes at the start of your day, 20 minutes after lunch, and 20 minutes before you leave. During the focus time, close these windows completely.
Developing the self-discipline to focus on a single task for 20 minutes can dramatically improve the amount you accomplish.
Related: Being ‘Busy’ Doesn’t Help You Be Productive – 5 Tips to Become Truly Efficient at Work
3. Model deep work
When you’re working on a complex problem or strategic initiative, eliminate all distractions. Turn off notifications. Close unnecessary browser tabs. If necessary, put your phone in another room.
This isn’t just about productivity. The point is to show that certain work deserves undivided attention. Your team will notice and they will start protecting their own focus time.
The fulfillment factor
The irony of our hyper-connected age is that we have never been so far removed from what matters. We are available to everyone and fully present to no one.
Presence is not just a productivity strategy. It is a path to fulfillment.
When you stop fragmenting your attention among a dozen inputs and start dedicating yourself completely to the task, person, or moment in front of you, something changes. Work becomes more meaningful. Deepen relationships. You no longer feel like you’re always behind, but start to feel like you’re exactly where you need to be.
Dimon comes to meetings prepared by doing the pre-reads in advance and giving 100% of his focus to the event, stating that if he couldn’t put his full focus on his work, it would be time to move on.
That is the standard worth striving for. Not perfection, but presence. Don’t do everything at once, but do one thing completely.
You don’t have to overhaul your entire work style overnight. Start with one meeting. One conversation. One task where you commit to being fully present.
You may be surprised by what you missed. And you will certainly be surprised by what you are capable of when you are fully present.