THE ATTENTION ECONOMY: Understanding the New Currency of Business

THE ATTENTION ECONOMY
Understanding the New Currency of Business
By Thomas Davenport and John Beck
From Harvard Business School Press, 2001

In today's information-flooded world, the scarcest resource is not ideas or even talent: it's attention. In this groundbreaking book, Thomas Davenport and John Beck argue that unless businesses learn to effectively capture, manage, and keep it, both internally and out in the marketplace, they'll fall hopelessly behind.

In "The Attention Economy," the authors also outline four perspectives on managing attention in all areas of business: 1) measuring attention, 2) understanding the psychobiology of attention, 3) using attention technologies to structure and protect attention, and 4) adapting lessons from traditional attention industries like advertising.

Drawing from exclusive global research, the authors show how a few pioneering organizations are turning attention management into a potent competitive advantage and recommend what attention-deprived businesses should do to avoid losing visitors, employees, customers, and market share. A landmark work on the twenty-first century's new critical competency, this book is for every player who wants to learn how to earn and spend the new currency of business.

The authors' work brings a whole new way to consider innovation. One must look at not just the product or service, but at the marketing and delivery of a product or service and beyond, to find ways to capture, channel, and maximize the benefits of the attention it receives. That is an innovation challenge.

And the attention issue has huge implications for leaders who are laying out a new strategic vision that puts a premium on innovation. Strategy, the authors remind us, is not just about choosing the right strategic option, but also what point of view to take on the strategy itself, who "does" strategy, and when it is done. The organization chart, Davenport and Beck argue, tells everyone in the company to focus attention on certain aspects of the business and to ignore others.

For example, when the authors asked a group of 60 executives to track every message they received for a week and rate how well it attracted their attention, "whether the information was new or unusual" was among the least effective. So much for "new and improved."

"After reading "The Attention Economy," it is clear to me that attention isn't really 'paid', it is either given as a loan or managed as an investment."