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The answer to the question posed in this tweet is “Managers are focused on tasks” and/or “Executives are focused on growth and revenue.” That’s why stuff like “retention” and “hiring,” which should be important, fall completely by the wayside — or, as is often the case with recruiting, they become about tasks instead of about longer-term strategy, which ends up being OK because most people can barely tell the difference and many people just want to be busy because it’s akin to being high.
Let me give you a personal example regarding the over-focus in society on tasks, which is not inherently a bad thing either. My wife and I are going through IVF right now. Here’s a little bit on that. This is obviously a huge concept and very emotional and it’s tied to lots of life perceptions, role perceptions, what your future looks like, etc. It’s massive. Externally, does anyone really care, especially people with 2–3 kids already? No. Not in the least. What those people want is tasks. If I told them, “Hey, today is tough. Could you maybe grab us some food?” most people absolutely would. Because it’s a defined task, and that’s what people are comfortable with. Bigger discussions, bigger questions, bigger life issues? People are not comfortable with those, writ large.
