Attention, please: How the attention-related stories we tell our students in class influence their performance at work

In recent years, two narratives surrounding attention in the workplace have generated much discussion in academia and the popular press. The first concerns the value of “mindfulness” and the practices associated with it-most notably, meditation. The second involves the claim that our ability to pay attention has reached a crisis point. In this paper, I consider the nature and theoretical foundations of these stories and suggest that despite their insights, each one carries unappreciated limitations in the context of management education. To help our students marshal their attention more effectively in the workplace, I argue that we need to start offering additional narratives based on what are termed qualities of attention. To make this case, I explore the implications and potential workplace consequences of the two common narratives mentioned above. I then lay the groundwork for telling a new story, one focused on specific qualities of attention we can teach our students to cultivate; namely, attentional stability and attentional vividness. I conclude with an appeal to fellow management educators to consider reshaping the current classroom discourse around attention in order to better inspire and equip our students for the workplace.