CHAPTER 8

COMMAND PERFORMANCE

LEADERSHIP AND ATTENTION

Ever wonder what runs through a chain-saw juggler’s mind during a performance? Two saws in the air, one in each hand. Timing and hand-eye coordination are pitted against motorized razorlike teeth. It’s the power of concentration against the power of steel and gasoline—risk management in the most literal form.

John Burns is a juggler of sorts. He runs five companies in five industries—trucking, minerals, nuts and bolts, railroads, and insurance. How does he allocate his leadership attention across so many information-intense areas (he reads over four thousand reports a year for the mineral business alone) with such success? First, John’s been mining mountains of information his entire professional ...

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