Reclaiming your attention in a world built to steal it

How often have you sat through a meeting only to realise afterwards that you can’t remember half of what was discussed? It is a familiar experience for many of us and was the starting point of a thought-provoking discussion at a recent alumni lunch and learn event in New York City.

Alumni from across the area gathered at Northwestern Mutual's Midtown Manhattan office for an exclusive talk and Q&A with Dr Michelle Machado, WBS alum, two-time TEDx speaker and author of the forthcoming Alive Again: Four Steps to Reclaim Your Life in a Distracted World.

A former Associate Professor and medical educator, Michelle combines neuroscience, leadership strategy and lived international experience to help leaders navigate distraction and improve decision-making. Her work has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Business Insider and MSN, while her two TEDx talks have collectively attracted more than two million views.

Drawing on her research and professional experience, Michelle challenged attendees to consider how modern life fragments our attention and what that means for our effectiveness as leaders, colleagues and individuals.

"We live in a world engineered to fracture our attention. Every notification, every feed, every interruption is designed by industries whose business model depends on owning the next thirty seconds of our minds. And yet the quality of every decision we make for our clients, our teams, our families, ourselves depends entirely on what we were paying attention to when we made it.

"We see the cost of this everywhere. In meetings we cannot fully recall, in conversations we half-heard, in evenings that vanish into screens and in careers and lives that, on paper, look like the ones we worked for and that somehow feel like we are missing in real time."

During the interactive session, Michelle outlined three patterns of attention common among high performers: Reactive, fragmented and avoidant. Alumni also took part in a live five-minute Attention Audit, an exercise normally reserved for readers of her upcoming book, before exploring practical ways to regain focus and intention in their daily lives.

The event concluded with a simple but powerful takeaway: audit your attention to reclaim your intention. Michelle encouraged alumni to consider what distraction might be protecting them from feeling, asking or facing.

What does this mean for leaders?

Michelle added: "The capacity to direct our own attention has moved from being a personal wellness concern to a workforce capability. Leaders who build this in themselves and in their teams will define the next decade of how organisations actually perform under pressure. Those who do not will spend that decade reacting to it.

"For alumni in particular, this work sits at the intersection of what we were trained to value: clear thinking, judgment under uncertainty, the long view, and what every era of accelerating demand makes harder to protect."

A network in action

Beyond the insights shared during the session, the event also highlighted the strength of the WBS alumni community and the connections it continues to create.

The event was hosted by alumni Thilan Kiridena and Mansi Patel at Northwestern Mutual. Mansi joined the organisation after first connecting with Thilan through the WBS alumni network, a fitting example of the connections these events can lead to.

Rachel Carroll, Regional Chair for the North America Global Alumni Network, said: "Our goal for the North American alumni community is to build a vibrant, self-sustaining network where we support and challenge one another, advancing lifelong learning and forging lasting friendships.

"If you've published a book, created compelling content, or have an idea for a meaningful event that would resonate with our community, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out at alumni@wbs.ac.uk. We have several exciting events lined up this summer and look forward to seeing you there."

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