Like many others who follow business news these days, I read about the exploits of South African born mega-billionaire and entrepreneur Elon Musk. He enjoys a reputation as being very smart but has recently come under criticism for damaging his electric automobile brand. He got involved in partisan politics and failed to pay adequate attention to business responsibilities. Sales went down. Inventories stacked up, and investors worried. Some owners resorted to posting written apologies on their cars for having purchased TESLA, hoping to ward off angry vandals.
My point here is not to heap criticism on Mr. Musk, but to point to him as a highly visible example of the pitfalls of failing to focus on one’s job. It can be tempting to help out a colleague with a high-visibility project, but one must first take care of business.
I once had a young friend who fell for such traps, not once, but twice. She seemed to become easily bored with her own work responsibilities and turned her attention to someone else’s job. She lost sight of her own responsibilities. As a manager in an important department in a major hospital, she failed to pay the department the attention it deserved. I was hired to help her out with her responsibilities, to help get her head on straight.
I saw this lack of focus far too often as a business consultant. It got too many promising people in trouble in their jobs.
My advice, of course, is to first focus on your own job if you want to be successful. Then, when your work is well-controlled and meeting deadlines and objectives, you can consider helping others with their initiatives. But you must always take care of your own business first.