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Volume 22, Number 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved

Time Mastery
How Temporal Intelligence Will Make You a Stronger, More Effective Leader

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

2005 John K. Clemens and Scott Dalyrmple Adapted by permission of AMACOM ISBN: 0-8144-0849-4

Reviewed by Jennifer Cuthbertson

Introduction
Every executive has wished for more hours in a day in order to meet all of his or her business goals. John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple suggest that more hours is not necessarily the best answer. They contend that the key to success is looking at time in a whole new way. The authors dismiss time management as inadequate, as they believe being a time master is not about managing the clock or the calendar. They believe time mastery means having an intuitive sense of time and viewing time as malleable rather than constant. In Time Mastery, the authors provide dozens of examples of leaders whose skill in temporal intelligence have led to significant increases in productivity at companies such as Intel, Dell, 3M, and Microsoft.
Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved

Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

PART I: LOOKING AT TIME IN A DIFFERENT WAY

Clemens and Dalrymple believe the concept of managing or manipulating time is inadequate in todays fast-paced and global business world. The authors do feel that the tactical considerations of time management have a place in business. They simply believe that tactical considerations alone are not enough to make the leap from manager to leader. Leaders should be concerned with strategic issues, and time management might help leaders plan their strategy more efficiently, but it does not necessarily make them more effective. As the authors put it, TIme management is the undergraduate school of time. Leaders understand that time isnt a management problem. Its a And they argue that leaders need leadership opportunity. a graduate degree in time, and the key to this graduate degree is to stop thinking of time as is the next project or the next promotion, and companies something to be chopped up and managed and to start tend to think in quarters and to consider themselves in good thinking of it as a strategic tool. shape if they have a five, or perhaps, ten year plan. Temporal intelligence is what Clemens and Dalrymple Getting out of this time trap is not easy, but companies term the deeper understanding of time that some executives and executives should strive to achieve the correct time have. In fact, the authors believe it is what allows executives perspective, a balance of the past, present, and future. The like Paul Charron, Chairman of Liz Claiborne, to excel. authors suggest that the correct mix will give meaning to Charron urges his executives to enjoy white space or history, illuminate risks and opportunities that face us in hours free from the tyranny of the calendar. He feels that the now, and help us to paint alluring pictures of the things executives should take these bonus hours to slow down and yet to come. They compare this idea to the investor who think, focusing on effectiveness rather than efficiency. It divides his dollars into cash, bonds, stocks, and real estate is Charrons belief that time and reflection are needed to in order to receive the highest returns. Even though everyone operates in all three temporal zones, we each have a preferred zone. The traditionalists celebrate the past as they believe the past is a prologue that About the Authors sets the agenda for the future. Many Fortune 500 companies have history departments, as the past is a natural bias. John K. Clemens, Professor of Management at (Who does not favor the familiar over the uncertain?) And, Hartwick College, is the founder of The Hartwick while the past can be an aid to coping with the routine of an Humanities in Management Institute. His previous organization, it is not an adequate guide for innovation. books include Movies to Manage By:Lessons from Contemporaries stick to the here and now of the Great Films and The Classic Touch: Lessons in Leadership from Homer to Hemingway. present. These are the indivudals who are spurred on by time management courses and by Peter Druckers assertion Scott Dalrymple, is an Assistant Professor of that decisions exist only in the present. The authors believe Management at Hartwick College and the CEO that this temporal focus has gotten businesses into trouble. of Dalrymple Consulting, specializing in corporate Executives are given less and less time to turn large strategy and business communications. corporations around, because of the threat of do it now or For more information, please visit: well find someone else who can. Focus on the present has also changed the way people invest. They hold stock for six www.amanet.org months or less rather than for five or more years.
Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved Page 2

stir things up and to innovate, and occasionally asking why rather than when, will yield better results. The authors believe that being a slave to time is not fruitful and people with high levels of temporal intelligence make time work for them. These individuals appreciate that time is not fixed and constant and that the present is not always the best place to focus. Instead, time masters must learn to combine the power of the past, the present, and the future. The present, for individuals and organizations, is too often the focus and the future is often only what happens in the next six months to a year. For an individual, the future

Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

Futurists are not dependent on the past and present. They reject the limitations of their current routine and choose to concentrate on innovative solutions and new scenarios. They invest resources in creating new core competencies. In other words, they are strategic thinkers. This is where the time master dwells. Clemens and Dalrymple contend that the key is finding the temporal golden mean, which represents the correct proportion of past, present, and future, and, thereby, optimizes leadership. It requires the eye of the historian and a parallel perspective; the projection into the future must be built firmly on the platform of the present. One reason that this ideal is not more widely represented in the top ranks of todays executives, is that the futurist is not the one who is usually promoted. Instead it is the goalie,

innovation have free reign. Cooperation is fostered and rivals might even build profitable alliances. The authors term this cooperating to compete. They believe that those who use temporal intelligence view the world not as we versus they, but as a continuous commercial community. They cite Intel and Microsoft as an example. Being a polychron has its advantage, as it is more and more difficult to forecast and organize each day because of the number of unpredictable disruptions. The pattern of thought that time is continuous allows a manager to keep numerous balls in the air at one time. It also gives that manager the ability to focus on one ball at a time without detriment to the others. Time masters provide strong messages consistently as a way of maintaining enthusiasm. They provide the conditions that will help to create flow History may not be bunk, but it all too often does not repeat and match challenges with capability. itself. They also understand that the mentality of ticking items off a list or allowing the one who deflects the current problems, whose reactions artificially prioritized items to take precedence over a true are the quickest. The problem is that once promoted to the priority will not advance the goals of the organization. top, goalies still think like goalies, rather than like the team Calendars provide a suggestion, not a mandate. manager or president. Viewing time as elastic is another characteristic of a Another characteristic of the time master is being time master. The authors term this strategic time, and they polychronic or having the ability to engage in many tasks use the metaphor of a ships radar to explain it. The radar at the same time. They can juggle priorities and projects, has a cursor that extends from the center and traces echoes and overlap them if necessary. They also do not have every on each sweep around the dial. With each rotation, the other hour of their day scheduled. They have some of Charrons ships change their position slightly, creating tracks. There white space in which to reflect. They are not a slave to lists is no track for the transmitting vessel. It is stationary in the and do not feel the need to slice and dice time. To the time middle, because the radar shows succession or the sequence master, time is seamless and indivisible, and they make of events and duration, the interval separating events. Time time when needed and join their diverse experiences into relates one motion to another. a meaningful pattern. The authors suggest placing an organization at the Time masters are also wary of placing the emphasis on center of the radar. The constantly moving targets are its efficiency over effectiveness and have a healthy skepticism constituencies, its competitors, governments, employees, of deadlines, as they feel a hard stop can stifle creativity. stockholders, consumers, and suppliers. Each sweep of Studies have shown that looking at time as discontinuous the radar reveals their motion. After watching for a while, inhibits our ability to plan and to manage change patterns and meanings emerge. The relationship between intelligently. This view of time is one-dimensional. the tracks becomes clearer. Time masters want to see these The authors believe that time masters use flow time. temporal maps, which help them to reveal and explain They compare flow time to cash flow, where there are ebbs changes in the marketplace. and tides. Viewing time as a flow changes the nature of The patterns of everyday business life can be used work for an executive, as he or she is much more likely to strategically to help businesses deal with time. Often, time be absorbed in their work. is not the enemy. It may be the perception of time, which is This view of time as flow can shift the strategy of a the enemy. Research shows the routine complexity of a task corporation. Without artificial deadlines, creativity and
Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved Page 3

Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

can have a strange time-compressing effect. Routine tasks faster is better mentality with the right organizational that are perceived as too simple result in boredom and time rhythm can provide an organization with a competitive passes slowly. A complex task that is not routine requires edge. conscious attention, but time still passes slowly. However, The authors are talking about synchrony, and synchrony a task that is complex enough to sufficiently engage the can be thought of in terms of athletes running a circular brain, yet familiar enough to be routine, causes time to track. If the group wants to run together, then they have to seem to move faster. be willing to adjust their speeds from what they prefer. The The simple conclusion is that managers should strive slow will have to pick up speed, and the fast will have to for routine complexity in repetitive jobs, so that Like the rest of us, time masters live in the perpetual employees brains are engaged, and they can white water of turbulent schedules, caroming from one find a routine. Often times managers think that meeting to the next, their days filled with a hodgepodge a worker who appears bored needs enrichment. of different roles. This enrichment can actually get in the way by disengaging the employee from the task. decrease theirs. It is the same in a business environment. While the authors have steered away from artificial The slow movers need to increase their speed and the fast deadlines, they do admit that time pressure does have its ones need to slow down, and it needs to happen because place. An employee may measure the worth if his or her of mutual interactions. task is based on the deadline set or on the amount of time This idea is also known as entrainment. Tempo that passes between the completion of the task and when entrainment is what most often occurs in business. feedback is received. Everyone on a team begins to operate at a pace that fits Time masters understand that time management is an the situation. The R&D group will entrain to the rate of important tool, but they also recognize that it contributes technological development and scientific discovery, while little to time mastery. The authors believe that time masters the marketing teams entrain to the rate of the market and stop crises by stopping time. That is, they maintain their its changing needs. objectivity and do not get caught up in the frenzied call Groups do not have to operate at the same pace in order to action. Time masters also live by event time as well as to mesh. If two groups, say R&D and Marketing, are in tune clock time. They recognize that interruptions can be an to different parts of the product life cycle, they may mesh opportunity. without changing their rhythm, because their interest in
PART II: WORKING WITH TIME

If calendars are not the answer for mastering time, what is? The authors provide several examples. One they cite, is getting into the rhythm, detailing examples of clocks and musicians who adjust to each others rhythm. As Clemens and Dalrymple note, people seem to possess an ability to sense and to adjust to the rhythms around them. Whether this ability is conscious or unconscious, leaders with a high level of temporal intelligence seem to to be able to get their people and teams to change their activity patterns so that they align closely. They seem to have an innate knowledge that dissimilar rhythms cause most of the problems between individuals and between individuals and their environment. While speed is not essential to rhythm, it is still an important part of the equation in business. Combining a

the product overlaps. This spurs alliances and encourages cooperation. The authors believe that true time masters find ways to entrain even the most divergent of rhythms. The authors cite the example of King Charles V of the France, who in 1370 unveiled a clock housed in tower of his palace. He decreed that all clocks in the city were to be synchronized with his. He had just created a zeitgeiber or time giver. It was a temporal clue for the surrounding environment. With his decree he had also given a zeitgeiber for the rhythm of life in Paris. The Internet is a modern example of a zeitgeiber, because it has changed the rhythm of work. E-mail is a prime example. When the inbox dings, many stop whatever they are working on and check their mail. They may find a very important message, requiring immediate follow up; or one that is merely informational, requiring no response; or maybe, they find spam. No matter what the message, the
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Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved

Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

flow of work has stopped. And, it is quite likely once the flow is restarted, the inbox will ding again. Logically, everyone knows checking the inbox immediately after it dings is not necessary. It can wait until a logical stopping point is reached; however, we cannot resist. While it is not a bad thing to stay current on e-mail and to answer it right away, and some customers or bosses appreciate this speed and efficiency, is this advantage worth the cost? Is it worth interrupting the rhythm? Someone with a high level of temporal intelligence will not avoid checking email, but they will avoid letting

the sails catch, the sailor can forget about watches and mental calculations. They can just enjoy the act of sailing. The before and after are examples of chronos and kairos. These are two entirely different ways of sensing time. Chronos is symbolized by watches and calendars and the ever-present PDA. It reminds us that time is a limited asset. It is dictated by custom and by usage, and society is largely structured around chronos. It seems to be what makes the world go around. Kairos is unconcerned with minutes, hours or days. Its focus is on the right time, the point at which everything changes. Kairos is a moment that marks Time masters do battle with discontinuity...continuously. opportunity or a point of departure. Think of it They are wary of technology that emphasizes efficiency as the decisive point in an argument. Those who over effectiveness. operate in the chronos realm ask: How fast? How frequent? How old? Kairos signifies a the email dictate their rhythm. These individuals seem qualitative character of time, to the special position an event to understand that most of their emails do not demand or action occupies in a series. immediate action and most could even wait for an hourly or Chronos is obvious in the modern world. Palm Pilots twice daily check. TIme masters dictate their own rhythm and project management software are both examples. of communication and are not swept along by electronic Kairos is that moment when it seems right to promote the rhythms. junior analyst to manager, even if it is ahead of schedule. Businesses and executives are also subject to external A kairotic moment is not usually apparent beforehand. It rhythms like economic cycles, which entrain them to the is chosen solely because it feels right. outside world. They are also subject to internal cycles, like Inner-directed people seem to have a sixth sense that budget cycles. Time masters have less control over external gives them near-perfect timing. But everyone has the ability rhythms, but they can influence the internal rhythms. to operate on a kairotic clock, if they will let themselves. Budget cycles often drive things like personnel evaluations, The key is learning how to read this internal clock and then pricing changes, salary and bonus adjustments, yet it does learning to trust it. Business schools steer students toward not have to be like this. the chronos by teaching them how to break down complex Leaders, from any level of the corporation, constantly problems into small pieces that can be measured. They provide temporal cues to those around them. These cues teach students to make charts and diagrams and to assign may not have anything to do with cycles or with speed probabilities in order to make a decision. or with deadlines. But whatever they are connected to, This, despite the fact that most of us do not make they have a profound influence on a corporation. Getting personal decisions in this manner. We rely on a combination the correct rhythm requires the ability to walk in another of intuition and thought. In a study looking at analysts who persons temporal shoes, to share their rhythm. made decisions that resulted in high monetary rewards Someone seeking to become a time master needs to for their companies, researchers found this is true for understand and to leverage the rhythms of every team these individuals as well. These analysts scored high on and every department, and then determine how they the Intuition-Thinking sector of the Myers-Briggs type should converge. When rhythms are not working, the time indicator. master will change the pace by entraining new rhythms or On Myers-Briggs, sensing and intuition describe synchronizing with existing ones. how people like to take in information and what kind of Clemens and Dalrymple point out the rhythm of sailing information they tend to trust. It measures whether or and how the sailor must use a watch and wind speed to not they trust sensory or intuitive information the most. closely calculate the moment that the sails will catch. After
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Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

Thinking and feeling describes how a person likes to make cycles that we must be cognizant of, and it is the managers decisions about the information taken in, using thinking job to battle the inevitable and to prolong the growth cycle or feeling. and to prevent decline. The Intuition-thinking combination involves absorbing When companies are threatened with the chaos information in a kairotic way. Decisions are then made produced by a market downturn or a stagnant product, based on objective principles. Good kairotic thinkers find managers move into action. They focus on the things they patterns and make decisions, using these patterns and their can control by emphasizing efficiency over effectiveness experience. They gather information by identifying the and encouraging following rather than leading. It is in this patterns and then apply facts and logic to solve the problem, mode that downsizing and restructuring occur. Time here using both sides of their brain in the process. is a negative force. Andy Grove, the chairman of Intel, calls kairotic An executive in a company whose survival and success moments strategic inflection points. It is a watershed is threatened, where systems have lost equilibrium may moment, like the birth of a child. For a small hardware store regroup in preparation to move in a new direction. Often owner, it might be the moment they learn Home Only if you know where you are (navigators call this a Depot or Lowes is moving in. It is a moment when fix) can you get to where you want to go. nothing will ever be the same. An executive needs to be able to use kairotic times, it is disequilibrium which is the precursor to real thinking to recognize these moments. The authors suggest growth and rejuvenation. These companies self-organize that an executive ask him or herself this question, If over time. This is one of the branches of chaos theory. I had just started my job today and had inherited this The authors cite a research study using fireflies that project/product/company, what would I do? To answer this determined that the fireflies pulse in unison. They do so question requires pulling oneself out of time and forgetting without the benefit of a leader. When put into a group, all of the history, the insider knowledge, the loyalty, and the each firefly adjusts to the one closest until all are pulsing baggage. It also means overlooking the deadlines that are at the same time. They synchronize naturally. The authors not being met currently, as well as the equally impossible contend that our entire economy is an example of a complex ones that loom ahead. self-organized system. Deadlines and due dates can be useful, but obsession Capitalism is chaotic. No centralized body decrees the with them is not useful. While they may provide focus, they supply of any product. It just happens in response to the can also exert pressure and lead to rash decisions that are marketplace. Perhaps individual companies should take a costly for a business. look at this idea. Instead of imposing detailed organizational The authors are quick to point out that they are not matrices and master plans, perhaps they should become trying to discredit chronos, as it is a necessary condition more open. Open systems interact with their environment for kairos. Our world runs on clocks and calendars and and adapt and evolve with time. They understand and schedules. It would not do to arrive at a board meeting an duplicate the rhythms reflected in the marketplace. They hour late saying, Now feels like the right time to arrive. are not stable, but they are resilient, responding to what is Being overly focused on chronos means valuing going on, rather than trying to impose a timeline. efficiency over effectiveness. As Clemens and Dalrymple It takes courage and temporal intelligence to understand point out, being the worlds most efficient manufacturer when to act and when not to act in response to a problem. of eight-track tapes does not mean much in todays world The authors believe we have a bias toward action fueled by of CDs and DVDs.. Effective managers are efficient our adherence to time management. People get caught up managers. They meet deadlines, but they also exploit in the temporal gears of everyday life. They concentrate the kairotic moments and grant their team members the on checking items off of a to-do list and forget that it is freedom to take control and to move at their own pace. the white space or downtime that allows for creativity and But that pace must be appropriate and must recognize innovation. that markets become saturated. Products also have life
Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved Page 6

Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

Gardeners intuitively understand this concept. They know time energizes and time is what allows seeds to mature. Time masters understand this can work at the organizational level as well. Time can energize. New products, proposals, a revolutionary marketing idea are also seeds that need time to develop. Time masters look at what is in the pipeline to help determine their chances for success and their future actions. They allow time for teams to self-organize and to synchronize their rhythms. They do not rush to solve a problem, instead they allow some white space to provide for a fresh perspective, and they always have projects in the pipeline. * * * Bibliographic notes by chapter and a subject index are provided.

The focus is not on the present, or the past, or the future, but on a blending of the three. The future is not just the next quarter, and the present counts, but it it is not the end all or be all, and neither is the past. Decisions for the future are based on a combination of knowledge of the past and the present. The perception of patterns and the ability to attribute future meaning to them based on past and present is valued over the ability to react to the moment.

Reading Suggestions
Reading Time: 4-6 hours; 210 pages This book makes good use of a busy executives schedule. The authors gets to the point and they provide easy to understand definitions and references. They also include enough examples to illustrate their theory, without belaboring the points they wish to make. Research and study results are also used to highlight the ideas behind time mastery. It is a book that will serve the new executive as well as the seasoned. Time management and multi-tasking have become ingrained not only in the business sector, but in the private sector as well. Learning the principles of time mastery will help the newly minted executive avoid some pitfalls, and allow the tested one to change some perceptions and to redefine his or her view of time. The book can easily be read in one sitting. However, it probably helps to divide it up, so as not to gloss over some of the finer points. Each chapter is dense and explains a concept that is important to the understanding of the next chapter. Time Mastery will also act as a guidebook long after it is finished. The authors place summary bullet points at the end of each chapter. These serve as a great reminder of the chapters content. They usually provide some key items or examples that can be followed in the day-to-day workplace.

Remarks
Time Mastery is a welcome addition to the literature dealing with time and the workplace. It is not another book that teaches how to manage lists and how to prioritize projects. Instead, it changes the way managers look at time, challenging notions that faster is better and that deadlines produce the desired results. Clemens and Dalrymple view projects as seeds, which over time will produce results. This is opposed to the current mode of thinking, which seems to believe that without a deadline, nothing will happen. The deadline becomes the focus. The it must be on my desk by five oclock mentality may not be the best way of managing people. It can lead to frenzied thought and to a finish-at-all-costs approach that may not yield the best result. This book is not actually about managing time at all, but rather it focuses on using temporal intelligence to manage employees and businesses more effectively. More emphasis is placed on people and capturing and using their natural rhythms for the good of a project. The authors believe that a team needs time to get established, to find the rhythm that makes them cooperate rather than compete.

Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved

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Time Mastery

John K. Clemens and Scott Dalrymple

CONTENTS Introduction: Beyond Time Management Chapter 1: Leadership Time Travel: Past, Present, and Future Chapter 2: Going With the Flow Chapter 3: Times Amazing Elasticity Chapter 4: Rhythm: The Beat is Everything Chapter 5:Its Greek to Me: Chronos and Kairos Chapter 6: Time As Energizer

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We at BBR encourage our readers to purchase the business books we review. BBR Reviews are intended as a service to busy professionals, as we recommend only those books that are worth your time to read in their entirety. We apply stringent criteria in selecting only the best business books, and in that selection process, strive to help you make informed book-purchasing decisions.

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Business Book Review Vol. 22, No. 21 Copyright 2005 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved

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