The Executive Function Coach

(Illustration by Kilbride/WSJ)

Here's another child-raising specialty that didn't exist when our kids were growing up. Demand is exploding for the Executive Function coach.

Executive function skills fall under three big headings: working, or short-term, memory; inhibitory control, which involves putting urges and impulses on hold; and cognitive flexibility, the ability to plan, reason, solve problems and manage multiple tasks. In practical terms, EF might coaches show students how to break down assignments and projects into bite-sized pieces and estimate the time each will take; establish a daily schedule, with time for study, exercise, socializing and sleep; and develop a plan to avoid getting distracted by technology and social media.

Psychologists in schools and private practice report seeing a flood of requests from parents for executive function help for their kids, and experienced EF coaches are struggling to meet demand...

The rise in demand for student EF coaches coincides with a rise in ADHD diagnoses and mental health problems in young people. Technology is fragmenting kids’ attention, and student life has become far more demanding. Juggling school, sports, extracurriculars, volunteering and college admissions requires careful time management.

“The number of choices available to a young person has increased so substantially,” says Grant Leibersberger, founder and principal of Boston-based Focus Collegiate, which offers EF coaching to kids with learning differences who are going to traditional colleges. “Their brains aren’t wired for all these choices so early on.”

Your humble blogger has observed young adults who have not been able to deal with electronic distractions. We see them on the road every day and give them a wide berth.

Executive Function training isn't just for kids.

New Year's Resolutions: Limited Accountability

These resolutions, reproduced from four years ago, are more like good habits to be developed than concrete goals (it's the contrast between "lose weight" and "lose 10 pounds"):

More	Less
Reading books	Web-surfing
Water	Sugar
Getting rid of stuff	Buying stuff
Taking courses	Electronic games
Writing letters	Saying "yes"
Sleep	Texting, esp. thank-you's
Fruits and vegetables	Fried foods
Exercise	TV
Organization	Procrastination

I'm going to apply numerical criteria; the first, "reading books," will become "read one book each month." As for the rest, I'm going to keep them to myself. Public accountability is over-rated.

On the Edge

The 3.1 aftershock was reported 5 minutes later.

The preoccupations of the day were set aside on 11:42 a.m. when the house rocked briefly but noticeably. Nothing fell, and the TV stayed on.

The initial jolt is usually the worst, followed by one or two aftershocks, but occasionally the first quake is a precursor to a bigger one. Nerves were calmed when a smaller 3.1 aftershock followed the 5.1 quake five minutes later, and all was quiet thereafter.

The San Jose earthquake (by the way, the Earthquakes are San Jose's soccer team) was produced by the Calaveras fault in the East Bay. Scientists tell us that there's less than a 1% probability of a bigger quake in the coming week.

For about 15 minutes just before noon there was a chance that our lives would be completely upended. The odds were high that the worst wouldn't happen, but the possibility existed.

Over the past several years I have had friends and relatives whose priorities changed instantaneously for health reasons. They were unprepared for such disruption, and today's earthquake reminded us that disruption can come from a direction that's not foremost in our mind.

Making Lists and Getting Serious

I can point to a few recipes I've learned, some books I've read, and clutter I've cleared, but basically it's been an unproductive 15 months. During the pandemic it's easy to make excuses for not tackling projects that matter. Now's the time to make lists and get serious.

Yes, it's time to get the ducks in a row.

Dispensing with Money-Management Cuteness

After the third iteration the tax returns came back from the processor and for the first time in memory they were done by April 11th.

Now that we've simplified our financial accounts and gotten out of pass-through businesses that never made much money but always mailed us the K-1 forms late, the tax stress is gratifyingly confined to the first four months of the year.

Because this year's due date is May 17th, I toyed briefly with the idea of sending in the California 540 now, because we're getting a refund, and delaying Federal 1040 until May, because there's a four-figure balance due.

Dispensing with money-management cuteness, I went to the Post Office and sent in both returns. Not wanting to stand in line twice was one reason, and not having to worry about a must-do item on the calendar was the other. As one gets older, reducing stress during the time we have left has become more important than money.

2020 Resolutions: More and Less

More	Less
Reading books	Web-surfing
Water	Sugar
Getting rid of stuff	Buying stuff
Taking courses	Electronic games
Writing letters	Saying "yes"
Sleep	Texting, esp. thank-you's
Fruits and vegetables	Fried foods
Exercise	TV
Organization	Procrastination

More Important Than Ever

If one had to list the factor most important to a company's productivity, what would it be? Popular guesses might be technology, workforce education, and visionary leadership (e.g., Steve Jobs, Elon Musk). The answer is surprising: [bold added]

Graphic from projectmanager.com

The results confirmed something Gallup had seen before: a company’s productivity depends, to a high degree, on the quality of its managers.

What no one saw coming, however, was the sheer size of that correlation—something Gallup calls “the single most profound, distinct and clarifying finding” in its 80-year history. The study showed that managers didn’t just influence the results their teams achieved, they explained a full 70% of the variance. In other words, if it’s a superior team you’re after, hiring the right manager is nearly three-fourths of the battle.

No other single factor, from compensation levels to the perception of senior leadership, even came close. “That blew me out of my chair,” says Jim Clifton, Gallup’s chief executive.

Anyone who's had a job has had a boss and has thought or said out loud "if I was in charge I'd do things differently." Upon promotion, one finds that supervision of others is a lot harder than it looks. Above all, it requires sublimation of the self--doing what's best for the organization (which means sometimes being the bad guy to the workers) and doing what's best for the employees (training them and being willing to let the best ones move on).

Good management includes near-religious attention to communication upwards and downwards and reviewing others' work before doing what the manager may enjoy (research, writing computer programs, attending conventions (!))

After decades of eliminating organizational layers, the managers that remain are more important than ever.