Zig, Don’t Zag
1,100. That is roughly how many interruptions a high-volume knowledge worker may face in just four days. According to Microsoft, employees are interrupted every two minutes during core work hours — about 275 times a day — by meetings, emails, or chats. And research by Gloria Mark at UC Irvine suggests it can take more than 23 minutes to fully regain focus after an interruption.
No wonder so many leaders feel scattered.
When the world becomes noisy, most people react in the same way. They start zig - zagging. One headline says inflation. Another says recession. Another says war. And suddenly, businesses begin chasing every signal. Cut here. Invest there. Stop this. Start that. Energy scatters. Focus disappears. Momentum stalls. When the storm gets loud, people start looking for something steady.
I learnt this deeply during Zimbabwe's economic crisis. There was hyperinflation, fear, intimidation, and constant uncertainty. In that kind of environment, people can begin making decisions they would never normally make, not because they are weak, but because noise has a way of disorienting people.
It was in that season that I began writing. At first, I was writing as much for myself as anyone else.
I needed clarity. I needed something steady to hold onto in the middle of all the noise. Then I began sharing those reflections with my team. The purpose was not to sound clever or certain. It was to remind us of what still mattered. To hold to our values. To stay focused. To keep showing up well, even when the environment around us was not. And I learnt something important: When people are overwhelmed, they do not always need more information. They need a clearer signal.
My learning from this experience is this: Clarity beats chaos.
Instead of reacting to every signal, choose a direction and hold the line. That is what I mean when I say: Zig. Don’t Zag.
Choose the path that matters most and commit to it.
In business, that usually means returning to fundamentals:
Serve your customers better.
Support your people.
Deliver real value.
Because when uncertainty rises, customers begin searching for three things:
Certainty.
Simplicity.
Trust.
And the organisations that provide those things stand out immediately.
The temptation during difficult times is to overreact. But the strongest leaders do the opposite. They simplify. They remove noise. They focus their teams on what matters most.
One clear direction. One clear priority. One clear message:
Zig. Not zig-zag.
And something interesting happens when leaders hold that clarity. Teams relax. Decisions accelerate. Energy returns.
Because people perform best when they know exactly where they are heading. And in uncertain times, clarity becomes one of the greatest leadership gifts you can offer.
So, as this week closes, pause and reflect:
Where have I been zig - zagging instead of leading with clarity?
What noise, pressure, or distraction has pulled me away from what matters most?
Have I given the people around me certainty, simplicity, and trust — or added to the confusion?
And what is the one clear priority I need to commit to next week?
Lead boldly. Love wisely. Live your legacy.
Gary Good
Founder — LeaderLegacy