The attention economy polarizes opinion. It should not
It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. It is the age of opportunity. It is the era of threat. This column has noted that the leaders who command attention, not adulation, will thrive (Dialogue Q1, 2026).
The advent of mass interconnectivity, born of the tech explosion, has changed the paradigm. The attention economy is no longer emergent. It is already here. Yet the world divides on whether it is a blessing or a curse.
In one kingdom, Pollyanna is queen. The march of the machines will enrich the human experience! In the instant, networked and dispersed attention economy, leaders who can bond with their people in the virtual universe will deliver unlimited benefit for individuals, businesses and society.
In the other kingdom, Cassandra reigns. The attention economy will destroy the very foundations of good leadership! Once, great leaders could inspire their people to even greater things, but they will now flail – invisible in the morass of competing attractions.
Yet Pollyanna and Cassandra have more in common than they might admit. For this is their time: on any touchstone issue the world splits into extremes. All is good, or all is evil. Attitudes to the attention economy are no different.
This polarization is born of two unwelcome trends; one short-term, the other long-term. In the short term, ‘cognitive closure’ subverts our minds. It leads us to seize on solutions, then freeze on them – resisting new information that challenges our conclusions. Cognitive closure forces us to become anchored and blind to the world as it evolves. It pushes us into one mentality or the other: the Pollyanna Perspective or the Cassandra Complex. We see the world not how it is, but how we wish to perceive it.
The long-term problem arises from the Pipeline Paradox. In an agentic world, machines are increasingly tasked with assessment and analysis. Leaders with discernment and judgment – the core qualities of human decision-making – are prized. The rank-and-file, who were once responsible for data collection and examination, are being ‘rationalized’ out of their jobs. The labor force is becoming less humanoid, more android. Yet here is the paradox. Human leaders gather discernment and judgment only through experience. If we restrict the pipeline, who will make the decisions in the future?
How do we escape this bind? First, follow the advice of neither Cassandra nor Pollyanna; instead, heed the insight of F Scott Fitzgerald. “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”
The world is uncertain. The future unknown. Leaders must do the hard work of introspection: What is the compelling future you want to create? We must embrace risk as an enabler, not an inhibitor. Only then can we discover the right balance of agentic analysis and human ingenuity. Limiting humans is as unwise as rejecting machines.
The attention economy is real and present. Neither the Cassandras nor the Pollyannas can capture its potential. Extreme takes, as ever, are likely wrong. The mundane truth – neither clickable nor attention-grabbing – is probably somewhere in the middle. Leaders must equip for the best future, then walk sure-footedly toward it.
Vishal Patel is president of global markets at Duke Corporate Education
