USA Today Bestseller
The highest-performing teams don’t have fewer distractions. Their leaders put better systems in place for overcoming them.
Pause offers a new approach to productivity for leaders whose teams are being asked to do more with less.
Based on original research with leaders at 150+ companies, including Amazon, Google, and LinkedIn. Buy Pause →
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What Readers are Saying
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“Shawn Vanderhoven names something every overwhelmed professional feels but often can't articulate: the invisible wake of digital detritus that managers mindlessly create for their teams. PAUSE is a sharp, research-backed argument for why the best leaders tap the brakes—and a clear guide for how to do it without losing momentum. Read it before your next meeting, and then cancel half the meetings on your calendar.”
Daniel H. Pink
#1 New York Times bestselling author of DRIVE, WHEN, and THE POWER OF REGRET
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“You can’t get your team’s attention if you yourself are driven to distraction. Vanderhoven gives you the tools you need to focus on the things that matter. Essential!”
Kim Scott
New York Times Bestselling Author of RADICAL CANDOR: BE A KICK-ASS BOSS WITHOUT LOSING YOUR HUMANITY -
"I've spent years writing about the power of questions. But for good questions to make a difference, there needs to be space to hear them. This book helps you create space and time to have more impact."
Michael Bungay Stanier
International Bestselling Author of THE COACHING HABIT: SAY LESS, ASK MORE & CHANGE THE WAY YOU LEAD FOREVER -
“This book isn’t just a theory. Shawn did the work to find out what leaders are doing to lead great work instead of driving teams to burnout.”
Liz Wiseman
New York Times Bestselling Author of MULTIPLIERS: HOW THE BEST LEADERS MAKE EVERYONE SMARTER -
“Can’t focus on what matters, or even decide what the priority should be? This zippy read offers practical strategies for slowing down and identifying goals.”
Financial Times ft.com
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“Filled with useful tips and memorable case studies, this will bring relief to organizations feeling lost in a sea of diversions."
Publishers Weekly
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“I wish every leader read this! It’s so hard to focus on priorities. I work for a large engineering company and they don’t take the power of distraction seriously. I got this book and with in a week my team was spending at least 25% more time on the right project. This is really useful book. I recommend to anyone leading a team of professionals.”
- Barnes & Noble.com customer review
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I was excited to get this book as I am an entrepreneur and have been trying to figure out how I can better my business. in the second chapter I learned about presenting customers with too many options and how that can cause them to second guess their decision when purchasing. just that alone was enough to make me love this book. I've implemented it in my company and my conversion rate is rising. we have already seen a 50% increase in conversion rate. if that wasn't enough I learned in subsequent chapters about the best ways to communicate with my team and how to produce real progress that is measurable in a team without overwhelming them. I haven't finished the book yet but already it has become one of the most influential books that I have used in my business. I would suggest anyone looking to improve their management skills or their business should buy this book! -Audible listener review
A field guide for leaders drowning in demands but on the hook for results.
You’re leading in an environment that eats focus for breakfast. A boss addicted to speed. The pressure to adopt AI and do more. Nonstop collaboration. Your team’s talent and time is slipping between the cracks. You need high-quality work on the big projects, but the gravitational pull of busyness makes it nearly impossible.
So you turn to productivity books for answers. But individual productivity hacks don’t survive the first meeting on Monday. You look to leadership books, but organizational overhauls are too big for most managers to pull off. You’re stuck in the middle, and it's maddening.
The productivity problem isn’t individual. It’s social.
No personal productivity system can overcome a workplace designed to interrupt you. Pause is the way out. Most productivity advice focuses on the individual. Pause focuses on the environment leaders create around them. It puts the solution at your fingertips. Every chapter comes with ready-to-use tools and step-by-step practices you can bring to your team right away. Early readers are calling it one of the highest-utility books they’ve ever used at work. You’ll learn how to slow down strategically so your team can go faster on what counts. Our research shows that leaders who know how to Pause triple their team’s focus on priority work.
And right now, the stakes are higher than ever. Adopting and leveraging AI is paramount. But learning new tools requires the cognitive bandwidth your team simply doesn't have. With Pause, you’ll create the space your team needs to leverage AI instead of it becoming just another demand.
Pause was written for leaders who are done spinning their wheels and ready to create the conditions for brilliant work. Whether you’re a middle manager, senior executive, business owner, or knowledge worker trying to make things better, this book gives you practical ways to clear what’s getting in the way of your team’s best work. And if you’re leading Gen Z, these practices can help you build the trust and clarity they need to thrive.
The pressure to do more isn’t going away. But your team's best work doesn’t have to disappear into the noise. Pause gives you back what busyness stole. And then some.
Download a Free Chapter
Take the Quiz
How Distracting Are You?
Most leaders don’t realize they’re one of the biggest sources of distraction on their team. Take the two-minute quiz to discover your digital wake, uncover your Digital Distractor, and begin replacing the messaging habits that steal your team’s attention.
About the Authors
Shawn Vanderhoven is the author of the USA Today bestseller Pause: How to Lead Brilliant Work in a Busy World and a Partner at The Wiseman Group, where he leads the executive development practice for senior leaders and rising talent. He is also a collaborator on the New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (Second Edition).
Shawn co-designs executive development strategies that help organizations amplify their most valuable asset: their people. He has advised leaders at organizations including Amazon, Alphabet, Adobe, Capital One, Deloitte, McKinsey, Microsoft, and Salesforce.
He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Anne. His work focuses on helping leaders create the conditions where people can focus on what matters most and do their best work.
Anne Vanderhoven is a writer, researcher, and co-founder of the consulting firm UP. She studies how leaders create the conditions where people can do their best work and is the co-author of the USA Today bestseller Pause: How to Lead Brilliant Work in a Busy World.
She has a penchant for medieval and Renaissance history, especially the Black Death (hello, perspective). Fortunately, she balances it with a steady diet of comedians, so her family still invites her to dinner.
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