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CNN Live At Daybreak
Multitasker Quiz
Aired August 07, 2001 - 07:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: When economic boom times went bust, companies got tough, and corporate layoffs skyrocketed. Some firms are now requiring fewer people to do more work. Multitasking is a big thing with managers, but this week a new study found productivity drops when employees do too many things at once.
And here to talk about it is Dr. Michael Cantor, the founder and president of Way Point, Inc. here in Atlanta. And we're going to talk about multitasking and a test -- really kind of a quiz that you devised. It's a nine-minute test. I took it. And it rates you as a multitasker, as well as rating you as a driver. We'll get to that in just a moment.
But this is an example. Can you tell us about the test, and why and how it was developed?
DR. MICHAEL CANTOR, WAY POINT, INC.: It was developed as a way to find out who is crash prone in a motor vehicle, and also to diagnose why they are crash prone. The task has you start with one and then A to B, 3C, 4D, 5E.
CELLINI: Now, I took this yesterday by phone. It's relatively simple, but you seem to get a lot of information out of that.
CANTOR: Yes.
CELLINI: How do you translate this into turning out information about employees in just a few minutes?
CANTOR: There are two factors that we are looking at. One is what I call channel capacity, which is your speed of information processing. And the second is a situational awareness, which is sort of like court sense in basketball.
CELLINI: So maybe a good point guard, a good quarterback may have good multitask capabilities.
CANTOR: Probably. Yes.
CELLINI: Now, can someone develop themselves into a better multitasker?
CANTOR: I think so. If you are doing multiple tasks, if you get very good at one, it leaves more spare capacity to do another. CELLINI: And this particular test you feel that eventually employers will take this and give it to employees and this will be a part of the hiring process. And maybe it will follow you maybe from job to job eventually to see how your rating goes.
CANTOR: I don't know about job to job. People change, but yes. And people also find their way into jobs that they can do well. And this will help them succeed at the jobs they choose.
CELLINI: All right. Let's talk about my test. I think we have to. I took the test yesterday, as I said, by phone. And what did you find out about me?
CANTOR: You are a little bit aggressive.
CELLINI: What do you mean?
CANTOR: You are little bit aggressive. You are fast.
CELLINI: Uh huh.
CANTOR: You are a big picture person. You are not real tight focused. You are not like a certain truck driver that I tested not too long ago, who had killed 10 deer in three years, because he was tunnel vision, never saw anything coming from the outside.
CELLINI: Well, how did you determine your best guess about my driving record over the past five years? We talked about possible collisions or speeding tickets -- things like that.
CANTOR: Yes. Well, you know, you test 7,000 people, and after a while, you start seeing a few trends. And that's what I have done. I have compared the scores on the test with the crash record and ticket record of people. And sure enough, there is a very clear pattern that emerged.
CELLINI: Am I OK overall?
CANTOR: You're fine. You're fine.
CELLINI: OK.
CANTOR: Just slow down a little bit.
CELLINI: OK. That's good to know.
CANTOR: Yes.
CELLINI: Dr. Michael Cantor, thank you for being with us this morning.
CANTOR: Thank you.
CELLINI: And to find out more about multitasking and taking the test, log onto our Web site at CNN.com. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
