The two types of attention to transform how you communicate and lead

The pyramid and the arc - two parallel shapes for good storytelling

Julian March

6 January 2026

“Attention is not a single flame - it’s two different fires.”

In a world obsessed with shrinking attention spans, we’re constantly told that humans now focus for less time than a goldfish. But that’s only part of the story.

There are, in fact, two types of attention:

Short-term attention is the quick, reactive kind. 8.25 seconds is the number you may have heard about. That’s how long people stay locked onto a single stimulus in distraction-rich environments like social media.

Sustained attention, on the other hand, is a different beast. It’s the ability to stay in the zone, fully engaged, for up to 28 to 48 minutes, especially when we’re immersed in meaningful or challenging tasks.

Despite what we like to think, rumours of attention's demise may, in fact, be greatly exaggerated. It just may be that we haven’t evolved our communication styles to respect both modes.

When to capture attention, and when to hold it

Play to short-term attention when:

You’re competing for eyeballs in noisy environments—social feeds, email inboxes, digital ads.
The goal is to spark interest, provoke curiosity, or prompt a quick action.
You’re introducing an idea, not explaining it.

This is the world of headlines, thumbnails, hooks, scroll-stoppers. Think in seconds. Design for speed.

Play to sustained attention when:

You’ve earned someone’s focus and want to take them deeper.
The goal is to build understanding, shift perspective, or drive decision-making.
The environment allows for immersion—long-form content, meetings, workshops, strategy decks.

This is where structure, storytelling, and depth matter. You’re not grabbing attention, you’re capitalising on it.

The best communicators know how to layer the two: using short-term tools to earn the right to go long.

But...

When I say "earn the right to go long",

a) don't abuse that right! Key word here is "earn". Every time.

b) don't go too...[key word here is] "long". Between 28 and 48 minutes remember?

Imagine how frustrated you'd get when you've been 'hooked', only to be let down by the follow-up, either because it wasn't worth it, or because it went on and on, and on... and on.

You could veer into crying "wolf!" territory, and lose that vital trust that you are worth paying attention to in future.

The pyramid versus the arc

Cryptic eh?! I can explain. These refer to two different techniques for storytelling.

The pyramid: Say the most important thing in the first line, the next most important thing second, and so on. Read any tabloid newspaper or listen to any TV news script. This is very much catering for - you guessed it - 8-second short term attention. You could lose them at any moment, so you get all your value out up front and >8 seconds is a bonus.

Slight more complicated is The Pyramid Principle: a model devised by a McKinsey consultant Barbara Minto in the 1970s, in which a business narrative starts with the single most important point (the headline), followed by supporting arguments, and then supporting data and facts.

The arc: When you take your audience on a journey, like our old favourite Dragon, knight, happily ever after, or Situation, complication, resolution. More on all that in an earlier edition of this newsletter. If you haven't got your audience hooked, however, they won't make it past the dragon or the situation.

You might think we can all get away with 8-second-friendly pyramids. The fact is while it may be harder to win sustained attention, what you can achieve with it is so much more significant. You can take your audience on a journey. That's what communication as an act of leadership is all about.

Three practical ways to design for attention (both kinds)

1. Hook first, to earn the right to go deeper

Lead with a punchy opener: a question, a bold headline, a striking image. You’ve got 8 seconds. Use them wisely. Once you’ve got the attention, don’t waste it. Be ready with substance that rewards deeper engagement.

Example: Post a bold stat: “Only 2% of strategy decks are remembered a week later.” Then link to a long-form piece explaining why—and what to do about it.

2. Match content format to attention mode

Short-term (seconds): Social posts, headlines, intros

Sustained (minutes): Articles, talks, workshops, podcasts

You can, & should, combine them: use a short-form piece to tease a longer one, or structure a long-form deck with snackable headers.

This is what the "coming ups" are for in TV news: "Coming up after the break...."

3. Signal the Payoff Early People invest attention when they know what they’ll get out of it. Make the value clear up front.

Say: “In this guide, we’ll show you how to design content that works with the brain’s natural rhythms of attention.” Not: “Let’s take a deep dive into cognitive behavioural frameworks for content design…”

In fact, for good measure:

Tell them what you're about to tell them
Tell them
Tell what you just told them

So there you have it. The two different types of attention; when to use which, and how to work them together for maximum effect. This may be one of those things you read and immediately think to yourself "I knew that", but after nearly two decades in television news, I hadn't even properly bottomed it out for myself, so...either 'sorry' or 'you're welcome'!