Focused Friction – The Purposeful Pause That Builds Trust and Sustainable Growth
- Brainz Magazine
- Oct 21
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 22
Dr. Harold Mayaba is a Purpose, Hope, and Resilience speaker, entrepreneur, and market research expert with a PhD in Agribusiness and Applied Economics. He is the founder of H|M Agri-Food Consulting & Speaking and TRADEit Zambia, an e-commerce platform. He inspires change through innovation, strategy, and lived experience.
In a world where business decisions are often driven by speed, efficiency, and the relentless pursuit of profit, the concept of Focused Friction offers a refreshing counterbalance, a deliberate and thoughtful approach to growth that values integrity as much as impact.
First and foremost, let me define Focused Friction. Focused Friction refers to strategically created or managed tension between ideas, teams, or goals that sparks creativity, accountability, and progress rather than chaos or conflict. It is not about unnecessary struggle, it is about purposeful challenge that helps refine direction, deepen understanding, and strengthen execution.
My speech, “Purpose-Led Growth vs. Profit-Led Growth,” aligns perfectly with the concept of Focused Friction. It challenges the traditional mindset of pursuing profits at all costs and instead emphasizes that profit should be a byproduct of a business grounded in purpose. When purpose becomes the foundation, growth becomes sustainable, innovation becomes meaningful, and profit becomes a natural outcome rather than the sole pursuit.
At its core, Focused Friction is about slowing down for the right reasons. It is about pausing at crucial moments in the customer journey, not to hinder progress but to invite understanding, build credibility, and strengthen the emotional connection between businesses and their customers. In essence, it is a purposeful form of resistance, one that ensures growth serves both the business and society.
Purpose-led growth vs. Profit-led growth
To understand the power of focused friction, we must first contrast two dominant approaches to business, purpose-led growth and profit-led growth.
Profit-led growth prioritizes speed, efficiency, and short-term returns. It seeks to remove every possible obstacle that might delay a transaction. In this model, success is often measured purely by numbers, sales, margins, and quarterly results. While this approach can deliver rapid gains, it frequently overlooks the deeper human dimensions of business, trust, loyalty, and long-term relationships. It can lead to what I call “accelerated emptiness,” fast growth that lacks lasting meaning.
Purpose-led growth, on the other hand, focuses on creating long-term value by aligning business decisions with ethics, meaning, and impact. It asks not just, “How much did we sell?” but “Whom did we help, and how?” This approach treats growth as a holistic process, one that considers both economic performance and social contribution. Purpose-led leaders understand that a company’s strength is not merely in what it sells but in what it stands for.
This is where Focused Friction enters the conversation, as a bridge between the two. It sits right at the intersection of profit and purpose, reminding us that sustainable success is not about removing all resistance but about introducing the right kind of resistance, the kind that cultivates reflection, accountability, and connection.
The power of purposeful pauses
In a fast-paced digital economy, most companies invest enormous effort into eliminating friction. They aim to make buying as effortless as possible with one-click checkouts, instant downloads, and auto-renewing subscriptions. While convenience has its advantages, it also has a hidden cost. It can strip away opportunities for customers to pause, reflect, and make value-based choices.
Focused Friction challenges this idea. It suggests that certain forms of friction are not barriers but bridges, opportunities for deeper engagement. By intentionally introducing meaningful pauses, businesses can help customers make more informed and emotionally connected decisions.
Consider a simple example. Instead of rushing a customer to click “Buy Now,” a company could add a short, purposeful step titled “Know What You’re Buying.” This pause might include a short video or infographic explaining where the product comes from, how it was made, and how it impacts people and the planet. Rather than slowing the process unnecessarily, this moment of reflection builds trust. It reassures the customer that the company has nothing to hide and is committed to transparency. It turns a transaction into a transformation, from consumption to conscious choice.
The economics of focused friction
From an applied economics perspective, focused friction aligns closely with choice experiments, a method for understanding how consumers make trade-offs between different product attributes. The model assumes that people do not pay only for the physical product itself, they pay for the values attached to it, attributes like ethical sourcing, animal welfare, sustainability, or community impact.
When businesses introduce purposeful messages during the buying journey, they are, in essence, revealing these intrinsic attributes. A small, intentional delay can surface hidden dimensions of value that customers might not immediately perceive. By understanding this, companies move from simply selling goods to communicating goodness.
In behavioral economics, friction often carries a negative connotation as something to eliminate. But focused friction reframes it as a form of positive resistance. It leverages the principle of “considered choice,” the idea that when consumers take a moment to think, they often make decisions more aligned with their values. This leads to greater satisfaction, stronger loyalty, and reduced buyer’s remorse. In this way, friction becomes a signal of integrity, a marker that a brand cares more about the right sale than the fastest sale.
Focused friction in leadership and strategy
For leaders, focused friction is not just a marketing tactic, it is a strategic mindset. It requires courage to resist the temptation of immediate gratification and instead build systems that prioritize trust and authenticity.
Purpose-led leaders use friction intentionally, not to create conflict but to spark meaningful conversation, encourage reflection, and deepen relationships. They understand that when customers slow down, they see more, the story behind the brand, the people who craft the products, and the care invested in quality. This heightened awareness strengthens emotional bonds and builds lasting advocacy.
For example, in traditional marketplaces, customers often engage in genuine conversations with sellers, moments that build trust and connection. This human touch is one aspect that the click-of-a-button convenience of modern shopping has largely lost.
Profit-led leaders, by contrast, often see friction as the enemy. They remove every obstacle to speed up conversion. But in doing so, they sometimes eliminate the very moments that create meaning. They build pipelines, not relationships. They may win quick sales but lose long-term loyalty.
The true art of leadership lies in knowing when to introduce friction and when to remove it. Too much friction can frustrate customers, too little can make interactions feel empty. The balance point, focused friction, is where efficiency meets empathy and where business growth aligns with human values.
Practical applications
Customer experience design: Integrate transparency checkpoints in your digital platforms. Show where products are sourced, who produces them, and what social or environmental value they carry.
Brand storytelling: Use purposeful pauses in communication, such as campaign narratives or product pages, to explain your mission and invite customers into your journey.
Sales conversations: Encourage your teams to educate rather than persuade. Slow down the pitch to emphasize trust, alignment, and shared purpose.
Sustainability and ethics: Turn compliance requirements, labels, certifications, and disclosures into teaching moments that empower consumers with knowledge rather than overwhelm them with fine print.
Each of these examples reflects how friction, when focused, transforms interactions into relationships and transactions into trust.
The human dimension of growth
The ultimate message behind Focused Friction is profoundly human. It reminds us that people want more than products, they want connection, meaning, and assurance that their choices matter. When businesses honor this by introducing thoughtful pauses, they cultivate authenticity in an era of automation.
Purpose-led growth does not reject profit, it redefines it. It treats profit as the result of value creation, not its sole objective. Focused Friction ensures that this value creation remains rooted in empathy and responsibility.
In the end, the most successful companies are not those that remove every barrier to speed but those that understand when to pause, when to breathe, to ensure their success is ethical, sustainable, and human-centered. Focused Friction is not about slowing down for the sake of it, it is about slowing down to build trust, strengthen relationships, and grow with purpose.
Read more from Dr. Harold Mayaba
Dr. Harold Mayaba, Agri-Food Consultant & Speaker
Dr. Harold Mayaba is a speaker on Purpose, Hope, and Resilience, an entrepreneur, and a specialist in market research, holding a PhD in Agribusiness and Applied Economics. He founded H|M Agri-Food Consulting & Speaking, as well as TRADEit Zambia—an e-commerce platform dedicated to supporting and uplifting local enterprises.
Harold specialises in consumer insights, purpose based strategies, and transformative leadership. His work bridges research, entrepreneurship, and motivational speaking to inspire change across communities. Follow his profile to explore more articles that combine strategy with purpose.
