No Time to Think
In his book, Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies, Nikos Mourkogiannis indicates a critical component of leadership – to think. “Thinking is the starting point of change. Without it you can not possibly discover your purpose, choose your strategic position and align the two.” Of course the thinking activity takes time.
Mourkogiannis further points out an inherent flaw, “Give a leader a Blackberry, a dozen direct reports, some commitments to charity, and a seat on a few corporate boards – and then ask him to think? There isn’t time. He can’t possibly do it.”
Isn’t this a problem in many other areas as well? We don’t take the time to think or to plan. Why? We’re too busy tending to the day-do-day. We flow with the current, repeat the same mistakes over and over again, and then we ask, “How did we allow ourselves to get to this point?”
Thoughts Joe and Wanda?
Joe Kerr: Obviously Nikos doesn’t understand the fundamental concept of delegation. My admin handles my charitable responsibilities, and 90% of the board activities, and I lean on HR for help with my directs. I just need to show up. Great leaders know how to delegate. As for thinking, that’s what consultants are for.
Do you happen to have an aspirin? My head hurts.
Wanda B. Goode: This is indeed a huge problem. However, even if there were less to do, people would still struggle with the thinking and the planning. Why? It’s not a comfortable thing. It’s harder. Further, it does not generate immediate results. People will avoid things that make them uncomfortable, especially when they don’t get any immediate benefit. It is so much easier to just show up and jump from one crisis to the next.
The key to sustained success is doing the important things in the short term that will benefit in the long-term. It’s a fairly simple concept, but not an easy one to execute.
Here are a couple of related posts…
Purposeful Leaders Take Time to Think
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Comments
Comment from Administrator
Time: July 14, 2009, 8:31 pm
Yes, John, it can be a bit hazardous to step out. Thanks for dropping by and taking time to think.
Comment from John Hunter
Time: July 14, 2009, 11:49 am
I remember an experience from early in my career: a supervisor that came up to me and asked me why I wasn’t working. I was (am – though now I keep quiet more often) a smart alec and said I was thinking, I know it is a rare to see around here but I find that it is beneficial and believe the benefits of taking time to think are shown in my results.
Yeah it is not the smartest move to say that if you want to make friends and influence people. Still some organizations are so broken you need to be willing to become the target of criticism if you want to shake them out of their stupor. Just realize the most likely result is you will suffer. I did fine but I can imagine most people would not benefit from making such statement.