I once sat in the so-called “war room” of a fast-growing retail chain. Every wall screamed activity, sticky notes, colorful charts, and “critical” project trackers. It looked impressive. The CEO stormed in with three new urgent priorities. The COO countered with five more. The CFO waved a looming cash crisis. The Head of Marketing was ready to launch a campaign “immediately.”
It was not a war room. It was a circus. The truth here is that most leaders refuse to admit. When everything is urgent, urgency loses its meaning. It is like a hospital that calls “Code Blue” every hour; eventually, no one runs. And when no one runs, people die.
The issue was not capacity. The team was capable, but the issue was leadership cowardice. Strategy is sacrifice. And sacrifice means deciding which fires you will let burn so the right one gets put out.
In that retail chain, I deep-dived into operations. Sales had 19 “top priorities,” Finance had 14, Operations had 21, and Marketing had 12. None were aligned. People bounced between tasks like pinballs, never finishing, always starting. Projects died mid-air. Customers felt the chaos. And the staff? They burned out in silence.
I have seen this in banks, manufacturers, tech firms, everywhere leaders confuse motion with progress. Leaders panic about missing opportunities, so they keep piling on. They fear saying “No” because it feels like weakness. In truth, the weakness is in avoiding the hard choice.
Your job as a leader is not to keep everyone busy. It is to keep everyone effective. That means:
- Cutting good ideas so great ones survive.
- Refusing to start new work until the old work finishes.
- Accepting that not everything will get done, and making peace with it.
When I forced that retail chain’s leadership to choose three priorities for the next 90 days, no more, they resisted. They feared we would “fall behind.” Yet within 60 days, their customer complaint backlog dropped by 70%, delivery lead times halved, and employee overtime fell sharply.
I you want things done, stop feeding the machine more work. Feed it more focus.
Use my Table
The focus grid, Mr. Strategy
How to use it:
- Write every project, initiative, or task on separate cards.
- With your EXCO or team, place each card into one of the four zones—no ties allowed
- Kill Zone 4 works immediately.
- Protect Zone 1 with your calendar and budget like it is your only child.
- Review the grid weekly—priorities shift, and leaders must shift with them.
The best leaders are not the busiest. They are the most decisive about what they will not do.
I remain, Mr. Strategy
