LEADERSHIP
The Leadership Urgency Trap and How to Escape It
Is urgency in leadership really the secret to success, or just the fastest route to burnout?
Many leaders pride themselves about the requirement of being 'always on' and pushing and striving for their next success. I can attest to buying into this myth fully in my 20 years in corporate. We lived in the language of urgency: "Let's move fast on this one!" "We can't afford to slow down!" "What's next?"
But here's the inconvenient truth: Motion doesn't always equal progress.
This myth - that slowing down is a liability - runs deep. It's rooted in the same soil as Myth #1 - Hustle = Success. This internal pressure often feels like strategy, but it is actually fear in disguise. Beneath the surface of high-speed leadership is often the belief that if we pause - even for a moment - we'll become irrelevant, ineffective or invisible.
We've been conditioned into believing that staying still means falling behind and that leadership urgency, being responsive 24/7 and endlessly productive is the ask. But this belief is a trap and it is keeping too many brilliant leaders stuck in shallow cycles of reactivity instead of accessing the depth and clarity that real leadership requires.
Speed, whilst sometimes necessary, has become a safety blanket for too many leaders. We wrap ourselves in it, hoping it will protect us from the discomfort of stillness. But what we are really protecting ourselves from is the fear of being left behind. And that fear is quietly shaping the way we lead, and show up.
Leadership Urgency is Rooted In Insecurity, Not Impact
We don't arrive at this belief in isolation. It's been built, brick by brick, by the systems and signals around us.
A culture of urgency
Emails demand immediate replies. Projects are always due yesterday. Busyness is glorified. We've bought into the myth that our value is linked to our delivery, not our presence.
Productivity addiction
We measure success by output, not insight. Downtime is seen as lazy, not strategic. And, if we consider the exponential rate that Fortune 500 organisations drop out of this ranking, we recognise the number of leadership errors that lack of insight drives.
Comparison and competition
We watch others sprint ahead (or appear to) and comparison kicks in. This activates scarcity mindset and allows our internal sabateurs to run the show. The only person we should be comparing ourselves to is ourself, yesterday.
Yet, at it's core, this myth is not about productivity; it's about proving. Leaders who carry deep internal questions like "Am I doing enough?" often fall prey to this pattern. When our self worth is tethered to performance, constant motion feels like the only way to stay valuable and slowing down threatens that illusion.
Insecurity doesn't always look like doubt. Sometimes it looks like over-functioning. Leaders trapped in this myth often appear high-capacity and high-achieving, but they're running on empty, disconnected from purpose. Over time, speed becomes our identity and we forget that action without alignment isn't leadership; it's performance. And individual performance to boot.
The Hidden Cost of Constant Speed
Leaders caught in the leadership urgency trap often suffer in ways that aren't visible on the surface. These show up as:
Decision fatigue
With no space to reflect, every decision feels urgent and therefore little differentiation between urgent and important exists. We can start making poor decisions as a result. I have a distinct memory from my corporate days where we'd redesigned our dealerships' look and feel. We'd rolled out the new design into one dealership, only to discover that there was a challenge with accessing light fittings on one wall. Instead of just resolving that single issue, the marketing team redesigned the entire look and feel. I was just too exhausted to have the conversation and sense check the decisions, and just signed off the change.
Loss of creative insight
Our best ideas rarely show up in meetings or inboxes. They arrive in stillness and through reflection.
When I was in the corporate world, I had dreams about running my own business. The challenge was that I could not come up with a single idea for a business. Today, I have more ideas than I have time to business-build.
Reactive leadership
We sprint from problem to problem, firefighting the latest challenge, instead of guiding with intention. My time in corporate felt like constantly fire fighting. And yes, there were amazing rewards, but the level of stress was high.
Disconnection from Vision and Values
When the days blur together, we forget why we are doing any or all of it. This was the point that I got to in 2008, when I said, enough.
Mythbusting: Stillness Is Strategic
What if slowing down isn't a risk, but a requirement?
Stillness doesn't stall progress. It makes space for it. This myth unravels the moment we realise that speed without discernment is simply noise. Its in the pause that we see the big picture, hear the deeper truths and lead with lasting impact. When you make the intentional decision to slow down, you lead from presence and you connect to what is real, not just urgent. In a sense, you gain altitude not just speed.
Slowing down gives you access to your inner compass. And in a world that pulls leaders in a thousand directions, that compass is your greatest competitive advantage.
Here are some ideas about where to begin:
Redefine rest as strategy
Rest isn't what you earn after the hustle. It is what makes the hustle meaningful. Begin to see recovery, reflection and stillness as fuel for your leadership.
Create sacred space
Block 60 minutes each week for non-negotiable thinking time. Call it CEO time where there is no doing, just thinking. Use it to reflect, zoom out and ask yourself what is most needed right now for you, your team and your organisation.
Lead from internal authority
Interrupt the constant loop of comparisona and peer-level competition. When urgency rises, pause and ask yourself whether this drive by fear or clarity and what pace wisdom asks for here.
Practice micro-moments of slowness
Not everything requires a lot of time. Taking just one minute to breath between meetings, or before a key decision, can make a difference. Journalling for ten minutes each morning can anchor you back into purpose and intention.
The Takeaway
The most powerful and influential leaders I've coached aren't the ones doing the most. They're the ones who know how to tell the difference between the noise of urgency and the impact of influence. Speed does not make you a great leader. Presence does.
If you are stuck in the loop of relentless doing, constantly measuring your worth by how much you're accomplishing, it's time to pause and reclaim your power. Take time to catch up with yourself and your intrinsic wisdom.
Be intentional about operating from clarity, not urgency. Stop moving too fast to hear what matters. Make a conscious, intentional decision to trade speed for presence and urgency for aligned impact.
If this sounds like a shift you're ready to make, let's connect and explore the ways I can support your journey. Email me at hello@greatnessworx.com, or feel free to use the form here.
