What’s the most profound piece of advice you’ve been given? Did you take it?
I have worked in places where the day begins before you are ready for it.
There are messages waiting when you open the computer. Someone wants a decision. Someone else needs support. There is a meeting at nine and another one after that, and somewhere in between there are reports to finish, calls to return, and people standing in doorways with something they need to say.
None of this is unusual. It is just the work.
For a long time I could have filled every day with the things that came at me first. There was always something urgent. There was always a reason to stop what I was doing and turn toward the sound of the knocking.
Somewhere along the way I read Stephen Covey’s advice in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He said not to confuse urgency with importance. He said to give proper attention to the things that are important but not yet urgent, without neglecting the things that are both important and urgent.
It sounded simple enough when I first read it. Most good advice does. You can almost miss it because it is not trying very hard to impress you.
It helped me notice that the loudest thing in the room was not always the deepest thing. A crisis needed attention, of course. A person in distress needed care. A deadline had to be met. But leadership could not only be a matter of answering whatever had called out most recently.
Some things had to be given time before they looked urgent to anyone else. A culture. A relationship. A piece of work that needed years, not hours. A conversation that had to happen before the problem arrived. An initiative that looked bold later because someone had paid attention to it while it was still quiet.
That advice made a real difference. It helped me lead some bold initiatives, not because they were urgent at first, but because they were important. They needed attention before they made a demand. They needed patience before they had momentum.
I still have to remember it. Some things knock loudly. Other things wait quietly and change your life.
The Afterword 
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