Don't hurry

Colleagues,

​
Yesterday I told you we would spend the next two weeks looking at strategies for growing your own leadership. As we work, consider:

• You don’t need to use every strategy
• You may use different strategies at different times
• Failure to invest in improving your own leadership is a failure to lead, but…
• focus on growing A-B instead of hitting the home-run.

That said, some of these strategies synergize well and I will point that out as we go.


Strategy 1: Focus on Quadrant 2


If you have been a regular reader, then you are familiar with the Eisenhower Matrix. In a 1954 speech, then President Dwight Eisenhower quoted “a former college president” as saying "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important.” The idea has been popularized by Stephen Covey in his book, the Seven habits of Highly Effective People.


The matrix consists of four quadrants formed by the intersections of urgent/not urgent and important/not important:

Urgent leaders spend most of their time in quadrants 1 and 3. However, most strategic work takes place in quadrant two. Strategic leaders consistently invest in quadrant 2 activity. 


Notice the verbs – we spend time in quadrants 1 and 3, but we invest time in quadrant 2. This is because quadrant 2 activities lead to lasting improvements that pay back dividends over time. 


Take action now: Print this email, cut out the matrix, and put it in a prominent space. Check it multiple times each day and ask, “Have I invested in Quadrant 2 today?”


Cheers!


Frederick