In such a volatile and changing world how can one lead ? how can one strategise ? how should one act as the leader of one’s business.  In this world there is one kind of rare leader who is succeeding, who is able to flow with the change and take corrective action. Who makes decisions fast and then adapts faster when the decisions turn out to be wrong. 

This it the URGENT Leader and it is inspired by the real life leadership of a real leader I am privileged to be working with. The Urgent Leader has a track record of consistent success, winning awards year after year, delivering exceptional results. The Urgent Leader has a lot of followers eager to hear his views and even welcome his feedback. The Urgent Leader seems to know what is coming and what needs to be done. how does he do it ? here are the success secrets of the URGENT LEADER and the gospel of URGENT LEADERSHIP

1. Leadership = Decisions – The urgent leader is in the habit of making decisions. Every meeting with him results in a conclusion. If things are vague or unclear he will ask – what is the goal here ? what are we trying to achieve ? what are the options ? He will focus on the decision. He makes decisions. He does not delay, he does not push out the issue, he does not seek more information than the 50-70% usually available to make decisions. 8/10 times he is right. As he decides more he gets better.  He makes decisions on whats app, on email, in meetings. He is a decision making machine.

2. Makes the Important Urgent – every day, every week and every month he asks himself – what needs to be done ? what matters now ? what is critical ? – whatever emerges then becomes his relentless focus.  He then brings the relevant people in to deliver on the important topic of the day. He follows up on the important topic weekly till it is done. he calls and chats and whats apps with the relevant people to ensure is it done. He makes the IMPORTANT become URGENT for the organisation.

3. He Connects – The urgent leader knows that only the frontline troops know the full and true story. He wants to hear the anecdotes from the field. He calls. Every soldier. Often. He has no concern for hierarchy. He speaks to everyone in the organisation constantly understanding what is happening. This feeds his sense of what is important and what is not.

4. He Pivots – when he realizes he is wrong ( 20% of the time) he pivots. He can go back and reverse what was done and change course. He can stop a launch or accelerate one. He can fire someone who is not fitting in the role or promote someone who has more potential when he sees relevant evidence to do so. He can change focus on which market opportunity to go after.

5. He owns it – he doesn’t own the business. technically he is an employee. In his mind he is the owner. He is the decision maker. He is the shareholder. So he drives things personally. He owns the costs as if they come from his own pocket. He owns the revenue as if his children school fees depend on it. He makes decisions based on what he would do as the owner of the business.

6. Over, Under or Through – like the famous SAS motto when he sees an obstacle ( of which he meets maybe 10-20 a day), he takes one of three approaches to tackle it – go over it , go under it or go through. Go over means to escalate the issue to a level where it gets attention and can be solved. Go under means fly under the radar and make things happen in a low key way where no one can get to object. Finally if nothing works deep dive into it till u find the root cause and hit it hard and destroy the obstacle

The Urgent Leader is the role model of the 21^st century digital age. He knows he has to move fast, make his organisation move fast and win vs the ever changing forces around him. 

He makes the IMPORTANT URGENT for everyone. He makes a difference.

The Urgent Leader is the 21^st century hero. Are you an urgent leader ?

PS – The Urgent Leader’s name also starts with U.