{"id":359,"date":"2018-03-09T23:46:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T23:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielvlopes238992071.wordpress.com\/2018\/03\/09\/the-most-surprising-principle-of-good-leadership-dont-be-busy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T15:34:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:34:31","slug":"the-most-surprising-principle-of-good-leadership-dont-be-busy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2018\/03\/09\/the-most-surprising-principle-of-good-leadership-dont-be-busy\/","title":{"rendered":"The most surprising principle of good leadership? Don\u2019t be busy."},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re busy as a leader, you\u2019re doing it\u00a0wrong.<\/h2>\n
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The best leaders seem<\/em> to be the busiest. If you\u2019re busy, you\u2019re getting a bunch of stuff done: You\u2019re tending to your team, you\u2019re making stuff happen. Being busy as a leader is a good characteristic\u2026Right?<\/p>\n

Well, quite the opposite. Being busy as a leader is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.<\/p>\n

Recently, I interviewed<\/a> Michael Lopp, VP of Engineering of Slack, who emphasized this for me:<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf you\u2019re too busy doing the actual work, as a manager, that\u2019s a huge mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The best leaders create an environment for people to do their best work<\/a>. This means helping employees navigate what\u2019s unclear, providing context about what needs to happen, and showing a path forward about why the work matters. But you can\u2019t do that as a leader if you\u2019re on the phone with clients all the time, buried in your email inbox, or running around to business development meetings all day.<\/p>\n

As leaders, we need open space to listen to what\u2019s not<\/em> being said within our team. We need gaps in our day to observe what and who the bottlenecks are. We need the time and patience to ask questions to better understand what can be improved, and to be empathetic to an employee.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t make decisions that are strategic and well thought-out, or map out a company\u2019s vision, if you\u2019re busy. You can\u2019t truly anticipate nor respond to the needs of your team if you\u2019re busy.<\/p>\n

The best leaders choose not<\/em> to be busy.<\/p>\n

Yet, how many of us are stuck in the weeds of doing the work? How many of us are busy?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guilty of this, just as much as anyone.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of this today, in fact. I got breakfast today with a fellow CEO who runs a successful media company in Chicago. A videographer by trade, she found herself in the weeds of the work, editing videos and being on film shoots more than she needed to be. Her natural state was in getting the work done\u200a\u2014\u200aand being busy as hell.<\/p>\n

She told me, \u201cClaire, the biggest transition I had to navigate was from going from doing the work<\/em> to being a leader.<\/em> Because I now know that being busy with doing the work itself doesn\u2019t make me a good leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded my head, reflecting on my own penchant to be \u201cburied in the work.\u201d Answering emails, taking meetings, doing marketing tasks\u2026 even writing this blog post! Sure, some of that is needed depending on the size and stage of your company. For any leader, there are times when you\u2019ve got to roll up your sleeves and get busy doing the actual work.<\/p>\n

But this CEO and Michael Lopp\u2019s point is that the busier you are, the less room you have for the stuff as a leader only you<\/em> are responsible for\u00a0<\/a>: Recruiting folks, guiding the culture, charting out the long-term team vision. And if you\u2019re too busy with the work, you won\u2019t do those things.<\/p>\n

Busy with the actual work means less time, energy, and focus devoted to being a good leader. Being busy as a leader is a downfall, not a desired state.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not confuse the two.<\/p>\n\n\n

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