Daily Fires Aren't the Problem

They're the Symptom of Fundamentals You're Neglecting

Dear Leader,

When we spoke the other day, you were indicating how busy, distracted, and at times overwhelmed you have been by the daily ‘fires’. In this letter, I would like to ask you to step back and refocus on fundamentals.

I once played competitive pool. Occasionally, my game would fall off and I would suffer repeated losses. An older member of the team took me aside and said, “When your game falls off, go back to practicing the basics.”

When acting as CEO, here are some fundamentals and an example symptom of disregarding them.

• Setting and communicating vision and strategy.
  • Team aimlessness, upward delegation in decisions, team frustration.



• Developing the leadership team and culture through your example.
  • Leadership members are not taking the appropriate level of responsibility.
• Monitoring results of the team’s activities.
  • Projects and initiatives go ‘off the rails’ wasting precious resources.
• Financial oversight, budgeting and resource allocation.
  • Departments overspend and important initiatives fail to move forward due to lack of funding.
• Managing risk and integrating into the ongoing strategy.
  • Too many unexpected obstacles surprising and derailing the team.
• Managing stakeholder relationships.
  • Loss of investor confidence, questions of the leadership’s suitability.

There is a version of this list for every leader depending on their role. For instance, as we move down the hierarchy, the tactical becomes more prominent. We can discuss the nuances for each role in more detail in our leadership meeting. For now, we will retain our focus on you, the President and CEO.

From what I have seen, each of these ‘fires’ correlates to a miss in one of these areas. An ignored fundamental creates a void. This void will either allow a gap in the foundations of the business or another person will step in. In the first case, we get a breakdown in what is required to build and sustain a business. In the second case, your credibility and position as the leader are undermined.

It’s time to put some attention on your attention. Here is your homework. Write up a list of your tasks, including the topics which comprise the ‘fires’ you are addressing. Group those tasks under their responsibility heading, but include the list mentioned previously. Next, prioritize the list, fundamentals at the top, everything else sorted by order of importance. If there are simply too many items, look at any non-fundamental tasks as candidates for delegation.

Has this process revealed any basics you might have been ignoring?

Businesses are structured entities that require these foundational responsibilities. Ensuring that they are addressed, allows for a platform on which innovation and growth can occur. These ‘fires’ cease to have the distracting power they once had, allowing space for creative and inspirational work to emerge.

Park Wiker

P.S. Ben Franklin urges us to remember, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”