I recently spent a couple of days with a high performing leadership team at a growing aerospace company. The room was filled with brilliant, fast-moving engineers and scientists. As we explored ways to be even more successful in the coming year, one of the team members told me how uncomfortable she’d initially been with the idea of slowing down. Noting the title of my book, Slow Down to Speed Up: Lead, Succeed and Thrive in a 24/7 World , she’d felt skeptical of the feasibility of applying my approach. (She was subsequently reassured, in reading the book, that slowing down isn’t the endgame but actually a framework for getting better, more transformative and sustainable results in a demanding, dynamic environment.)
This company had a deeply ingrained culture of “move fast, fail fast, go again.” And, to be sure, there are advantages to being a fast-acting organization. But when the pace of innovation, sales and production never slows, when pauses aren’t built in for alignment, anticipation of obstacles, planning for failure and deconstructing both the good and the bad… to ensure repeated success and to reduce the frequency of costly, preventable mistakes… the result is often a substantial waste of time, money, credibility and confidence.
When I say slow down to speed up , I’m not suggesting dragging one’s feet. But when we are under pressure to perform, that’s when we truly need to slow down: To clearly prioritize what’s most pressing and important. To take non-essentials off the list. To steady ourselves, and to delegate tasks that others can or should be doing.
Watch me speak to an audience of business experts at Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting® Convention (2 minute clip) to learn more.
Ruthlessly Prioritize So You Can Slow Down to Speed Up®
To your continued success!
I found Liz to be an exceptional consultant for our executive sales leaders. Her direct style of communication, clear expectation setting and collaborative approach drove the performance of our sales leaders to deliver strong double digit results.
– Marlou Janssen, President, Biotronik Inc.
To learn more about a host of pragmatic tools for success, read my new book. Slow Down to Speed Up®: Lead, Succeed, and Thrive in a 24/7 World is a powerful resource for leaders from the C-Suite to the front line. Filled with innovative new approaches, pragmatic tools, and real-life success stories, SDTSU tackles the universal challenge of achieving better, faster, more sustainable results in a world of non-stop demands and constant connectivity. Get your copy today!
