Taming the Whirlwind

How Leaders Move Beyond Urgency to Build What Truly Matters

Two nights ago we achieve a milestone: our school board passed a strategic plan that we’ve been diligently developing now for the past six months. After the final motion passed, I was recognized for spearheading this process and asked to share a few words. Looking around the room, I wanted to speak with a sense of pride about what we’d accomplished, but I knew we needed to hear something different. We needed a call to action.

Anyone who has worked in education (or really any beuqacratic organization) knows how difficult it is to move from strategy to execution. History is full of great ideas that never made it out of the concept phase because no one pushed them across the finish line. In my change management work, I often chalked that up to a lack of institutional will. But I’m realizing something deeper: most of us get caught in the same trap—our inability to resolve the tension between what’s urgent and what’s important.

Human beings have a tendency to move towards urgency. The problem with that is, we easily lose focus of what’s important, because rarely is urgent synonymous with important. There are cases when urgent things are important (think true crisis or a deadline driven big project). But usually, urgent things are interruptions that reflect what just happens to be what’s in front of us right now.

Here’s how you tell the difference. Important things are pre-decided, based on values and vision. And then they’re resourced. That last part is relevant, because important things can easily hide until they are resourced (with either time, money, or talent). So for example, if something is really important it’ll live on your calendar if you keep one. You’ll build habits around it. Ask yourself, are you building routines that protect where you spend your time?

Otherwise, guess what’s determining how you spend your time? Whatever comes up next. That’s the urgent stuff. Cloaked with a false veil of importance, but really it’s just the loudest thing shouting at you because you can see it.

In his book The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Chris McChesney calls all the urgent stuff happening in our day to day, the whirlwind. And whirlwinds do what whirlwinds do, they pull everything into their vortex. You can’t be creative, strategic, or intentional inside a whirlwind. You’re just trying to hang on. That’s not a life to live. And it’s certainly not a way to lead.

So here are two simple questions you can start asking today to tame your whirlwind:

Given where I’m headed and who I’m becoming, what is the most important thing for me to do right now?
This requires clarity on both vision and values.
– Vision asks: Where am I headed? What am I trying to accomplish?
– Values ask: Who am I at my best?

If you’re leading a team or organization, these questions must be answered collectively.

What routines can I build to safeguard my decisions?
Routines are your guardrails and your pathways.
– Some defend your focus, like turning off notifications to protect deep work.
– Others create consistency, like scheduling follow-ups or mapping time for priority work.
All of them help you keep commitments to yourself and your team.

Back to my board meeting, instead of simply celebrating this milestone, I offered a preview of the discipline we’ll need to develop in order to turn this plan into a reality. As Mike Tyson famously said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The whirlwind is coming for you, me, all of us, everyday. The mistake we make is in not recognizing it for what it is, and dealing with it accordingly. Another mistake we make quite frankly is being lazy.

It’s easier to surrender to the whirlwind, even though we know it pulls us farther from the work that matters. We have to talk ourselves into doing the work of what’s most important because it doesn’t feel urgent yet. But if you find a leader, a team, or an organization that consistently chooses important over urgent, you’ll eventually see the results. Perhaps quietly at first. Then unmistakably.