Stephen Covey calls it the tyrrany of the urgent. I don’t think it’s tyranny, I think it is a subtle seduction, the seduction of the Red Zone.

Take two parameters of time, IMPORTANT and URGENT. Now, that’s where the action is. When I ask for a list, I get enthusiastic responses:

• Customer complaints
• Request from the boss
• Project deadline due last Monday
• BIG customer problem

URGENT and IMPORTANT!! Stuff a manager can really sink their teeth into. Are managers good at this stuff, these special requests, last minute deadlines and BIG customer problems? Yeah, baby, in fact, they are Managers because they are good at this stuff.

“I am on a break in a meeting, thought I would call in, please, give me a problem to solve.”

This is the juice that managers thrive on. They begin to fall for anything that even looks URGENT and IMPORTANT. After a while, URGENT alone is good enough. Please give me some more juice.

But, what about the IMPORTANT, but NOT-URGENT stuff? What kind of management behavior is that? You know, planning, delegating, coordinating, controlling, directing. Not much juice there, but what impact would these behaviors have on things in the red zone? With better planning, delegating and coordinating, some things in the red zone go away.

By the way, the red zone is where heart attacks start. -TF