It was a typical Tuesday, and my to-do list was growing in typical fashion. I scribbled in my notebook: “New wallpaper in lobby. Update nursery checkout system. Use the word ‘guest’ instead of ‘visitor.’ Turn the bass guitar down.”
Leadership is like inspecting a sea wall. You constantly look for cracks — the areas where weaknesses are showing, or the places that are beginning to leak — so you can patch them up.
Good leaders not only identify and respond to current challenges, but they also try to anticipate where problems may occur in the future. They make repairs, and they add reinforcements.