The Paradox of the Faster Leader

The central paradox of becoming a faster leader is you have to go slow and invest in the right things before you can become faster. It takes time to become faster. Leadership speed is not an accident. It is the result of planning, practice, patience, and investment. You have to invest in people, you have to invest in systems, and you have to invest in speed-enabling techniques. It’s not just about being quick. It’s not about frantic activity. It’s about being efficient and effective in the things that really matter.

If you really want to become a faster leader, you have to create what I think of as a leadership ecosystem around you. Faster leaders rely upon a strong supporting cast, efficient and effective systems, a well-mapped-out strategy, and organizational structures that are clean and non-hierarchical. The paradox is that it takes time, energy, and patience. You don’t build a leadership ecosystem by just flipping a switch or wishing for its existence—you have to put the work in. The way I look at it, there really is no way to shortcut the process. You have to put in the investment before you can savor the rewards. If you are impatient or need instant feedback and gratification, you will be challenged. While our culture emphasizes the immediate more and more, faster leaders understand that the best investments take time to realize their gains

An effective ecosystem may take months or years to build. It takes time to assemble the right building blocks and to put them in the right order or sequence. It takes time for your ecosystem to get up and running efficiently. It takes time to find the right people. Like an F-14 Tomcat pilot, it takes hours of practice and time spent in the simulator to get really good. You can’t become a faster leader by yourself.

The real challenge for leaders is to budget the time and exercise the discipline to build an ecosystem in environments where time is at a premium. The pace of work makes building an ecosystem even more challenging. Many leaders are under the gun and feel they simply don’t have the time to invest. Organizations make it worse by continually asking us to do more and treating everything as urgent and important. Building a leadership ecosystem has to become a personal priority or it won’t happen. If you invest wisely, you will become a faster leader.

Exciting News!

Dr. Arlen Burger joins Dr. Warren Bennis, Rep. Pat Schroeder, and Senator George Mitchell in a new book, Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed

In-Depth Interviews with America’s Top Leadership Experts

 SEVIERVILLE, TENNESSEE— Dr. Arlen Burger, keynote speaker and author, has been selected from a nationwide search to be featured in Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed; a highly successful book series from Tennessee-based Insight Publishing. The book features best-selling authors Dr. George Bennis, Rep. Pat Schroeder, and Senator George Mitchell. 

Dr. Arlen Burger, Bennis, and Mitchell, are joined by other well known authors and speakers, each offering time-tested strategies for success in frank and intimate interviews.

 Dr. Arlen Burger, CEO of Leadership Coaching, has been an advisor and coach to executives and leaders for over 20 years. He is well known and respected for his work with CEOs, Board of Directors and other Senior Managers. He specializes in working with leaders who have to manage complex, fast-paced and demanding businesses. Understanding that executives have more demands on their time than they can typically address, he coaches leaders to maintain a rigorous focus on critical path variables that can mean the difference between business success and failure.

 For more information on Dr. Arlen Burger and to pre-order your copy of Leadership: Helping Others to Succeed, contact: Dr. Arlen Burger via email at arlen@leadershipc.com. Visit his website www.leadershipcode.com or phone him directly at 408-483-1800