A Sense of Urgency

Dictionary.com defines “urgency” as requiring or compelling speedy action or attention (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/urgency). To John Kotter, author of A Sense of Urgency, he pairs this definition to how leaders act once they have evidence that a decision needs to be made and how it can be executed. Kotter doesn’t waste time describing how someone comes to a decision, he assumes the person or persons who need to make a decision have done so and are now ready to act. The premise of Kotter’s message in the above mentioned book revolves around three states of action. Leaders either possess an internal drive to act now, called a sense of urgency, or they fall into two traps – a false sense of urgency or complacency.

To begin, clarity around these three states of action is a must, or in one example non-action. True urgency is driven by an innate desire to win at all costs without the apprehension that generally accompanies potential failure. Those with a true sense of urgency have faith that great opportunities and hazards are everywhere (A Sense of Urgency, pg 10). As a result their behaviors are proactively focused on issues that are significant to the change needed. They are relentless in the pursuit of the end goal and they will purge activities that are irrelevant. A key trait to those who act with a true sense of urgency is a commitment to look externally and constantly scan the environment outside their organizations walls. On the other hand, those with a false sense of urgency or complacency look inward. To go one step further, those who with a false sense of urgency mistake being busy with a feeling that they are adding value to the real issues, when in fact they are simply confusing the long hours they work and the meetings discussing an array of unimportant topics they attend as productivity to the end goal. Complacency speaks for itself. Those who are complacent act in away that are self-fulfilling. They feel as if change is...