Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and Goala gving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode five seventy two. January has a certain feel
Speaker 2: to it. Clean pages, new calendars, fresh goals written with confidence.
Speaker 2: Leaders love this time of year because it feels like
Speaker 2: a reset button. But resets only work if they come
Speaker 2: with direction and movement, and that is where today's idea
Speaker 2: comes in. The compass and the clock. Every leader needs both.
Speaker 2: The compass represents vision, direction, purpose. It answers the question
Speaker 2: where are we going and why does it matter? The
Speaker 2: clock represents urgency, time, momentum. It answers a different question,
Speaker 2: how fast do we need to move in What happens
Speaker 2: if we wait? Most leadership problems show up when one
Speaker 2: exists without the other. I've seen leaders with beautiful vision statements,
Speaker 2: big ideas, polished slide decks, and inspiring language. They know
Speaker 2: exactly where they want to go. The problem is there
Speaker 2: is no clock, no urgency, no timeline. Everything lives in
Speaker 2: the someday bucket and someday quietly becomes never. I've also
Speaker 2: seen the opposite leaders obsessed with speed, constant motion, emails, flying,
Speaker 2: meetings stacked. Everyone feels busy, but there's no compass, no
Speaker 2: clear direction. People are running hard, but no one is
Speaker 2: sure where they're actually headed. That's leadership exhaustion, waiting to happen.
Speaker 2: Vision without urgency becomes fantasy. An urgency without vision becomes chaos.
Speaker 2: Early in my career I learned this lesson in environments
Speaker 2: where time absolutely mattered. On an ambulance, you can have
Speaker 2: the best plan in the world, but if you move
Speaker 2: too slowly, outcomes change. In aviation, you can move fast,
Speaker 2: but if you're one degree off course, you end up
Speaker 2: in the wrong place entirely. The compass and the clock
Speaker 2: are not optional. They are survival tools. So as leaders
Speaker 2: kick off a new year, this is a critical reset
Speaker 2: question to ask yourself. Do my people know where we
Speaker 2: are going? And do they feel the importance of moving now?
Speaker 2: Not next quarter, not when it's more convenient now. Vision
Speaker 2: is not just a future statement. It is a daily
Speaker 2: reference point. It should guide decisions, priorities, and behavior. People
Speaker 2: should be able to explain it in plain language without
Speaker 2: reading it off of a wall. Urgency is not panic.
Speaker 2: It is respect for time. It is acknowledging that delays
Speaker 2: have costs, missed opportunities, frustrated employees, and drift. Urgency says
Speaker 2: this matters enough to act on it. And one of
Speaker 2: the biggest leadership traps in January is overplanning. Leaders mistake
Speaker 2: preparation for progress. They build frameworks, color code goals, and
Speaker 2: schedule meetings about meetings. Meanwhile, the clock keeps moving. Strong
Speaker 2: leaders pick a direction and start moving even if the
Speaker 2: map is not perfect. That does not mean reckless action.
Speaker 2: It means intentional movement. So here's a simple leadership reset
Speaker 2: exercise you can do this week. First, grab the compass.
Speaker 2: Ask yourself, what is the one directtiontion my team must
Speaker 2: clearly understand in the next ninety days, Not ten things.
Speaker 2: One direction, growth, stability, rebuilding, tightening, standards, improving service. Just
Speaker 2: pick it. If your team cannot say it back to
Speaker 2: you in one sentence, the compass is broken. Second, set
Speaker 2: the clock. Ask what needs to happen this month to
Speaker 2: prove we're serious about this direction? Not talk, not announcements, action,
Speaker 2: something visible, something measurable, something that tells people this is real.
Speaker 2: Urgency shows up through behavior, not speeches. Leaders often worry
Speaker 2: about pushing too hard. The reality is most teams are
Speaker 2: not tired from urgency. They are tired from waiting, waiting
Speaker 2: for decisions, waiting for clarity, waiting for leaders to commit.
Speaker 2: Momentum builds trust in When people see movement, they believe again.
Speaker 2: A also a personal side to this. Leaders themselves need
Speaker 2: a compass and a clock. If you're honest, you probably
Speaker 2: know the direction you need to move in your own leadership.
Speaker 2: Better boundaries, sharper communication, higher standards, more presence. What you
Speaker 2: may be missing is urgency. The clock is ticking, whether
Speaker 2: you act or not. Titles do not pause time, Experience
Speaker 2: does not slow it down. Leadership windows open and close quietly.
Speaker 2: This isn't about pressure, It is about intention. The best
Speaker 2: leaders I know operate with call urgency. They're not frantic,
Speaker 2: They're focused. They move with purpose. They do not rush,
Speaker 2: but they also do not drift. So as you move
Speaker 2: through this new year, keep this image in mind. One
Speaker 2: hand on the compass, one eye on the clock. Direction
Speaker 2: and movement, vision and urgency, Nation changes, cultures, teams, and results.
Speaker 2: If you want this year to feel different as a leader,
Speaker 2: stop waiting for perfect conditions, set the direction, respect the time,
Speaker 2: move with purpose. Your team is watching, how seriously you
Speaker 2: take both? This has been the seven minute Leadership Podcast,
Speaker 2: and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com