Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general who led the Allies to victory in World War II and later became U.S. President, used a simple matrix to guide his actions. Important/Not Important is extended along one axis, and Urgent/Not Urgent is extended along the other axis.
Now, let’s look at your to-do list. I’d estimate that about 80% of us use a list to get through the day. Try to see a pattern in your list.
Have you noticed that most items on your list fall into the Urgent/Not Important box? Yes, someone’s nose might get twisted if it’s not done immediately. But really? Will not doing one of these affect the big picture?
In addition, notice that most of your to-do items are administrative:
- Call Jenny about the budget report.
- Do PowerPoint corrections.
You have administrative items, but where are your leadership to-dos?
The tip today is to add two leadership to-dos to your daily list. (Otherwise, small leadership acts get forgotten.) Here are a couple examples of items to spark your employees’ enthusiasm:
- Ask Alissa for advice on how to fix that PowerPoint.
- Let Jose lead the next staff meeting.
- Tell Maria she did a great job on her report.
You’ve moved away from a solely administrative list and added a few humanizing items that motivate and inspire. Singer Johnny Cash included these two items on his list:
- Kiss June.
- Go see Mama.
He added something human to his to-do list! That’s pretty good.
What are your important, but not urgent, items? What’s really important?
- Organizational performance.
- A vibrant culture.
- Employee morale.
These three crucial leadership outcomes aren’t urgent, because no one will know if you don’t do them today.
The answer to the previous question is to slip in one Important/Not Urgent to-do item on your list. Then delegate it—this saves time, and delegation builds trust and fires up your employees.
Here’s an example:
- Ask John and Melissa for ideas they can present at next week’s staff meeting to help us improve our onboarding process.
Letting them develop ways to improve is a gift—the gift of letting employees figure out the “how.” (I’ve found that my “how” to do something is never as good as what they come up with.)
Allow your employees to contemplate how to handle those important but non-urgent items, and you’ll be surprised at how many can be solved.
© Mike Mears 2025. Used with the author's kind permission.
