# Key Takeaway

  • Smoke Signal: Everything feels like a priority.
  • The Fire: The organization hasn’t made the difficult tradeoffs that strategy requires.
  • Question for Leaders: What are we intentionally choosing not to do?

Here’s a question I ask leadership teams all the time: do we want to be mediocre at ten things or a rockstar at three? Nobody ever says, “I’d rather be mediocre.” Everyone nods and agrees, but then the tradeoff conversation starts. Someone says, “We can’t stop doing this,” while someone else points out that Marketing needs that, Sales already committed to this, and Legal wants something else prioritized. Before long, we’re right back to ten priorities.

That’s the smoke signal. Most organizations don’t have a capacity problem. They have a tradeoff problem. Strategy isn’t only about deciding what you’re going to do; it’s also about deciding what you’re not going to do.

Every yes is a no to something else. Every priority consumes time, attention, talent, and resources that can’t be invested somewhere else. But making those tradeoffs is uncomfortable, so organizations keep adding priorities, spreading people thinner, and asking teams to absorb more. Then they wonder why everything feels urgent and nothing feels exceptional.

The highest-performing organizations are not necessarily doing more. They are often doing less, but with greater clarity. People know what matters, what can wait, and maybe most importantly, what they’re willing to stop doing.

That’s where focus comes from. Not from better project plans, but from better choices. A simple question can reveal how clear the organization really is: if you had to eliminate two of your top ten priorities tomorrow, which two would they be? If nobody can answer, or everyone chooses different ones, that’s probably the smoke signal.

# Look Beneath the Surface

If everything feels important, the issue may not be a lack of capacity. It may be that the organization hasn’t made the tradeoffs strategy requires.

Question for leaders: What are we intentionally choosing not to do?

Explore Related Smoke Signals

Organizational friction rarely shows up in just one place. Continue exploring related signals:

View All Smoke Signals

# Seeing Similar Signals?

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