There’s no long-term without short-term

This might sound controversial, but stay with me before you call me a terrible leader.

This topic came up in one of my one-on-ones today, and I felt I needed to write about it.

Sometimes, the long-term is too late. Sometimes, we just don’t have the luxury of time.

When we’re in the middle of a fire, the right move isn’t coaching a future firefighter. It’s grabbing a bucket and putting out the flames.

That doesn’t make us bad leaders. It makes us situational leaders.

We need to be the kind of leader the moment demands. Adaptability matters more than being great at the extremes.

There are practical aspects of our job we can’t ignore. We need to be pragmatic, not leaders blindly following rules written by someone else. We write our own rules. And break them when needed. Because in the end, we don’t lead in theory — we lead in chaos. And that’s what makes our job so damn hard.

Prioritizing the long-term at the wrong time can kill your chances of ever getting there. Sometimes, the short-term is the strategy.

Amigos, there’s no silver bullet. It’s all about tradeoffs, timing, and the judgment to know what’s needed right now.