Speed: How Leaders Accelerate Successful Execution

CHAPTER 4

SPEED TRAPS

It is hasty speed that doesn’t succeed.

—DUTCH PROVERB

This chapter describes some traps to avoid in your efforts to increase your speed. When someone decides to place emphasis on a new behavior, there is a danger that other important behavior will be shortchanged. Being forewarned we hope will help readers to be forearmed. It is important to preserve some balance.

Doing Things Fast Versus Doing Things Right

“Is it a leader’s pace alone that elevates leadership effectiveness?” To answer that question, we again looked at the data on 51,137 leaders who had been rated by an average of 13 managers, peers, direct reports, and others. We examined two dimensions: doing things fast (speed) and doing things right (quality). ...