Two leadership habits matter: blocking time to think instead of just reacting to a packed calendar, and actually listening to people around you. A CEO who's constantly busy becomes a "busy fool." Slowing down to think and listen makes you faster at what counts.
Which means you have to shut up long enough to listen.
Is it still about slowing down to speed up?
I think there are two sharpening skills that I value highly. One is thinking time. The danger of becoming a busy fool where your diary is the tail that wags the CEO dog rather than you managing your time and building in thinking time. And thinking time can be time that's spent with people who are subject matter experts in areas that you're exploring. So it's not necessarily sitting in a dark room with a cold towel on your head. Actually, it may well be spending time engaging with people who are at the forefront of different thinking on different subject matters that are relevant to what you're doing. And the other side of that coin, and these two go hand in hand, is listening. One of the skills that's really, really important in anybody, but in leaders, is that you listen.
