that I will avoid this time-waster at all
costs. My disdain for being stationary
manifests itself when I’m selecting my
travel route. If I have a choice between
a route where I’ll sit in traffic for any
length of time and a route that avoids
traffic but takes longer overall, I’ll
choose the longer one simply so I can
keep moving. Rather than taking the
most direct route or the shortest route,
I take the one that keeps me moving.
I’ll go all over the map just to keep the
wheels spinning.
We do the same thing in our leadership.
Sometimes we’ll waste time spinning
our wheels just to feel like we’re going
somewhere, when actually all we’re
doing is depleting our gas tanks. We
don’t want to wait. We like to see
things passing by, some movement,
to know that something—anything—is
happening. So we stack our calendars
with meetings. We require that every
minor decision get our approval. We
gamble on risky ventures to feel like
we’re doing something.
Do you know what that’s called? It’s the
16 • Solutions
allure of progress. And it’s a dangerous
distraction. All leaders have a voice
in their head telling them they must
keep charging ahead, must keep the
machine moving forward. If we’re not
moving, we’re losing.
A friend of mine works with Facebook,
and not long ago he told me that the
company had changed one of its
corporate mottos. The motto had
been: “Move fast and break things.” I
don’t know about you, but I think that
motto sounds really cool. It’s exactly
the sort of thing you’d expect from
a company willing to kill the sacred
cows and move an entire industry into
the future. It’s extremely movement
centric. And it’s a motto birthed out of
the allure of progress.
Facebook changed the motto when
they discovered that their workforce,
composed of exceptionally smart and
driven people, constantly in perpetual
motion, might be tempted to break
the very things they needed for their
success. Sometimes the emphasis on
moving fast and breaking things led to
people moving too fast. When you’re
told every day that you should move
fast and break things, you might not
take enough time to weigh the cost
of your decisions. Moving fast and
breaking things can keep things rolling,
but it can also be destructive.
If you don’t take it too far, it’s a great
motto. But if you let it run away with
you, you’ll move too fast and crash.
Progress is great. But lasting progress
is something achieved over time, and it
includes seasons of rest, practice, and
preparation. If you want to create an