One theme rings true across conversations with our portfolio CEOs: urgency.
It’s a word founders and CEOs consistently throw around. And rightfully so—without it, nothing gets done. But here’s the problem: urgency without clarity becomes chaos.
That’s why we made “Healthy Urgency” the theme of this year’s 2025 CEO Summit. Whether you’re just starting to scale or you’re already north of $25M in revenue, how you handle urgency is one of the most important leadership muscles you can build.
The Fire Drill Phase is Real, but it Can't Last Forever
In the early days, everything feels like a sprint. Every win matters, every decision is existential, and every hour wasted feels like lost ground. I’ve lived it. I get it.
But if your company is at $10M, $20M, even $40M in revenue, and you’re still operating like every day is a fire drill, you’re not driving urgency—you’re dragging your team into burnout.
A football coach of mine used to say, "There’s a difference between going fast and being in a hurry." I didn’t get it back then, but it hits differently now. Moving fast is intentional. Being in a hurry is reactive. One builds momentum. The other creates confusion.
If You're Always Double-Parked, Nothing Gets Your Full Attention
A board member once said this to me—not as a compliment: “You’re always double-parked.” What he meant was that I was moving too quickly to give anything or anyone my full attention. And he was right.
I see this a lot with founder-CEOs. You run into the room, drop a big idea, change a few priorities, and move on to the next thing. But what happens after you leave?
Confusion. Whiplash. Your sales team stops focusing on the core motion. Product shifts to building something new before the last thing was launched. Your executives stop owning their lane because they know you’re going to change direction anyway.
That’s not urgency. That’s chaos.
Founders and Professional CEOs are Prone to Different Extremes
If you’re a founder, you’ve probably built your company on adrenaline and instinct. But as scale kicks in, those same instincts can become liabilities if you’re not careful. The pace that got you here won’t necessarily get you to the next level.
On the other hand, I’ve also seen professional CEOs—those brought in to replace founders—slow things down too much. Teams used to a startup pace suddenly feel like they’re stuck in mud.
Healthy urgency lives somewhere in the middle. Move with intention. Pick your battles. Don’t over-rotate just because the other guy did.
Set Priorities and Let Them Breathe
One of the most damaging behaviors I see in scaling companies is constantly shifting priorities. Not month-to-month. I’m talking week-to-week. Day-to-day.
The truth is, most of us as CEOs underestimate how much whiplash we create. Every time you walk into a room with a “new big thing,” your team interprets it as a shift in strategy. If you do that enough times, they stop trusting the plan. Worse—they stop building one.
Write your 2026 press release today. What do you want to say you accomplished? What outcomes matter? Then reverse engineer the plan. Lock it in. Let it live. Adjust if necessary, but not just because you woke up with a different idea. Set the direction, then give your leaders room to execute.
Urgency Without Leadership Triggers a Domino Effect
Your team copies what you model. If you show up frantic, change direction constantly, or make every issue feel like a 5-alarm fire, don’t be surprised when your entire org starts spinning.
And let’s be real: very few people will tell the CEO to slow down. Especially if you’re also the founder. You carry the most weight in the room, whether you like it or not.
That’s why you have to build your own filter. Ask yourself:
If you can’t answer those questions with confidence, take a breath. You might be solving the wrong problem.
Final Thought: It's Okay to Feel Uncomfortable
Letting priorities sit can feel like you’re moving too slowly. I’ve felt it myself. But trust me - speed without direction gets you nowhere.
Results don’t show up overnight. If they did, you wouldn’t need a process. And when the time comes to step back in and call for urgency, it’ll actually mean something, because your team will know you don’t overuse it.
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