Act First, Think Later

Raise your hand if, as a manager or leader, you've ever felt guilty for not taking time to think strategically. Leadership advice would have us all striking a contemplative pose like Rodin's The Thinker, sitting uninterrupted in our offices for two hours every day while great ideas spontaneously bloom in our brains.

In reality, managers race to meetings all day, firing off emails in between, and squeezing in time to work on imminent tasks. "Many executives … believe that if