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Hey, everybody, welcome to The
Leadership Tip of the Week.
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I am your host, Max Yao, bringing
to you your weekly programme
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designed to help you become and remain
the leader everybody trusts and respects.
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Today, I want to tell you
the truth about “priority”.
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You might have noticed that I
said priority and not priorities.
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This is a very important distinction,
and I will explain why.
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There is a wonderful book by Greg
McKeown called Essentialism.
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If you have not
read it yet,
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make sure you do, I’ve put a link
below where you can get a copy.
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In this book, Greg McKeown explains that
at its origin, the word priority was singular,
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and it stayed that way
for about 500 years.
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Priority comes from the French “Priorité”
which is the state or fact of coming
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first in order of time,
right, place, or rank.
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Therefore, by definition,
you cannot have more
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than one priority at a given time
because there's only one first place.
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I know this is not what you hear
every day in your workplace,
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but I'm telling you, this is a
relatively recent invention.
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It was only in the 1900s
that companies started
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to put an “S” to priority,
and turned it into priorities.
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Now people are confused
and overwhelmed
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because they don't
know what to do first.
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When you are driving and
you arrive at an intersection
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of two roads of equal importance
and there's no traffic light.
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The rule in most countries
is that you have priority
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over the vehicle
on your left.
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They must stop
and let you go.
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But if that vehicle happens
to be an ambulance
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rushing a patient to
the hospital, it is
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you who must stop
and give them priority.
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Imagine if the rules were not
clear on that point, and both you
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and the ambulance thought you had
priority, if you try to cross the junction
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at the same time, you crash
into each other, right?
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That's exactly what happens
to most people every day.
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They give first place to multiple
objectives and deliverables
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at the same time, and end
up crashing them all.
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This is your leadership
tip for this week.
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You can have
multiple objectives.
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But there's only one priority
at any given time.
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If you understand
and embrace this principle,
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your life and your work will
change positively forever.
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I wish you a
very good week.
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I'll see you again next Monday
for another leadership tip.
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Make sure to subscribe below
now and be first to receive it.
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Until then, take responsibility
for everything that happens
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to you, and be committed
to serving others.
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That's how you become and remain the
leader everybody trusts and respects.
