The Director Who Says Yes to Everything
Steve Jobs formulated it with precision: focus does not mean saying yes to what matters. It means saying no to the hundred good ideas competing with it. A hundred good ideas. Not bad ones. Good ones. That is the real problem.
The director who says yes to everything always has a full schedule but rarely has time for what truly matters. Their team receives fragmented attention. Their most important projects move slowly because they compete with ten commitments that seemed urgent and now just sit there, draining energy.
What Trees Know
In botany there is a process called abscission: every autumn, trees cut the branches that consume more resources than they produce. Without sentimentality. Directors rarely do that inventory. They have commitments that no longer make sense but keep weighing them down.
How to Do the Inventory
For each active commitment, ask yourself: if it did not exist and someone proposed it to me today, would I accept? If the answer is no, that is a branch that should fall. Each strategic no is time saved, energy preserved, focus accumulated for when you truly need it.
Want to identify which commitments are limiting your agency growth? Strategic session.