Failure To Focus On The Future - Common Leader Mistake
Understandable but Deadly
Many of the common errors leaders make are a result of the pressures of the leadership position and forces exerted upon them by the organization. So as with many of the errors mentioned in our list of leadership errors, failing to focus on the future is understandable but deadly.
Since the pace of modern life is so fast, and things change so quickly, leaders have to tend to the present, and be tactical. Sometimes the push of "today" is such that there is simply no time left for strategic thinking and planning. The result of not attending to the future is that the leader will always end up fighting fires in reactive ways, never addressing root causes, or preparing for the future. This doesn't work for the leader, since eventually he or she simply can't run fast enough on the treadmill. Neither does it work for the company.
Companies that are lead by leaders who do not tend to the future (as well as the present) fall farther and farther behind longer sighted competitors, and end up being guided by what the competitors are doing, always just a little too late.