How to Set Priorities as a Leader

During a high stress moment of frustration, a CEO harshly told one of my students: “I need you to be a thought partner, not another task manager!” She swallowed the lump in her throat as she exited the video call, but... she knew he had a point. 😕 She’d been burning herself out checking boxes, clearing tasks, reacting to requests. And, in doing so, she was unintentionally making herself smaller (and less effective). The difference between a support person (tactical/ a task manager) and a Chief of Staff (strategic/ a thought partner) is about 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼. ➡️ So she made a shift, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦, and started operating like  a true thought partner. Here’s how that’s done: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Instead of asking, “What do you need me to do?” she started showing up with recommendations (bringing solutions to the agenda, not just problems) 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬:  when you become aware of or identify a problem or issue that needs a decision, 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝟮-𝟯 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲. 2️⃣ 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀. When her CEO asked for updates, she didn’t just list what she’d done, she explained how it moved their org-wide goals forward. 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬:  Before every task or project you work on, ask yourself, “How is what I’m doing helping us win long-term?” Then document that so you have proof of your impact. 3️⃣ She built the habit of challenging upward. This one felt scary at first, but she learned to respectfully push back and ask her CEO tough questions like: 🤔 “What tradeoff are we making if we choose this option?” 🤔 “How will this decision impact the team next quarter?” 🤔 “Is this the best use of your time right now?” Her boss…? He loved it!! 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳. It will work for you too. Start thinking like the person in the room who’s helping make the decisions, not just carry them out.

Leaders: Not Everything Is an Emergency One of the biggest pitfalls in leadership that I see are VPs and directors treating every task like it’s urgent.  When everything becomes urgent ASAP today, teams experience burnout, confusion and end up spinning their wheels because this constant scrambling drives poor decision making (done being better than perfect) as well as an inability to plan because the team is always reacting. The reality is that not everything can be, or should be, urgent. Labeling every task as “urgent” doesn’t just lead to stress.... it also causes people (leaders included) to lose sight of what really drives results.  Here’s a better approach to ensuring team alignment and prioritization on what matters most: Distinguish Between Urgent and Important: Urgent tasks often have a clear, immediate deadline tied to an external factor....a client deliverable is due tomorrow OR a last-minute market shift requires immediate action. Important tasks, on the other hand, are those that advance long-term goals and priorities, like improving a sales process or strategizing for entering a new market.  Before marking something as “urgent” ask yourself: Does this task align with a short-term deadline or is it more valuable to allow time for depth and quality? Empower Prioritization: Leaders who communicate true priorities create a culture of clarity and purpose.  For example, if the primary goal for Q4 is closing deals, a leader should direct the team to prioritize sales outreach over lower-impact tasks like preparing detailed internal reports.  This teaches the team to recognize what’s core to success, what drives the mission forward and how to distinguish valuable tasks from those that are less critical. Give your Team Realistic Deadlines: A team that feels constantly rushed won’t feel supported; they’ll feel pressured. Give people room to do their best work and they will bring you better solutions, fresh perspectives and lasting results.   When teams feel trusted to meet realistic goals, they deliver work that is not only on time but also impactful.  Encourage an open dialogue around deadlines so the team members feel comfortable seeking clarification or asking for additional time, when needed. A true leader knows urgency has its place, but so does strategic patience. When you create a culture where priorities are clear and urgency is meaningful, you encourage your team to stay focused, motivated and committed to high-impact work. Next time you feel the need to sound the “urgency” bells..... ask if Is it time-sensitive or do I need my team to be focused on their top tasks with no interruption for the best results?  That will let you know if immediate action is needed or if the team can create more impact with thoughtful planning and execution. PS -> What tips do you have to prioritize a team's task list and ensure the right things get done to move the business forward? Drop your recs in the comments below

First-time leaders: You're handling your manager's requests wrong by saying YES to everything. ⁣⁣ Every time you automatically agree to a task, you're setting yourself up for later problems: - Strategic priorities get diluted - Revenue-generating projects get delayed - Quality of execution suffers The way I respond to requests is fundamentally different. There's a difference between saying 'No, I can't' which means 'I've done no work, I'm too lazy to think about it... vs taking the hard path and coming up with a solution. Here's what effective leadership looks like: 1️⃣ Clarify the business impact: "I can do this, but here's what's going to get moved” Or “Here's what I can do without moving anything, but it'll be reduced scope." 2️⃣ Connect to objectives: Think through the ask - how does it relate to the overall company goals we're trying to achieve versus what's on your plate? Your manager might think they're asking for a quick 5-minute task when it's a mountain of work! They won't see this unless you show the full picture of your current priorities and bandwidth. ⁣⁣ This approach prevents three common failures: (1) Putting everything on your list until burnout (2) Doing each thing poorly (making you look bad) (3) Missing critical revenue opportunities. Share below: what’s your no. 1 priority for this quarter? 

I worked for a boss (can't say he was a real leader) who thought everything was a priority. He operated in a mode of everything was always a crisis and had us "running to put out fires" quite often. "When do you need this by"? I need it now mentality. We really didn't know what the true priorities or goals were. We were too busy trying to address his latest emergency. When Everything Is a Priority, Nothing Is!!! Great leadership means making the tough calls—even when everything feels urgent. When “ASAP” becomes the norm, burnout isn’t far behind. Here’s how strong leaders sort the noise from what actually matters: ✅ Use the Eisenhower Matrix – Urgent vs. Important ✅ Ask: What moves us toward our strategic goals? ✅ Clarify who owns what—and what can wait ✅ Communicate clearly: “Not now” is a valid answer ✅ Protect time for thinking, not just doing Leadership isn't about doing it all. It’s about doing what matters most—on purpose. It's about identifying and knowing what really needs to be at the "top of the list". It's about handling real crisis without chaos.

Do you and your team struggle with competing priorities? Regardless of your role, business leader or practitioner, over the years I've learned that no matter the company, industry, start-up or enterprise, we have too many strategic initiatives and it gets in the way of focus and progress. 😤 What creates distraction from what we truly need to accomplish is: ✅ New TRENDS, TERMS, and TECH TOYS! ✅ There's more work than resources & funding. This creates DRIFT ✅ As things drift, we experience a lag with closure, resulting in FATIGUE ✅ As fatigue sets in, we forget our original PURPOSE and we digress. The cycle then repeats and it feels like an endless loop of projects without proper closure and celebrations. While this won't solve everything, it'll be a good start. It's worked for me in the past: ✍ Create a list of all the things that's requiring your time or the teams time ✍ Tag them as H (high value), M (medium value), L (low value) [you choose how you define value. For me I've used loose rules like "Is it aligned with our priorities and the companies mission? Keep it simple] ✍ Anything of H & M keep, anything tagged as L think about how to offload. [It may require a talk with your boss to say these lower value activities are distracting the team from the high-value activities, is there a way to delegate to de-prioritize? OR. It may require a discussion about constrained resources and budget, and how to best prioritize efforts so you can apply resources accordingly] ✍ Always prioritize resources and funding to the H's, and whatever is left over to the M's. [When asked about progress on the M's, you say the team is doing the best it can with the workload of the higher priority times. If things need to progress faster, its a good idea to discuss capacity & funding] ✍ When someone asks you to do something else, DO NOT immediately say 'YES'. [You say "I know the work is important and it needs to get done, I want to help. let me assess the teams capacity & bandwidth so I can get back to you with realistic timeframes to make sure its acceptable for you", or. something like that] ✍ Watch out for your own issues with over committing. Be reasonable about what you can and cannot accomplish in a 50-70 hour week. [Sorry I can't help those who have a 40 hour work weeks, never had that 😢] More to come ... sign up for my upcoming Newsletter! https://lnkd.in/ejvkkuGi (I'm a practitioner turned C-Suite exec 4x's over and one of the first Chief Data & Chief AI Officers appointed back in 2016. I have a lot of scrapped knees & bruised elbows to share). 

The biggest thing that helped me become a better PMM was carving out time for strategic thinking, no matter how busy I was. Why is this important? -> Tactical work alone won’t advance your career. You need to think far with a strategic vision and have the ability to execute. -> Strategic clarity reduces decision fatigue and eliminates random tasks that don’t lead to real outcomes. -> It helps you identify opportunities to innovate and create net new value for the business. -> Teams naturally follow people who think beyond the immediate. Here’s how I do it (and how you can too): 1️⃣ Block time for deep thinking It’s very hard to focus on strategic work if you are always busy in meetings or putting out fires. So the first step is to make TIME. Dedicate 30–60 minutes daily to uninterrupted, quiet thinking even if it means waking up earlier. I also block Wed and Friday mornings for extended work sessions. Find a time that works with your natural productivity. 2️⃣ Prioritize what to focus on (and not focus on) Strategy also means saying no, or not now. Use my Action/Priority Matrix to identify and focus on high-impact tasks, while deferring, delegating or eliminating the rest. Communicate your priorities to your manager for transparency. Remember part of strategy is also saying no. https://lnkd.in/eDd_PvuN 3️⃣ Create project plans Before jumping into a project, no matter how big or small (even if it’s just creating a piece of content), get into the habit of writing out a project plan, including who, how, what, when, why, KPIs, milestones, and key stakeholders. This forces you to think AHEAD, create a repeatable structure, and helps you easily drive alignment with others. 4️⃣ Review long-term goals often Regularly assess how your day-to-day work aligns with your big-picture vision/strategy. Realignment ensures you’re always working toward meaningful outcomes. I suggest doing a monthly review and then communicating what you’d like to start, stop, and continue, with your manager. This also shows you are proactive. 5️⃣ Talk it out with a thought partner or coach Clarity doesn’t always come on your own. Talking through your ideas with someone who can ask the right questions or challenge your assumptions is invaluable. My clients often come to me with a jumble of (great) thoughts, and we untangle them to pull the thread together and uncover the strategy. — Carving out time for strategic thinking isn’t just about blocking time - it’s about making that time effective by doing the right thing and creating the right system. What would you add? #productmarketing #strategy #career #growth #coaching

Last week I met with an Account Management leader I've been mentoring. She's in her first leadership role in a startup - realllly startup. Slapping her forehead, she said, "JP, my company is a hot mess! I feel so overwhelmed by everything that needs to change. How do I move us forward." I've had this conversation with a lot of AM and CS leaders and we always land on the tactics below. One: continually realign your expectations. You're in a startup and chaos is part of the journey. Don't expect your company to operate like a mature organization and embrace the toddler stage. Two: categorize the work that needs to be done. There are generally 3 areas on which an AM/CS leader can focus - people, process and future. People is about the things you can do to grow your people and keep them engaged. Process is about continually improving operational effectiveness. Future is about innovating for tomorrow's opportunities and challenges. Three: know yourself and which category above gets you excited. A common mistake leaders make is to over-prioritize the category they most enjoy. My tendency is to geek out over the future to the neglect of current operational effectiveness. Know your bias and fight it. Four: prioritize with your team. Once you've broken your work into the 3 categories above, work with your team to prioritize which initiatives should get your attention. You are limited in time and resources. So, collectively decide what needs your attention first. Five: execute with focus. A common tendency, especially in startups, is to continually jump to different projects. This results in a body count of unfinished projects and initiatives. Each month, choose 3-5 initiatives and focus on them until completion. Next month, move to a new list. Six: celebrate your rearview. If your to-do list is a mountain it can feel like you're note making progress. When you finish a batch of initiatives pause with your team to celebrate before you move to the next initiative. Seven: treat everything like a hypothesis. Every strategy is a hypothesis about what will work until you prove that it works. The problem with strategies is that our teams tend to think of them as concrete, immutable doctrines. Change your language and refer to your monthly initiatives as hypotheses we believe will solve specific problems. If the hypotheses turns out to be wrong, form a new hypothesis and rinse and repeat.

As a founder, I make dozens (hundreds?) of decisions every day. So I built my own framework to help me find the important ones: I call it CLUSTR. It helps me find the decisions with asymmetric impact, or what Jeff Bezos calls “one-way doors.” They’re the decisions that are consequential and very hard (or impossible) to reverse. Here’s the CLUSTR framework: 1️⃣ C = Cost How costly is this action? Big, costly decisions deserve more scrutiny. Low-cost experiments are easier to move fast on. →Example: A/B testing landing pages vs. launching a full ad campaign. 2️⃣ L = Likelihood What’s the likelihood of a positive outcome here? I give more attention (and resources) to decisions that are more likely to have a positive outcome. →Example: Building on proven channels vs. experimenting with unproven ones. 3️⃣ U = Upside What’s the potential upside? If a decision has the potential to unlock huge results or be transformative, it needs more of my attention. →Example: Hiring the right VP of Sales (Karen Darling) to unlock exponential growth. 4️⃣ S = Systemic Some decisions are one-time. Others are systemic. Systemic ones have a long-lasting, compounding impact and so they need more attention. →Example: Writing a one-off email vs. building a great team 5️⃣ T = Time to Test How quickly can you test this decision and its impact? Short feedback loops help us learn faster and pivot if needed. →Example: Testing an MVP vs. rolling out a fully baked new product 6️⃣ R = Relevance Do you have the resources to execute this right now? Even great ideas can fail if they don’t match your current capacity. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea — it might just not be the right time or place. →Example: Choosing to outsource a function you don’t have expertise in. By running my options through CLUSTR, I can filter out the noise and zero in on actions and decisions that are: ✅ Low cost ✅ High likelihood ✅ Asymmetric in upside ✅ Systemic ✅ Quick to test ✅ Relevant to my resources This framework has had a huge impact, both in business and in my personal life. Time is a precious commodity, and it helps me make the most of it. How you prioritize the decisions you should focus one?

Sometimes I look back at my time in the Air Force and wonder how I got everything done . . . how did I get kids to soccer, stay credible in the airplane, do laundry and grocery shopping, and focus on my role as a commander and leader. The reality is that there were often times where I felt overwhelmed by multiple competing priorities . . . there just didn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get it all done. The only way I could keep my head above water was to get serious and deliberate about prioritizing. I didn’t always get this right, but here are a few ideas that can help with prioritizing tasks and making the most of your time: 1️⃣ Identify Your Goals/Priorities: Clearly define your objectives to focus on tasks that align with your priorities. 2️⃣ Prioritize Tasks: Conduct a thorough analysis of your daily tasks. Determine which tasks are urgent and important, and focus on completing those first. {I didn’t know about the Eisenhower Matrix then, but I find it highly effective now for prioritizing tasks.)   3️⃣ Delegate Responsibilities: Trust others to handle tasks not directly related to your core responsibilities, freeing up time for priorities. 4️⃣ Set Realistic Deadlines: Break down larger tasks into smaller steps with achievable deadlines to maintain steady progress. Micro/quick wins are also good for motivation. (I personally enjoy crossing items off of my to-do list.) 5️⃣ Learn to Say No: Be selective about new commitments to avoid overloading your schedule (sometimes easier said than done, and it’s helpful to have an accountability partner on this). 6️⃣ Block your Schedule: Consider setting aside specific blocks in your schedule for strategic thinking. Creating this space ensures that you are actively working toward your goals and objectives and not just getting bogged down in the weeds. 7️⃣ Review and Adjust: Regularly reassess your schedule and priorities to ensure they align with your goals, adjusting as needed. (I use a high tech sticky note and review/re-write at the end of each day). Whether you're a business professional, military member, entrepreneur, or student, effective time management is key to maintaining productivity and reducing stress. #Prioritization #ProfessionalDevelopment #PersonalDevelopment

As an engineering director, I used to think that a goal is to train myself to juggle multiple priorities simultaneously. Then I realized something: my multitasking wasn't a strength—it was diluting my impact. Here's how I've transformed my leadership approach with this in mind: 1. Choose ONE strategic priority daily (60-90 minutes): Whether it's diving deep into decisions for a flagship product, crafting our strategic roadmap, or working on a technical problem. My day-to-day norm is to be pulled in countless directions—choosing a daily focus creates compound impact over time. 2. Create focus-friendly zones: - Dedicated "focus time" blocked on my calendar - Replaced recurring status meetings with asynchronous updates - Collaborating with my team on my week's focus to align calendars accordingly 3. Build sustainable energy practices: - Daily walks to clear mental space - Unscheduled "tea time" to recharge as needed When I focus on a single strategic priority each day, I get things done and help unblock others. I find that it's useful to do this but it takes a conscious effort and intention to take control of your time and focus. In this age of scattered attention, this might be our most important responsibility. What's your strategic focus today?