Firefighter Analogy

What's the one organization that never cracks in a crisis, that never complains about "putting out fires"? The fire department! Firefighters are constantly interrupted from doing their work. When the alarm goes off, everything gets interrupted - and most of the interruptions are false alarms. Of course, firefighters don't complain about this reality - which is the reality of life in most organizations. They create methodical procedures to deal with it, and they implement those procedures with integrity. That's a good lesson.

Your ability to deal with surprise elegantly, or to innovate in surprising ways, is the ultimate source of personal advantage. But you can't turn on a dime if you're always fumbling around.