You’re in the woods. The trail has vanished, and the goal seems impossibly distant. This is the landscape of modern leadership. In this uncertainty, our instinct is to either stare at the destination, creating anxiety about a future we can’t control, or stare at our feet, engaging in mindless activity just to feel productive.
Neither is the way. The first lacks mindfulness—the ability to be present with what is right in front of us. The second lacks curiosity and intention—the drive to ensure our actions are aligned with a meaningful purpose. This is where many leaders get paralyzed, falling into two common traps that stall all real progress.
The Two Traps That Keep You Lost
- The “Waterfall” Trap (Staring only at the Waypoint): This is classic, rigid, long-term planning. By fixating on the distant goal, you become blind to the terrain right in front of you. You don’t account for unexpected obstacles and fail to be present with the work that needs doing now. You write a five-year plan and then stubbornly follow it, even when the landscape has clearly changed.
- The “Busywork” Trap (Staring only at Your Feet): This is action without intention. You’re answering every email and putting out every small fire, but it’s mindless motion. Without looking up to check your direction, you lose your strategic bearing. You might be walking in circles for days, mistaking frantic activity for forward achievement.
The Agile Path of the Wise Leader
There is a third way: the rhythm of the wise leader, who walks an agile path. This approach honors both the waypoint and the path by blending focused action with strategic reflection. It’s a simple, powerful cycle.
- Take a Mindful Step (Your Sprint): Don’t try to conquer the mountain in one go. Instead, commit to a short sprint—a focused walk of “100 feet.” This is a mindful action. You are fully present and focused on executing this single step with excellence, without getting distracted by the entire journey. You honor the rocks and roots of the immediate task.
- Look Up with Curiosity (Your Retrospective): After you’ve completed your sprint, stop. This pause is not idleness; it is a strategic retrospective. Look up at your waypoint with a spirit of open curiosity. Don’t judge yourself for being off-course. Instead, ask powerful questions: “Where are we now? What did we learn from that last step? Is the waypoint still the right destination, or do we need to pivot based on this new information?” This feedback loop is what allows you to adapt to reality, not a rigid plan.
- Iterate and Build Momentum: Each successful cycle of sprinting and reflecting builds confidence and generates real, actionable data. This is the engine of agile progress. With every loop, courage builds. The hundred feet become a thousand. The rhythm of act-and-reflect becomes so ingrained that momentum feels effortless, and the forest begins to thin.
Putting It Into Practice
Let’s say your waypoint is to build a more innovative company culture.
- The Wrong Approach: Announcing a massive, year-long “innovation initiative” with committees and complex workflows (staring at the mountain).
- The Agile & Mindful Approach: Your first 100-foot sprint is to mindfully listen during your next team meeting with the sole purpose of understanding their biggest friction points. Your retrospective is to reflect, with curiosity, on what you learned. Perhaps the next sprint is to remove just one of those friction points. Small, deliberate steps.
