I’ve spent my life in places where hesitation costs lives.
Public safety. Undercover work. High-stakes business.
In those environments, leadership isn’t a title. It’s the decisions you make when the pressure is on. I’ve seen leaders rise and hold the line under chaos. I’ve also seen leaders crumble, not because they lacked skill, but because they led reactively instead of by design.
The truth is, reactive leadership can keep you alive in the moment, but it won’t take you where you want to go.
Designed leadership will.
Reactive Leadership: Leading in the Rearview Mirror
Reactive leadership runs on adrenaline and the latest piece of information. It’s quick, sometimes decisive, but rarely intentional.
- Operates on incoming data and immediate pressure
- Decisions are mostly reactions to what just happened
- Direction can shift in an instant, sometimes that’s good, often it’s not
- In public safety, it’s moving resources only when the crisis is already happening
- In business, it’s changing your strategy every time the market sneezes
When I worked the road, reactive leadership was everywhere. A call would come in, shots fired, suspect on the move, and people would scramble. The problem? If you don’t have a larger operational picture, you end up chasing ghosts. Every move feels urgent, but not every move is strategic.
The same thing happens in business. Leaders make knee-jerk pivots every time a competitor changes pricing, a customer complains, or a new trend pops up. It’s exhausting for the team and erodes trust fast.
Reactive leadership isn’t about bad intentions. It’s about a lack of anchoring. Without a fixed mission, every gust of wind blows you off course.
Designed Leadership: Staying on Mission When the Wind Changes
Designed leadership starts with your original design, your fixed mission line, and filters every decision through it.
- Operates from purpose, not just pressure
- Adapts tactics without abandoning the mission
- Creates stability in chaos because priorities are clear
- In public safety, that means having pre-established priorities so you know exactly what gets protected first
- In business, it’s sticking to your core offer and values while adjusting the how, not the why, when needed
In SWAT briefings, we knew the mission before we rolled. No matter how wild the scene got, we didn’t have to debate what mattered most. That clarity kept people alive.
The same principle works in business. When your mission is clear, your marketing, hiring, partnerships, and investments align even when the market shifts. You make changes, but they’re changes that serve the mission, not derail it.
Why This Matters Now
Today’s world is built to pull leaders into reactive mode. News cycles, market swings, social media chatter, it’s constant noise. The temptation is to respond to everything so you don’t get left behind.
But leadership isn’t about chasing what’s loud. It’s about protecting what’s vital.
If you lead reactively for too long:
- Your team loses trust in your direction
- Your decisions become inconsistent
- Your long-term strategy gets buried under short-term fires
If you lead by design:
- Your team knows what matters and can act without waiting on you
- Your decisions align, creating momentum
- Your strategy survives the noise
The Question That Separates Real Leaders From the Rest
When I train leaders, whether in the boardroom or on the training ground, I teach one simple shift:
Stop asking, “What do we do now?”
Start asking, “What keeps us on mission?”
It’s the difference between steering a ship through storms and being tossed around like driftwood.
When I built businesses after my law enforcement career, I used the same principle. The mission always came first. If a tactic worked but pulled me off mission, it was out. If a tactic was hard but kept us aligned, it stayed. That’s how you build something that lasts.
How to Shift from Reactive to Designed Leadership
Here’s a framework you can use today:
Define Your Mission in One Sentence
If it takes a paragraph, you don’t know it well enough.
Set Your Non-Negotiables
Decide on 3–5 priorities your team protects no matter what.
Run Every Decision Through the Filter
Does it keep us on mission? If not, why are we doing it?
Plan for Known Pressures
Identify the top three likely disruptions in your world and decide your response before they happen.
Train Your Team in the Mission
They should be able to make mission-aligned calls without waiting for you.
Your Leadership Reality Check
If you lead reactively, you’re running on borrowed time.
- You might survive the week, but you won’t build anything that lasts.
- Your team will keep asking “what’s next?” instead of taking initiative.
- Every shift in the wind will feel like a threat.
If you lead by design, you own the field.
- Your mission drives the moves.
- Your people know the game plan and execute without hand-holding.
- You stay steady while everyone else chases the latest fire.
You can’t be both. Choose.
Because the mission doesn’t protect itself, it needs a leader who will.
I’d love to tell you more. Schedule with me.
