When Fixing Things Too Fast Gets in the Way

Recently, a student asked a question in class that tied our leadership topic to their own personal world: "What do endurance athletes and successful leaders have in common?"

As the discussion unfolded, one student (also a triathlete) shared how resilience, goal setting, and learning from losses show up in both worlds. She talked about how uncomfortable the training can be, and how that discomfort isn’t something to avoid but rather, something you learn to manage.

Listening to her, I realized how often leadership struggles show up the same way.

I’ve noticed something about myself when things get uncomfortable. I want to fix those things whether it is a tough conversation, struggling employee, or an unclear decision.

My instinct is to move to clarify, to help, to resolve. Doing something feels productive. Waiting rarely does.

And that’s where many leadership breakdowns begin.

Most leadership breakdowns I see don’t come from a lack of effort or intelligence. They come from how quickly we try to resolve discomfort when:

• We smooth over feedback instead of letting it land.

• We jump in to help before someone has struggled long enough to learn.

• We rush to clarity when the situation actually needs more time.

• We react, because doing something feels better than sitting with uncertainty.

In those moments, the issue isn’t capability. It’s tolerance.

Endurance athletes don’t train to avoid discomfort. They train so discomfort doesn’t dictate their decisions.

Leadership works the same way. Growth often requires holding tension longer than feels natural. It's about knowing when to:

• Stay in a hard conversation a little longer instead of rushing to agreement.

• Resist the urge to rescue, even when you know you could solve the problem faster yourself.

• Let silence do some of the work in a meeting so others can step in.

• Sit with incomplete information rather than forcing certainty too early.

  
  

None of this feels comfortable. And that’s the point. The leaders who grow aren’t the ones who eliminate discomfort. They’re the ones who build the capacity to stay present inside it and long enough for better decisions to emerge.

Decisiveness moves things forward. Restraint makes sure they’re moving in the right direction.

Where are you moving too quickly that might be cutting your learning short?