Doing the Right Things: Or, Doing Things Right?
March 12, 2025
Sometimes we win and lose at the same time. We lose because we’re winning at the wrong things. It may sound strange to think of winning as losing—until you’ve felt it. Until you’ve tasted victory, only to realize the joy is drowned out by the sorrow of what was sacrificed to achieve it.
A gambler might finally hit the jackpot after countless losses, only to find that the people they loved are no longer there to share in the moment. The win was a loss.
Life and leadership aren’t just about winning. They’re about winning at the right things. Because winning isn’t everything—winning at the right things is everything.
Winning at the right things requires more than just doing things right—it demands knowing what truly matters.
Leaders are the backbone of winning teams. They aren’t always the stars, the top performers, or even the most productive. But they are the catalysts—the glue that holds everything together.
Their task isn’t just to lead—it’s to align. To bring people—whether in a family, business, team, or organization—toward a shared purpose. To ensure the collective energy is spent winning at the right things. Because true leadership isn’t about personal achievement. It’s about guiding others toward victories that actually matter.
Warren Bennis, a highly respected business scholar, wrote in his 1989 book On Becoming a Leader: “The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.” I couldn’t agree more.
If we think like a manager before we think like a leader, we might execute flawlessly—only to realize we were focused on the wrong project. We win yet lose. When we fail to see the big picture, we get lost in the details. We miss the forest for the trees. That’s why a leader’s first job isn’t to manage from ground level—it’s to rise above, take in the full landscape, and ensure the team is moving in the right direction before entering the forest.
Because winning at the wrong thing is still losing.
How do we win at the right things?
The nemesis of leaders is pressure and stress. These two adversaries don’t invite leaders to rise above—they drag them straight to ground level, forcing them to manage instead of lead.
Under pressure, leaders feel compelled to solve problems before fully understanding them. The result? A weakened perspective before they even engage. Instead of pausing, asking questions, and stepping back, they rush in—trading the right things for simply getting things right.
And getting things right feels good—at first. It acts as a relief valve for stress, offering short-term satisfaction. But in the long run, it’s a hollow victory. Leaders who default to managing instead of leading win battles but lose the war. They execute perfectly—only to realize they were fighting the wrong fight.
They win yet lose.
You’re probably familiar with Whac-A-Mole, the classic arcade game where players frantically whack plastic moles as they randomly pop up, only for more to take their place. The goal? Hit as many moles as possible before time runs out.
Leadership can feel eerily similar. Problems, fires, and urgent demands pop up relentlessly, and leaders can easily fall into the trap of chasing every issue that appears. But great leadership isn’t about reaction—it’s about discipline.
It takes restraint to resist the impulse to “whack” at everything that demands attention. The best leaders know when to pause, step back, and ask the hard questions first. Because more often than not, the real solution isn’t obvious at first glance.
Measured leadership wins the long game. Reactionary leadership just plays Whac-A-Mole.
Undercover Boss is a reality TV series that has elevated and substantiated the idea that the solutions are often found within an organization. This TV series reveals that when bosses go incognito to the grassroots of their organizations, they gain a perspective often missed. The grassroots often clarify the problems, and leaders may have been providing solutions without a clear awareness of these problems. When you engage at the grassroots you may find people are doing things right but are not doing the right things.
We must learn to succeed in what truly matters. True success comes when we prioritize the right things, achieving our goals without causing harm to our relationships. Winning at the right things keeps our integrity in check and leaves us grateful and humble.
Todd Rutkowski
This reflection on "Doing the Right Things" is one of the 20 lessons Todd offers in his FREE booklet titled "Lifelines". Get Lifelines
