With the endless drops of emails, demand for business meetings and the need to respond to certain issues urgently, the only leadership skill that will differentiate and distinguish you is the ability to discern what truly matters.

Those who don’t understand this get drowned in the noise of competing demands and they end up with mediocre results. On the other hand, exceptional leaders are able to see through the chaos and therefore focus on what will create lasting impact. This is a great skill required by every leader. It is the disciplined application of strategic prioritization.

The most challenging aspect of leadership is the ability to make the right decisions when faced with overwhelming abundance of seemingly important choices.

Tim Cook's early tenure as Apple CEO provides a case study in strategic prioritization under extreme pressure. When Tim succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, he inherited an organization facing simultaneous challenges. This includes scaling iPhone production to meet explosive demand, developing the next generation of products, expanding into new markets, and maintaining Apple's legendary innovation culture.

All these were expected while dealing with the emotional transition of losing the company's iconic founder. Many observers expected Cook to tackle all these challenges simultaneously, maintaining Jobs' hands-on approach across every aspect of Apple's operations.

Instead, Cook demonstrated remarkable prioritization discipline. He identified three critical priorities: operational excellence in existing product lines, systematic innovation in new categories, and building organizational capabilities for sustainable growth. Cook focused intensively on these areas while consciously deprioritizing others.

He simplified Apple's product portfolio, streamlined decision-making processes, and built systems that could operate effectively without requiring his personal involvement in every detail. This strategic focus enabled Apple to achieve unprecedented scale while maintaining quality and innovation. These results would have been impossible if Cook had tried to personally manage every challenge facing the company.

Leaders must first get their priorities as a matter of necessity when they assume any new role. There will be many challenges staring at you, but you must have the discipline to identify the priorities. You must develop a matrix of importance versus urgency. The concept of distinguishing between urgent and important tasks designed as a model by President Eisenhower and refined by management experts finds its most powerful application in executive leadership. The matrix creates four quadrants: important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. You may want to read more about this model.

When leaders consistently apply priority discipline over time, they create what compound interest does for financial investments. Small advantages in prioritization create large advantages in results over extended periods. Jamie Dimon's leadership at JPMorgan Chase demonstrates this compound effect clearly. Since becoming CEO in 2006, Dimon has maintained unwavering focus on three priorities: risk management, operational excellence, and strategic positioning for long-term growth. This focus has required saying "no" to numerous attractive opportunities that didn't align with these priorities.

During various market cycles, JPMorgan has avoided tempting investments, acquisitions, and business lines that other banks pursued aggressively. The compound effect of this discipline became evident during the 2008 financial crisis. While competitors suffered from scattered strategies and poor risk management, JPMorgan's focused approach enabled it to maintain stability and capitalize on opportunities created by others' difficulties.

The inability to focus on the most important things leads to burnout and stress. This insight reveals a crucial connection between prioritization and sustainable leadership performance. Sheryl Sandberg's approach at Facebook (now Meta) exemplifies how strategic prioritization prevents executive burnout while maximizing impact. During Facebook's hypergrowth period, Sandberg faced unlimited demands on her time: product strategy sessions, advertiser meetings, regulatory discussions, media interviews, internal operations reviews, and talent development initiatives. Rather than attempting to engage fully with every demand, Sandberg developed what she called her "priority framework."

She identified three core areas that required her personal involvement: advertiser relationships, organizational scaling, and strategic planning. Everything else was either delegated, streamlined, or eliminated. This framework enabled Sandberg to maintain high performance across her priority areas while avoiding the exhaustion that comes from trying to do everything.
In conclusion, leaders must be weary of the world around them which celebrates busyness and confuses activity with achievement.

They must focus on doing the most important things exceptionally well. As leaders, there is a need to reflect on how effective we are. Part of the questions that need to be asked are: What would happen if I could only work on three initiatives this year? Which activities consume my time but don't advance my most important objectives? What urgent demands am I allowing to distract me from strategic priorities? The answers to these questions will reveal whether leadership is what is being practiced or merely management. Choose leadership. Choose priorities. Choose the discipline to say "no" to the good so you can say "yes" to the great.

Oluwole Dada is the General Manager at SecureID Limited, Africa’s largest smart card manufacturing plant in Lagos, Nigeria.