A Delusional Seduction

We have all seen it, perhaps even championed it: the bold leader who strides into a quarterly meeting to announce a “moonshot” goal, backed by an impossible deadline and scarce resources. The air crackles with intensity. The message is clear: This is all we have. We have no time. Now, prove yourselves. 

This is the Scarcity-Urgency Strategy, and it is one of the most seductive and destructive traps a leader can fall into. 

Achievable is not Necessarily Sustainable

In the short term, it works. It must be said. When you artificially constrict time and resources, you trigger a primal, physiological response. The brain focuses. Distractions fade. Teams can achieve remarkable bursts of productivity, fueled by adrenaline and the collective fear of failure. Leaders see this surge and mistake it for efficiency, for a team operating at its peak.

This is the lie. What you are witnessing is not high performance; it is organizational triage.

The Dead End of Tunnel Vision

The brain, under the siege of scarcity and urgency, undergoes a profound shift. As behavioral science tells us, this mindset creates a “tunneling” effect, narrowing the cognitive bandwidth to focus only on the immediate fire. It robs people of the very resources needed for genuine innovation: mental space, peripheral vision, and the permission to ponder. You are not building a faster, smarter team; you are conditioning them to be exceptional at putting out fires, often of your own making.

The long-term cultural cost is catastrophic. This strategy systematically…

1. Erodes Trust: Teams quickly learn that every new initiative is a crisis. The “boy who cried wolf” parable plays out in quarterly cycles, leading to cynical compliance, not committed engagement.
2. Punishes Precision: In the frantic race to meet a deadline, “good enough” becomes the default. Quality, thoughtful design, and nuanced problem-solving are the first casualties. You create a culture of corner-cutters.
3. Burns Out Your Best: Your most conscientious performers are the ones who will internalize this pressure most acutely, draining their emotional reserves until they have nothing left to give—or they simply give their notice.
4. The leader who relies on this tactic is not driving performance; they are running a pressure cooker, and eventually, every pressure cooker either explodes or turns its contents to mush.

The Antidote = Clarity and Strategic Focus 

So, what is the alternative? The answer lies not in its opposite—abundant resources and infinite time—but in intentional clarity and strategic focus. 

Stop Confusing a Panic Attack with a Strategy. 

The most effective leaders create a compelling vision that invites urgency, rather than imposes it. They build cultures of resourcefulness, not scarcity, by empowering teams to find smarter paths, not just faster ones. They understand that true, sustainable speed comes from alignment and psychological safety, not from fear and a countdown clock. Break the cycle. Stop confusing a panic attack with strategy. Your team’s best work will never be found at the bottom of an hourglass.

About Author

Fay Niewiadomski

I awaken leaders to purposefully discern the best way forward, with such clarity, that they find within themselves the courage, wisdom, and compassion to do what they never dared to do before.

I’ve been privileged to work closely with C-level officers, presidents, ministers, global chairpersons, diplomats, board members, senior business and political leaders, and their teams to successfully navigate complex, high-stakes situations and make sound business and personal decisions resulting in profound and lasting change.

See author's posts