I was catching up with a founder recently, and he described a typical day — meetings stacked back-to-back, messages constantly buzzing, decisions flying at him from every direction. He admitted he ended most days drained, yet oddly energised by the pace, as if being in the thick of it proved he was doing his job.

That conversation stayed with me. It captures the quiet danger leaders fall into — being consumed by the urgent and mistaking it for impact. It’s the Reactivity Trap.

Firefighting feels like leadership. But it isn’t.

The pace of demands — investor updates, customer escalations, market volatility, operational hiccups — makes it tempting to jump into every problem. It feels natural, even heroic, to douse each fire yourself. But this way of working is a trap. It erodes your ability to lead strategically, keeping you tethered to short-term noise and creating a culture where everyone is stuck in panic mode. What I’ve observed is that leaders often normalise this reactivity. They become comfortable with firefighting, mistaking it for impact. Over time, they stop carving out space to anticipate, design and inspire — the very things only they can do.

How do you recognise if you’re stuck in the reactivity trap? And how do you break free of it to become a more farsighted leader? Let’s explore these questions in this week’s post.

The Seduction of Firefighting

There’s a reason so many leaders get trapped in reactivity. Firefighting feels good: it delivers an adrenaline rush and a sense of control. You feel needed and validated as you solve problem after problem in real time. A product bug threatens the launch? You’re on it. A key hire quits? You step in. Revenue dips? You lead the emergency huddle.

What amplifies this tendency is something psychologists call “urgency contagion”. Our mirror neurons — a neurological mechanism that allows us to empathise — also make us absorb the anxiety of others. When your team is alarmed and stressed, your mirror neurons kick into high gear, and you leap into reactive mode.

Instead of leading from the top, reactive leaders drop down into the weeds, getting tangled in the urgent over the important. A Harvard Business Review article shares a telling example from Carl Holmes, former chief of the Oklahoma Fire Department. Arriving at a blazing apartment fire one morning, Carl was unable to find the battalion chief who was supposed to be in charge. An entire side of the building was verging on collapse — but the battalion chief had no idea because he was hosing water inside the building, where Carl eventually tracked him down. Their conversation perfectly illustrates the issue with firefighting as a leadership strategy:

“Aren’t you supposed to be in charge?” I yelled. “Did you know that the other side of this building is about to fall down?”

He said, “I was in here.”

And I said, “You aren’t in charge of anything in here except what’s right in front of you. Fighting the fire with your own hands is what we have firefighters for. Someone has to be in control.”

Leadership, Hijacked

According to a study, CEOs spend an average of 36% of their time in a reactive mode. That’s over one-third of their leadership capacity hijacked by the unexpected, leaving far less bandwidth for strategic tasks. Not to mention the emotional residue and cognitive fatigue left in the wake of each fire.

Startups and fast-growing companies are especially vulnerable, with each day bringing fresh challenges. In such an environment, reactivity can feel like survival. But while firefighting may keep the lights on today, it robs you of tomorrow’s success. Long-term priorities get sidelined. Teams burn out. Culture becomes chaotic.

Responsive vs. Reactive

The antidote to reactivity isn’t withdrawal or passivity. It’s responsiveness.

Responsive leadership means acting with intention, not just speed. It means taking a moment to gain perspective. Just a four-second pause can shift you out of autopilot reactions and into more conscious leadership. This might mean asking:

• What truly matters right now?
• What’s the core issue vs. the noise?
• Is this my role to play, or can someone else handle it?

Rather than jumping into every crisis with their sleeves rolled up, responsive leaders choose to set direction and create clarity. They don’t get entangled in the uncertainty – they navigate it.

Four Moves to Snap Out of Reactivity

1. Redesign your time.

Start by protecting proactive time for deep thinking, reflection and planning. CEOs often find their days swallowed by meetings, decisions and emails that don’t move the business forward at a strategic level. Designate blocks of time each week for strategy and treat these hours like board meetings — non-negotiable. As a paper published by HBR observes:

CEOs can almost never spend enough time on strategy — they must constantly be working to shape it, refine it, communicate it, reinforce it, and help people recognize when they may be drifting from it.

2. Trust and delegate.

To free up more time for strategic initiatives, a responsive leader builds capacity around them. Trust your team with operational calls. Empower senior leaders to make decisions without needing your sign-off every time. When a crisis hits, take a moment to gauge its severity. Do you need to get personally involved or can someone else handle it?

3. Foster a proactive culture.

Reactivity is contagious – but so is proactiveness. When leaders rush, panic or change direction daily, teams mimic that behaviour. If you want a thoughtful, intentional culture, you’ll need to embed new norms like celebrating foresight and recognising those who prevent fires, not just those who put them out. Sharing a clear, compelling vision also helps teams focus beyond the day-to-day.

4. Practice emotional discipline.

Learn to resist the pull of other people’s anxiety – this is the invisible muscle behind responsive leadership. Leaders who maintain emotional steadiness during chaos provide a powerful anchor for their teams. This doesn’t mean ignoring your team’s stress. It means acknowledging it without becoming consumed by it. Hold space, reflect their concerns and redirect energy toward solutions, not spirals.

Practical Tools to Make the Shift

Not sure if you’re trapped in firefighting mode? Complete the Reactive Leadership Diagnostic below. For each statement, rate yourself from 1 (Never) to 5 (Almost Always). Add up your total at the end.

Calendar

1. My schedule is dominated by meetings that keep me in the present rather than looking ahead.
2. I rarely block time for reflection, scenario planning or priority setting.
3. Crises or escalations often overshadow the few strategic conversations I do plan.

Decisions

4. I step in to make operational calls my team should own, leaving little bandwidth for bigger bets.
5. I often make important choices on the fly, with minimal data or reflection.
6. Short-term fixes crowd out time for deeper questions like “Where should we expand?” or “What’s our next growth curve?”

Culture

7. My team is driven by urgency, focusing on immediate outcomes rather than long-term positioning.
8. People bring me tactical issues instead of shaping solutions themselves.
9. Strategic thinking often feels like a “luxury” that is always postponed.

Mindset

10. I equate being busy with being effective.
11. I absorb others’ stress and act on it instantly, instead of pausing to assess what truly matters.
12. At the end of the week, I realise I spent little time on choices that move the company forward.

Scoring

• 36-45 points: Trapped in the Now
  You’re consumed by operations. There’s hardly any room for strategic thinking and your company risks drifting.
• 24-35 points: Danger Zone
  You oscillate between reactivity and foresight. Without discipline, the urgent will keep squeezing out the important.
• 12-23 points: Balanced but Vulnerable
  You create some space for strategy, but it’s fragile. Guard it fiercely or reactivity will take over.
• <12 points: Strong and Strategic
  You lead with foresight, protect time for the future and empower your team to handle everyday crises.

If you find yourself stuck in the reactivity trap, it’s time to break free – starting today. Commit to the Proactive Leadership Pact and begin developing a new daily discipline.

1. What I Will Stop

• Jumping into every fire that flares up.
• Letting my inbox, WhatsApp or Slack dictate my priorities.
• Reacting to others’ anxiety without pausing to think.

2. What I Will Start

• Blocking weekly time for strategy, reflection and long-term priorities.
• Asking: “Does this need me, or can the team own it?” before acting.
• Practising a pause – four seconds, one deep breath – before responding.

3. What I Will Delegate

• Operational firefighting that others are capable of handling.
• Routine decisions where my involvement creates bottlenecks.
• Tasks that crowd out my unique responsibilities: vision, culture, big bets.

4. What I Will Protect

• Uninterrupted thinking time in my calendar.
• The energy to be calm and grounded under pressure.
• A culture of foresight and empowerment in my team.

Leadership is a Choice, Not a Reflex

When things go off-track, your involvement feels necessary, even noble – but it’s not. Ceaseless firefighting is motion without direction, presence without perspective. True leadership calls for an intentional step back, so you can respond instead of reacting. Next time you feel the heat of another fire, take a breath and ask yourself: “Is this mine to solve, or is this a chance to lead differently?”

That pause might be the most strategic move you make all week.