Don’t get us wrong. We don’t mean to imply that tactical excellence (as the United States had in Vietnam) is unimportant. It’s essential, but it should be within the context of a clear overall vision. Vision, then strategy, then tactics.

If you want to build a great company, you should expect excellence from every part of it. The output of every team can make or break the customer experience, so they should all be a priority. [See also: Chapter 3.1: Making the Intangible Tangible.]

There can’t be any functions that you dismiss as secondary—where you casually accept mediocrity because it doesn’t really matter.

Everything matters.

And it’s not just about you.

Each party in this partnership needs to know when to be hands-on and when to be hands-off, when to push and when to pull back. Sometimes these divisions are clearly delineated. More often the roles need to be redefined when there’s a change of leadership, and often it is up to you to think through and surface that new definition. The process demands a diplomatic and deliberate touch to prevent the partnership from degenerating into a “you versus them” antagonism.

Without involvement, there is no commitment. Mark it down, asterisk it, circle it, underline it. No involvement, no commitment.

Importance, on the other hand, has to do with results. If something is important, it contributes to your mission, your values, your high priority goals.

We react to urgent matters. Important matters that are not urgent require more initiative, more proactivity. We must act to seize opportunity, to make things happen. If we don’t practice Habit 2, if we don’t have a clear idea of what is important, of the results we desire in our lives, we are easily diverted into responding to the urgent.