Leadership

Leaders Shouldn’t Try to Do It All

Many important tasks can be done by other people. Focus on what you can do a lot better than anyone else.

by

A.G. Lafley

and

Roger L. Martin

by

A.G. Lafley

and

Roger L. Martin

From the Magazine (January–February 2025) · Long read

Owen Davey

Summary.

The authors, a former CEO of Procter & Gamble and a former dean of the Rotman School, respectively, frequently find themselves sitting across the table from overwhelmed leaders. These executives are trying to improve or turn around an organization or the piece of it they head. They all face a long—and typically lengthening—list of important items on their to-do lists. They all understand that the job of a leader involves working intensely hard. But for many of them the current state feels like too much—and it’s getting worse.

The problem here is that whereas a company can always expand capacity to meet increasing demand, a leader’s hours are constrained by nature: As the saying goes, there are only so many hours in a day. Many leaders think they can get more done if they simply work harder and longer. But in due course they tire, their overall productivity falls, and they risk burning themselves out and exiting. In this article the authors, drawing on their own experience and that of CEOs they have advised, explain how to escape that trap.

Idea in Brief

The Problem

CEOs everywhere face a long—and lengthening—list of important items on their to-do lists. But they have limited time to allocate to them. In an effort to do it all, they risk burning themselves out.

The Cause

Typically, CEOs select tasks according to their importance to the company. But they are expected to attend to far more tasks than they have time for.

The Solution

Rather than taking on as many important tasks as they can, leaders should apply the rule of comparative advantage: They should focus on the ones at which they are much more effective than anyone else is, and they should be sure to carve out enough time for the tasks that only they can do.

Unlike a company, which can expand capacity to meet increasing demand, a leader is constrained by nature: As they say, there are only so many hours in a day. Many people think they can increase their productivity by working harder. But that, in due course, is a losing game. They tire, their overall output falls, and they risk burning themselves out and choosing to exit.

A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.

A.G. Lafley is a former CEO of Procter & Gamble and a coauthor, with Roger L. Martin, of Playing to Win (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013).
Roger L. Martin is a former dean of the Rotman School of Management, an adviser to CEOs, and the author of A New Way to Think (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022).

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Leaders Shouldn’t Try to Do It All

Idea in Brief

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