Sometimes slow is fast, and fast is slow. I call this the urgency trap.

Most CMOs live in a state of managed urgency. Results are visible, markets move quickly, stakeholders want answers. Speed becomes a proxy for competence. A quick reply, a rapid pivot, a decisive announcement. It feels productive, it feels like leadership.

But speed without clarity can be expensive.

Rushing to respond to a dip in performance can lead to reactive spend rather than informed investment. Moving quickly to restructure a team can create uncertainty rather than alignment. Launching to meet an arbitrary deadline can mean months of fixing what should have been resolved earlier on.

Like tidying in a hurry and smashing a glass on the floor, you have not saved time. You have created more work.

The same pattern repeats at scale. Acting quickly without understanding the objective, the context or the people involved tends to produce resistance, mistakes and rework. Teams comply but do not commit. Agencies deliver but do not challenge. Energy is spent managing the consequences of haste.

The urgency trap is often true with tasks, but almost always true with people.

People need context. They need to feel heard. They need to understand the why before they can execute the what. When a CMO moves too quickly, others can experience it as chaos rather than decisiveness. Trust erodes quietly. Alignment slips.

None of this means moving slowly for the sake of it. It means being deliberate.

Deliberate means pausing long enough to ask a better question. It means clarifying the real objective before mobilising resources. It means distinguishing between noise and signal, and resisting the pressure to act simply to demonstrate intent.

It also means accepting a difficult truth. You may not get through everything. Some initiatives will take longer. Some opportunities will pass. But what does move forward will be coherent and higher impact.

In the long run, that is faster.

Slow down where it matters. Be precise about what deserves urgency and what requires thought. Focus your time and attention on the few decisions that shape the many outcomes.

The work will feel more deliberate. The organisation will feel more stable. And your leadership will feel less like firefighting and more like direction.