Eating is Not a Priority Activity

I once worked for a guy who spent his career in Army Special Forces - a “Green Beret”.

The kind of person who taught me more about real leadership in five minutes than most business books can manage in 300 pages.

He did not suffer fools!

I was low man on the totem pole - working to support what he was doing.

One day, we were deep into something time-sensitive.

The kind of work where every hour mattered, and the consequences were fairly significant.

Around noon, I looked up from my screen and said what seemed perfectly reasonable: "Let's go grab lunch."

He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Eating is not a priority activity."

Not harsh.

Not dramatic.

Just matter-of-fact.

We had work that couldn't wait. People were counting on us. Lunch could happen later.

But here's the thing!

Being a hardass all the time isn’t the move!

That SAME guy would walk over on a quiet Thursday afternoon when we were caught up and say, "Nothing urgent today. Feel free to punch out (leave) early if you want. Go that way so the big boss doesn’t see you."

This is what "We are flexible so that when we need to be tough, we're tough" actually means.

Most organizations get flexibility backwards.

They're rigid when it doesn't matter (leave at exactly 5 PM, take exactly one hour for lunch, follow the process even when it makes no sense) and soft when it counts (missing deadlines, letting quality slip, avoiding difficult conversations).

I always try to do the opposite!

When the mission demands it…when we're pushing toward a deadline, when momentum is building, when something genuinely can't wait….we're hard asses. We skip the lunch. We stay late. We do what needs doing.

But when we're ahead of schedule, when the work is done, when there's genuinely nothing urgent….we're gentle. Leave early. Take a long weekend. Work from wherever makes sense.

The key is knowing the difference.

And being honest about which situation you're actually in!

Are you really facing a crisis that demands extra effort? Or are you just bad at planning?

Is this deadline truly immovable, or did someone just pick an arbitrary date?

Are you really caught up with nothing urgent, or are you avoiding something difficult?

This kind of flexibility requires judgment. It requires trust. It requires people who care more about getting the right things done than about appearing busy.

It's not a policy you can write in an employee handbook….rather it’s a culture you have to build, one decision at a time.

When you need to be tough, be tough and demanding. When you can be gentle, be gentle.

But always—always—do right by the mission first.

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

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