“Later” Is the Most Expensive Word in Leadership

The larger the organisation, the more professionally it plays the game called D²LL – Do, Do, Look Later. We like the feeling of being busy, that things are moving and there is plenty of activity. In reality, however, movement without focus is simply the illusion of productivity and pure firefighting.

And it is precisely in that LATER box that organizations bury their most expensive mistakes. What does this look like in everyday life? Usually in ways we do not even notice:

👉 Recruiting as a cure for inefficiency: We hire another person to do the same work many others are already doing, without analyzing whether something in the entire chain or in the roles themselves should be changed instead.

👉 A new IT system will save the day: We hope that an impressive new software solution will fix an inefficient process or the lack of clear agreements, without actually fixing the process itself.

👉 Expansion driven by tourism: We open an office in a new foreign market because it is a place we personally enjoy travelling to. We assume we will become smarter once we get there and only afterwards check whether there is actual demand and purchasing power for our product. The strategy is created in hindsight.

👉 Duct-tape tuning or patching processes: We put in a quick temporary solution for now and promise ourselves that we will redesign it properly later. Spoiler alert: later never comes.

👉 The meeting marathon: To solve a problem, another recurring weekly meeting is added to the calendar, with a long list of participants. No one later checks whether these meetings actually create value or are simply a collective waste of time.

👉 Postponing uncomfortable feedback: Let them keep working for now; we will discuss it during the performance review. The result is a deeper problem and a conversation that becomes many times more difficult than it needed to be.

👉 Role ambiguity: Especially between departments and teams. The assumption is that smart people will figure it out themselves. If a problem arises, we will deal with it later. In reality, seamless handovers between functions are what create an excellent customer experience.

The daily slogan of D²LL is: “We don’t have time to think — we need to act!” But the reality is this: If you do not have the time to do things right the first time, where will you find the time and money later to do them all over again?

If you recognise a lot of the D²LL model in your own organisation, then it is time for us to meet.