“The only thing on Earth that never lies to you is your calendar.” Tom Peters
Recurring meetings typically deal with day-to-day issues. Leaders spend up to 80% of their time fixing flats.
You’re a maintenance worker when you spend your day repairing stuff.
Maintenance Work
- Email and messaging
- Routine meetings
- Reporting, updating, tracking
- Problem-solving today’s fires
- Administrative tasks
- Reviewing work
- Checking status updates
- Scheduling / rescheduling
- Clarifying expectations again and again
Fixing flats is part, not all the job.
Leadership Work
- Coaching and developing people
- Strategic thinking and planning
- Prioritizing mission-critical work
- Decision-making beyond day-to-day work
- Building relationships
- Future-focused work
- Culture shaping
- Vision casting
Less Time Fixing Flats
Your first duty is to the people in your care.
#1. Get Crazy About Time
Believe your calendar is truthful. It reflects real priorities.
Many meetings persist because no one has the guts to end them. Don’t allow recurring meetings to focus on yesterday’s problems exclusively.
Schedule leadership work. Treat it like a meeting with your future.
Tip: If you can’t kill a meeting, shorten it.
#2. Fix the System, not the Flat
Stop having the same conversations over and over and over. Build systems that answer recurring issues.
Put something in place that makes you less essential and others more powerful.
#3. Put Weight on People
You’re a flat-fixer when you’re the first option. Answer-leaders have dependent team members.
Develop people so they carry the load. If they can’t, reassign or replace them.
#4. Lift Your Eyes
Schedule time to look at the horizon. Reflect on trajectory, culture, and strategy.
#5. Spend Time with Top Performers
Poor performers build the future slowly. Develop people, but don’t neglect those racing ahead.
Tool: Eisenhower Matrix referred to in: 3 Ways to Do What Matters Today
How can leaders spend less time fixing flats and more time leading?
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Previously Published on leadershipfreak with Creative Commons License
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Reading this thoughtful piece about getting beyond fixing flats really hit home because it reminded me that life isn’t just about patching problems, it’s about moving forward with intention and courage. Diagnosed with cerebral palsy at six months and never expected to walk, I’ve had to learn that perseverance isn’t about quick fixes but about believing in progress even when every step is hard. Your message here mirrors what has carried me through doubt and limitation: that growth comes when we refuse to give up and choose to push past the flat tires of life with grit and hope.
This was such an engaging and layered exploration of what it means to show up in relationships and leadership. I appreciated how the article used something as relatable as a ‘flat tire’ metaphor to discuss deeper issues about problem-solving versus presence, support, and empathy. It was both thoughtful and down-to-earth, a reminder that sometimes the best response isn’t to rush in with solutions, but to listen, understand, and stand with others in their reality.