Urgency is an emotion. Not a message.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard sales leaders lament a “lack of urgency.”

But urgency is an emotion.

You can’t email an emotion.

You can’t tell people to be urgent.

Urgency must be created.

It’s built on how leaders behave.

True urgency is a determination that every moment matters.

It creates energy that creates focus.

It forces people to shed low-priority work.

It laughs in the face of complacency.

It plays to the watch, not the calendar.

It is not panic. It is not performative busyness. It has no time for appearances.

Nobody can teach you how to be urgent.

But there are requirements:

There must be a genuine truth in the urgency.

There must be consistency in the urgency.

There must be clear communication surrounding the urgency:
• The consequences of being ‘un-urgent’ must be clear.
• The goal/endpoint of the urgency must be clear.
• Everyone’s commitments must be clear. There is no room for vague expectation.

And above all else, urgency must be authentic.