The Fire Alarm vs. The Thermostat
How Smart Managers Balance Urgency with Influence
When I first started managing, I thought delegation was binary.
Either I dictated priorities - or I stepped back and let the team drive.
But over time, I’ve realized there’s a lot more nuance to effective leadership.
Sometimes, as a manager, you need to pull the fire alarm.
Something’s urgent. Time-sensitive. Critical.
You need all hands - right now - on the issue.
But most of the time?
Your role is more like a thermostat.
You subtly guide priorities.
You turn up the temperature on key projects with the questions you ask, the attention you give, and the time you spend.
You dial it down with your silence, your restraint, your trust in the team to regulate on their own.
The thermostat doesn’t shout. It sets a tone.
And the team responds.
So if you’re thinking about how to delegate or prioritize, ask yourself:
“Is this a fire that needs an alarm?
Or just a temperature shift the team can recalibrate?”
Because it’s not always a go or no-go situation.
Sometimes leadership is just about knowing how to adjust the temperature.
- Seth
About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.
Have you read the One Minute Manager and Managing Oneself? Both are super short books, more like essays that are 50+yrs old and timeless. I always get everyone on my teams to read Managing Oneself and then I manage them following the One Minute Manager approach in a way that can all be rolled up in an OKR style framework. It's pretty empowering to everyone while setting the vision. The OKRs becomes your dial.