Angel 's Key Ideas from A Sense of Urgency
by John P. Kotter

A real solution does not involve running from meeting to meeting or creating a huge list of trivial activities. True urgency focuses on critical issues driven by a deep determination to win.

There are four tactics we can use to counter complacency and instil a culture with a true sense of urgency.

1. Make external problems and opportunities visible
2. Behave with urgency every day
3. Find opportunities in crisis
4. Deal with the No-Nos

When organisations don't attend to external threats, they will eventually become complacent and blind towards them.

As a first step, leaders should be proactive in collecting information.

• Lower-level personnel are often the closest to the customer and will know what is happening on the outside, so listen closely when you interact with them.
• Collect data. Evaluate the competition. Talk to the customers.
• Bring outsiders in. Invite consultants, vendors, and customers to share their knowledge of your organisation. 

Collecting information is insufficient to spark a sense of urgency. Therefore, it is vital to share the information.

• Tell a compelling story. Dry facts may appeal to the mind but are not enough to appeal to the hearts of the people in your organisation. A good way to spread outside information is with the power of video and storytelling.
• The visuals your employees see can produce a certain message. Ensure you create a message of outside awareness and urgency. Show your position within the market, what your competition is doing, and the progress of your ongoing projects.

Acting with urgency has to do with clarity and purpose. Be specific with everything you do. 

Create an action that is alert, externally oriented, and aimed at winning. Make some progress every day, and continually purge low value-added activities. Cancel projects that have become distractions.

Great leaders know that a crisis has the opportunity to create an atmosphere of a true sense of urgency. With good leadership, a crisis can be used to wake people up out of their passive routines.

Make the crisis visible, specific, and big enough to require creative action. Carefully watch how your organisation reacts, what plans are being developed and how quickly they are implemented.

The NoNo is someone who is armed with reasons why the current situation is fine, why the problems others see don't exist, and why you need more data before moving into action.

A NoNo is not the same as a sceptic. A sceptic is essential to show out poor ideas but can become a huge supporter if convinced that they are wrong.

Mistakes when dealing with NoNos: 

• Don't attempt to co-opt them, as it is impossible to convert a NoNo.
• Don't ignore a NoNo. They may organize and active resistance against your initiative.

How to deal with NoNos:

• Distract them
• Eliminate them
• Call them out on their behaviour.