Tempo vs Speed in Business

Speed.

Getting things done fast.

Everyone doing work that matters loves the idea of working at speed.

But why is that?

Speed kills. It kills good ideas because they didn’t germinate properly. It kills great work because the details that make things shine were all cut out to make room for the next thing.

What we need isn’t speed. What we need is tempo.

Tempo: the rate at which a piece of music should be played. A steady pace of movement. Something to keep us all in sync so things come together right.

Speed makes everyone rush, marginalising output. Tempo keeps everyone in sync, maximising output.

I prefer maximised output and producing work we can all be proud of, over marginalised output.

Don’t you?