The Illusion of Someday

I recently watched a powerful interview with Ben Sasse regarding his terminal cancer diagnosis. Side note: There’s a decent amount of political discussion, which, being fully transparent, I skipped over. But it gets really deep around the 54-minute mark.

As I watched the interview, like many people, I found myself reflecting on what’s most important since all of our time is finite.

Put another way, I couldn’t help but think about how easy it is to live as if there will always be more time.

More time to slow down, to reconnect with family, to mentor others.

But “someday” or “later” are dangerous words. Why? Because, as one example, someday quietly convinces us that what matters most can always wait until tomorrow.

The Danger of “Someday”

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that leadership is much more than processes, metrics, strategies, and quarterly targets. Those things matter, obviously. But at the end of the day, leadership is about people.

And one of the most misunderstood principles in Lean leadership is the idea of “respect for people.”

Too often, people reduce that phrase to simply being nice or not acting like a jerk.

But true respect runs much deeper than that.

Respect Requires More

Respecting people means believing they’re capable of growth. It means investing in them. Coaching them. Challenging them. Holding them accountable. Encouraging them. Helping them become better versions of themselves.

Sometimes, the most respectful thing a leader can do is have the difficult conversation others avoid.

Sometimes respect means refusing to lower the standard because you know someone is capable of more.

Sometimes respect means believing in someone more than they believe in themselves.

That takes time. It takes presence. It takes intentionality.

And unfortunately, those are often things we sacrifice in the name of busyness.

The Cost of Busyness

Many leaders become so consumed with performance, deadlines, growth targets, and operational pressure that they unintentionally drift into transactional leadership. The focus shifts from developing people to managing output.

But when someone is confronted with the reality that life is finite, the equation changes quickly.

My guess is that very few people at the end of life wish they had spent more time staring at dashboards or answering emails.

They think about people. The people they loved. The people they helped. The people they neglected. The conversations they postponed

That realization should challenge all of us. Not in a depressing way, but in a clarifying way.

A Different Kind of Waste

Lean thinking teaches us to eliminate waste. We often think about that in terms of inventory, defects, waiting, overproduction, and inefficiency. But maybe there’s another kind of waste worth thinking about:

• Wasted opportunities to invest in people.
• Wasted opportunities to encourage someone.
• Wasted opportunities to mentor, coach, teach, or simply be present.

If leadership is ultimately about helping people grow, then perhaps one of the greatest forms of waste is allowing busyness, ego, distraction, or ambition to prevent us from doing that work.

The older I get, the more convinced I become that “respect for people” is not soft leadership. It’s demanding leadership.

Because it requires us to truly see people. To develop them. To challenge them. To help them grow. To care enough not to settle for superficial interactions or low expectations.

Indifference is the opposite of respect.

Reflecting on mortality is uncomfortable. Most of us prefer not to think about it at all. But moments like the Ben Sasse interview remind us of something important.

Time is limited. And leadership is not simply about what we accomplish during that time. It’s about who we help along the way.

The best leaders understand something many people learn too late…people matter now.

Not someday.

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