There is a state that almost all successful innovation leaders share, but which is rarely mentioned in the job description. It is not creativity per se. It is not methodological knowledge. It is a feeling. An inner pulse. A feeling that something has to happen. Now.
It is called urgency.
From an innovation perspective, urgency does not mean panic or stress. It means a perceived importance and direction. A feeling that the issue is so significant that it deserves mental presence, energy and perseverance. Urgency is what makes an idea not only interesting but urgent. It is the difference between saying “we should look at that sometime” and actually starting to think, talk and act.
What does urgency mean in innovation
Innovation is always about changing something that does not yet exist. There are no guarantees, no clear results and often no clear rewards in the short term. Therefore, innovation requires more willpower than improvement work. Improvement is often self-explanatory. Innovation requires someone to feel that the current situation is not enough.
Urgency is the mental force that makes you not settle for the status quo. It says that there is a risk in waiting, but also an opportunity in acting. It is an internal compass that points towards movement even when the surroundings are calm.
Many people believe that urgency only arises in times of crisis. But for an innovation leader, the ability to feel urgency without an external crisis is a superpower. That is when you have time to think ahead, not just react afterwards.
Time, creativity and the difficult balance
Time has a strange relationship with creativity. Too little time is bad. When we are under pressure, we tend to take the first logical solution. The brain goes on autopilot. We solve the problem quickly but rarely new. It becomes efficient but not innovative.
Too much time is also not good. Then we start to postpone. We think we will do it later. Creative work is almost always experienced as mentally demanding. It involves uncertainty, doubt and cognitive effort. Without urgency, we choose something easier instead. Mail. Meetings. Things that feel productive but don’t move the future.
Creativity needs incubation time. The problem must be allowed to lie and mature in the back of the mind. But incubation requires that the brain thinks the question is worth returning to. Urgency is what makes the brain continue to chew on the problem in the shower, on a walk or in conversations with others.
Urgency as a trainable ability
We often talk about enthusiasts. People who are passionate about something and pursue it regardless of the context. They experience a strong inner urgency. But even if it is easier if you have a strong conviction from the beginning, urgency is not just a personality trait. It is an ability that can be trained.
Creating urgency is about making consequences, opportunities and contexts clear to yourself. When the brain understands what is at stake, mental priority increases.
In systems innovation, this is even more important. System challenges are complex, long-term and often overwhelming. Without urgency, they become abstract. With urgency, they become living issues that deserve energy even though they are difficult.
A method for building your own urgency
One way to train this ability is to work structuredly on how you formulate and deepen your challenge.
- Start by writing down the challenge clearly. Not as a vague ambition but as a concrete question. For example, how can we reduce food waste in our organization without increasing costs.
- Then use why and how at different levels to zoom in and out on the issue. Why is this important to the organization. Why is it important to society. How does it relate to larger issues such as resources, climate or the economy. When the challenge is connected to more levels, its importance grows.
- Continue to describe what will happen if the problem is not solved. Maybe resources will continue to be wasted. Maybe costs will increase. Maybe the organization will lose trust. Then let these consequences develop one more step. What will lead to increased costs. What will lead to lost trust. Now the brain begins to feel that this actually matters.
- Then do the same thing the other way around. What happens if the problem is solved. What does it enable? What will be the next positive effect? Suddenly, not only risk but also potential is visible.
- Then relate the challenge to different roles and organizations you encounter. How does this affect the finance department? How does it affect customers? How does it affect society? When more perspectives are included, the question becomes more real.
- Finally, try describing this urgency to someone else. If you notice that the person listens more when you talk about consequences and opportunities rather than just the problem itself, then you start to formulate a story that carries urgency.
Urgency as a creative driving force
Urgency is not the opposite of reflection. It is what makes reflection directed. It is like a fire under a pot. Without fire, nothing happens. With too much fire, everything burns. The right heat allows something to mature.
For the innovation leader, urgency is not stress but meaning in motion. It is the feeling that this question is worth our mental energy even when no boss demands it and no crisis forces us.
When you learn to recognize and express urgency, you become more like a zealot. Not because you run faster, but because you stay on track even when others lose focus. And in a world where most questions are important but few feel urgent, it is often precisely that ability that determines whether an idea remains a thought or becomes the beginning of something new.
