Slow is Smooth and Smooth is Fast: A Counterintuitive Principle for Driving Strategic Change

When my son first began playing lacrosse, he wanted to move at full speed right away. He’d push himself to master complex stick skills, only to drop the ball again and again. The faster he moved, the worse it got. After one tough practice, my wife offered him a simple phrase I’ve been thinking about ever since: “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.”

That phrase, with its origins in the elite training of the U.S. Navy SEALs, struck me for its applicability to the work we do every day.  The concept echoes across disciplines—from the “measure twice, cut once” mantra of carpentry, to the principles of lean manufacturing and modern military strategy. Yet in the corporate world, we’re conditioned by a relentless cult of speed. Quarterly targets, growth demands, and performance pressures push us to move fast—sometimes at the expense of moving well.

But in my experience leading strategy and transformation, I’ve found the opposite is often true: Slowing down to get the fundamentals right is the only reliable way to go fast.

 The High Cost of Rushed Execution

When leaders prioritize speed above all else, they can fall into the trap of "Management by Magical Thinking"—wishing for an outcome without being willing to do the slow, deliberate work of aligning the organization to achieve it. They mistake a flurry of initiatives for a coherent strategy.

This rushed approach creates friction, not velocity. Teams get misaligned, projects need to be reworked, and trust erodes because the "why" was never clearly established. An initial burst of activity quickly turns into chaos, endless reworking, and finger-pointing. This result isn't just anecdotal; it's a documented cognitive bias. As Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman explained, our inherent 'planning fallacy' makes us systematically underestimate the time and complexity of future tasks, luring us into a cycle of rushed work and predictable errors.

Three Ways to Practice "Slow Is Smooth"

To escape this trap, leaders must adopt a more disciplined approach. U.S. Air Force strategist John Boyd’s famous OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) teaches that the most effective competitors aren’t those who act fastest—but those who cycle through learning and decision-making most efficiently. This requires intentionally "slowing down" to master the first two steps: Observation and Orientation.

In my experience, this translates to three critical areas:

1. Smooth Strategy: The Power of Clarity

The boldest strategic moves come from slow, deliberate thinking.  I was once part of a leadership team that made the seemingly quick decision to sell off a multi-billion-dollar, highly profitable business. But behind the scenes there had been months of reflection and disciplined debate to define our true identity and focus on our core, distinctive investment capabilities.

Once that clarity was in place, we moved with remarkable speed—divesting the business and reinvesting in areas of competitive advantage, launching targeted new products, opening new markets, and raising assets. That strategic momentum was only possible because we had the conviction that comes from going slow. Slowing down to define the strategy allowed us to accelerate our growth.

2. Smooth Execution: The Power of the Pilot

When driving change, the instinct is to go big and go fast. But a smoother—and smarter—approach is to start small.  At one firm, we were overhauling a global financial system. Rather than impose a sweeping mandate, we piloted it with a few skeptical teams. We took time to understand and solve their real pain points. That early success turned critics into champions, clearing the path for a smooth, accelerated global rollout—ahead of schedule and with broader support. Slowing down to get it right made the final execution much faster.

3. Smooth Communication: The Power of Alignment

Clear and timely communication is one of the most undervalued accelerators in business. When done well, it builds alignment, reduces friction, and turns strategy into shared momentum.

Yet too often, organizations fail to slow down and build a deliberate communication plan. They communicate in fits and starts—either rushing big announcements or waiting too long to engage their teams. The former leads to confusion and rework; the latter invites ambiguity, draining energy and focus. Instead, smooth communication requires intention:

• Reinforce the “why” behind strategic moves to build understanding and conviction.

• Align leaders first, so the message cascades consistently and decisions become shared direction.

• Communicate rhythmically, not reactively, so messaging becomes a source of stability—not noise.

In my experience, organizations that pause to get communication right move faster in the long run. They build trust, create clarity, and empower teams to act with confidence. When you slow down to communicate smoothly, the entire organization moves faster—together.

Final Thoughts

The pressure to accelerate will never go away. But the most effective leaders understand that true speed is a result, not a starting point. It comes from clarity, alignment, and execution grounded in discipline. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast” is a leadership mindset—one that favors clarity, alignment, and deliberate action over reactive motion. When we take the time to get things right, we move faster, together.

My son eventually did master those stick skills—not by pushing harder, but by slowing down, refining his technique, and trusting the process. Now, he moves with speed and confidence. The same is true for organizations.