In leadership, management, and everyday decision-making we often face the dilemma of doing the right thing and doing the thing right. I am not getting the ethical or legal problems, but the day-to-day challenges of architectural choices or implementation plans, scope vs timelines. They both represent vastly different approaches to decision-making and execution. Understanding their distinction and knowing when to prioritize one over the other is essential for achieving meaningful results.
What Does It Mean?
- Doing the Right Thing: This is about aligning actions with values, goals, or strategic priorities. It focuses on effectiveness—making sure your efforts contribute to the desired outcome. For example, choosing to prioritize customer satisfaction over short-term profits reflects doing the right thing.
- Doing the Thing Right: This emphasizes efficiency—executing tasks with precision and excellence. It involves following processes and ensuring quality in implementation. For instance, preparing a flawless report is an example of doing the thing right.
Both approaches are essential, but problems arise when one is prioritized at the expense of the other.
Challenges in Balancing Both
- Misaligned Priorities: Organizations often focus on perfecting tasks that don’t align with strategic goals.
- Perfectionism Trap: Spending excessive time on doing things right can lead to inefficiency if the tasks are not impactful.
- Ethical Dilemmas: Sometimes doing the right thing conflicts with established rules or norms, requiring tough choices.
Why Both Matter: The Strategic Balance
While doing the right thing is about vision and principles, and doing the thing right is about execution and process, the most successful individuals and organizations strike a balance between the two. One without the other leads to failure:
| Scenario | Consequence |
| Right Thing, Wrong Execution | Great ideas fail due to poor implementation |
| Wrong Thing, Right Execution | Efforts are wasted on an ineffective or unethical goal. |
For example:
A tech company may adopt AI responsibly (doing the right thing) but if their implementation is inefficient or lacks proper testing (not doing the thing right), they may struggle with scalability and adoption.
A team may automate a flawed workflow (doing the thing right) but if the process itself is unnecessary or misaligned with business goals (not doing the right thing), the efficiency gains won’t matter.
Conclusion:
As Sun Tzu famously said, “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Success lies in combining both philosophies—choosing impactful tasks (effectiveness) and executing them well (efficiency). By mastering this balance, individuals and organizations can achieve their goals while maintaining high standards of execution.
Success lies in the ability to do the right thing and do the thing right—not just one or the other. Leaders, businesses, and teams that strike this balance can navigate both technical and management challenges effectively, leading to sustainable growth and innovation.
Are you ensuring that both your strategic decisions and execution methods align with this philosophy? The key to long-term success lies in mastering both.
