When a new leader begins their management journey, they tend to start their career in one mode of thinking and then gradually move up to higher-level thinking modes over time.

Let's look at each of these modes, starting from the bottom:

1. Reactive mode - a new inexperienced manager will often feel the need to react to everything. Every email needs to be replied to, every meeting invite needs to be accepted, and every escalation requires a re-prioritization of the current tasks. I call this "Whac-A-Mole" mode, as the new manager is left frantically changing their priorities every day as new issues pop up.
2. Tactical mode - an experienced manager will manage their team allocations, task priorities, and stake-holders well. Rather than reacting to everything in the moment, instead they will have mature triage processes in place, to enable them to manage new tasks coming in without heavily impacting upon on-going tasks. Put simply, a manager in tactical mode is in control of their business-as-usual tasks and upcoming project deliveries.
3. Strategic mode - a seasoned manager is able to zoom out and look at the big picture. They don't worry about the details, as they have learned to effectively delegate them. They are focused on the next few quarters, not the next few weeks. At this level, a manager is a leader who sets the overall direction of travel, and lets tactical managers worry about how those strategic goals are delivered.

It can take a manager decades to go from reactive to strategic modes, and frankly many settle at the tactical level and have highly successful careers.

The key lesson is to not react to everything!