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As business owners and leaders, the COVID-19 crisis has provided a rare opportunity—time to think and reflect. Our meetings have upended as we are closely monitoring our situation and huddling with rule makers and enforcers.

Old plans, those set at the end of the year, are obsolete. We are now thinking about recovery plans. Our emails bombarded with advice from consultants and opportunists in a time where there is no “been there, done that.” We are in new territory.

Instead, what we need to do is be the leaders we aspired to be early on in our careers.

We are a mentally fragile and physically exhausted community. We need to acknowledge, candidly, the depth of our challenges and the sacrifices necessary to pull through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders lead vs. manage. Now is the time to look forward because the next set of challenges is on the way. We need to build revenue as we decide how far to cut expenses. Review the overall cost structure and calibrate it for what lies ahead.

As leaders, we need to move quickly and course-correct in real-time, not ruminate for months. We must move at a pace both strategically and financially, that may not be in our nature. We need to prepare, not panic.

We need to take care of our people with greater energy than ever before.

Let’s rise above the chaos and be leaders.

How does one determine value? In leadership, what matters is the value you bring to the position you hold in the organization. So, how do you determine your value? Often when I ask leaders what value they bring to their job, they start talking about activities.

One of the most fundamental pillars of leadership is all about outcomes — and not activities. Understanding this truth is simple and obvious, yet, extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately, it remains elusive to many leaders.

Leaders tend to confuse activities with outcomes — and it is an expensive mistake. Choosing which activities will occupy your day is likely to be your most significant driver of effectiveness. First, invest the time to identify, prioritize, and communicate organization  goals. By focusing on the results, creative leaders can often achieve goals with less work.

Clarity about outcomes vs. activity is essential to nail down the semantics. Outcomes mean a specific, generally measurable, end result – and one that matters a great deal. Activities, however, are a set of tactics that achieve that outcome.

Results are valued well ahead of tactics.

Checking off tasks on your to-do list might fill you with a sense of accomplishment but of no value if the activities did not help you reach your goal.

Good leaders focus on what matters.

Defending yourself against the myopia of task saturation required a bit of planning. Defining the key outcome is the first step to getting back on the road to value if you don’t have measurable goals set them. If you don’t have a due date set one, and above all, focus on the goal despite the myriad of tasks, distractions, and fun-to-do activities.

Your challenge is to create results-driven culture. It’s about ownership, trust, accountability – and not about the number of activities or hours worked.