Push and Pull Leadership Technique
Preselect where you will push and let teams pull you into everything else
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 99%
The Push and Pull Leadership Technique divides executive involvement into two explicit channels. Push work is a short, visible list of priorities where the leader will proactively participate like an individual contributor, challenge progress, and help solve problems. Pull work includes everything else: owners operate independently but are expected to summon the leader when authority, expertise, or resources are needed. The method scales leadership attention without making silence equivalent to support. It also preserves accountability because a team cannot wait until a deadline and blame missing help it never requested. A recurring OKR or key-results document makes the boundary visible, while regular reviews ensure the push list remains limited and the pull mechanism is actually being used.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against the Grain as a technique used while managing teams of several hundred people.
Core principles
- 01Leadership attention is a scarce resource.
- 02Proactive involvement should follow explicit priorities.
- 03Teams remain responsible for requesting help elsewhere.
- 04A failed escalation is different from a failed rescue.
- 05Visible commitments reduce ambiguity about involvement.
How to run it
- 1
Define the planning window
Choose a weekly or monthly period for allocating your attention. Use the same cadence as the team's operating goals when possible.
Pro tip A monthly push list can be supplemented by weekly focus notes.
Watch out Changing priorities daily prevents teams from planning around your involvement.
- 2
Create the push list
Select the small number of outcomes where you will proactively enter the work. Record them beside the relevant objectives and key results.
Pro tip Choose work based on consequence and need for leadership leverage.
Watch out An oversized push list defeats the prioritization mechanism.
- 3
Set pull expectations
Tell owners outside the push list that they remain self-sufficient but can request help. Make timely escalation part of their responsibility.
Pro tip Specify what kinds of blockers warrant an immediate pull.
Watch out Do not imply that unlisted projects are unimportant.
- 4
Work the push priorities
Attend relevant reviews, inspect deliverables, and solve problems alongside each owner. Participate as a contributor without silently taking ownership.
Pro tip Focus on decisions and obstacles where your involvement changes the outcome.
Watch out Avoid adding meetings merely to demonstrate involvement.
- 5
Answer pulls quickly
When an owner requests support, provide expertise, authority, or access as promptly as possible. Return responsibility to the owner after unblocking the work.
Pro tip Track recurring pulls that reveal structural problems.
Watch out Repeatedly doing the owner's work can create dependency.
- 6
Review accountability
At the end of the period, examine outcomes and escalation behavior. Distinguish unavoidable failure from a failure to request available help.
Pro tip Use the review to improve escalation triggers for the next cycle.
Watch out Do not punish good-faith escalation simply because the outcome still failed.
In the wild
A marketing leader names conversion redesign and a major product launch as the month's push items in an OKR document. Other team leads continue independently but know to pull the leader in for budget decisions, executive alignment, or unresolved dependencies.
→ The most important initiatives receive active leadership help while the broader organization remains autonomous.
Common mistakes
Pushing on everything
If every project receives proactive executive attention, the technique becomes conventional micromanagement and the leader becomes a bottleneck.
Offering pull without availability
Teams will stop escalating if requests are ignored or delayed. The leader must make the pull channel credible through fast responses.
Excusing silent failure
Owners who needed available help but did not request it should not shift responsibility after the deadline.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for leaders managing many concurrent teams who need to allocate hands-on attention deliberately.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for inexperienced teams that cannot yet recognize when to escalate or request help.
From the transcript
“one of the things that I have always done throughout my career in terms of managing teams of you know 3 400 people you manage…”
“here are the things that I am going to push on this month”
“if it's the end of the month and you tell me you failed because you didn't tell me you needed my help you fail not…”
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