Now, A Leadership Failure
Leaders often use the word "now" in failed situations. For example,
1) "Now" is used when leaders haven't prepared in advance. Commanding followers to do something "now" indicates the leaders did not plan for the present. Uttering "now" may be a full admission that their planning was faulty, and they need their followers to rectify the situation.
2) "Now" can be used when leaders don't expect the unexpected. Issuing the command "now" can mean that leaders failed to prepare for unusual circumstances and rely on their followers to recover for poor planning.
3) "Now" can be used when leaders don't understand the skills of their followers. "Now" suggests that any work or tasks can be completed quickly and without duress, which, albeit possible, remain unlikely scenarios in tense, tight-deadline situations. Such situations often involve highly-specialized and detailed work ill-suited for "now" scenarios.
4) "Now" may be used when employees fail to work in a timely manner. A leader's only recourse may be to issue the command "now" to get a project rolling and a problem resolved. This would indicate a problem not with leadership, but with thee employees. However,
a. Leaders should assign tasks to able followers. If an able person is not available, teaching should correspond with the issuance of the task.
b. Leaders should be vigilant of their followers and gauge their progress.
c. Leaders are ultimately responsible for the failure of their followers.
However, these four situations exist purely in the theoretical world and are not universally defensible. And failure of leaders doesn't mean universal futility, but a further proof that even the best of leaders are susceptible to humanity and the failure that so often encompasses it. That being said, consider the next time someone tells you "now" if one of these scenarios apply.