The Fire You've Put Out Repeatedly

Most leaders are caught in a dangerous cycle — firefighting routine problems that mask deeper issues, draining time and energy without real progress. Allison Dunn exposes the "firefighter’s trap," a blind spot that keeps smart leaders stuck in urgent crises instead of addressing root causes. Discover how your recent focus on quick fixes may be actually maintaining, not solving, your biggest hurdles, and learn the one question that reveals whether you're tackling symptoms or solutions. In this episode, Allison shares a powerful story of how her team solved a recurring problem 14 times without identifying its source, highlighting how recency bias distorts what feels like urgent but may actually be trivial in the bigger picture. You’ll explore: the pattern of reactive leadership driven by recent crises, the danger of confusing symptoms with underlying causes, and practical strategies to break free from the firefighting cycle. We break down the question: “Have I seen this pattern be...