Take care of it -vs- Take CARE of it
Apparently, I can find a leadership lesson anywhere.
This time, it happened in a World War I trench.
I have been listening to Angel Down as part of my somewhat ambitious journey to read every winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, including the years when it was still called the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. If you are equally intrigued by slightly unreasonable literary goals, join me. I could use the company.
Somewhere in the listening, one phrase lodged itself in my brain:
Take care of it.
Except I heard it two different ways.
Take care of it.
and
Take CARE of it.
Same words.
Completely different leadership.
When “Take Care of It” Means Make It Go Away
We use the phrase constantly.
There is a problem with the schedule. Take care of it.
A parent is upset. Take care of it.
Someone on the team is struggling. Take care of it.
The data are not where we expected them to be. Take care of it.
There is tension between two people. Take care of it.
In this version, take care of it means resolve it, move it, fix it, answer it, document it, delegate it, or get it off the list.
Sometimes that is exactly what leadership requires. Not every issue needs a committee, a retreat, three focus groups, and a color-coded strategic plan.
Efficiency matters.
The problem comes when efficiency becomes our default response to situations that actually require attention.
We can resolve an issue without understanding it.
We can answer a complaint without hearing the concern underneath it.
We can correct someone's performance without wondering what is making the work difficult.
We can implement a program without tending to the people expected to carry it.
We can make something disappear from the agenda without ever really taking care of it.
Take CARE of It
That second version has a different weight.
Take CARE of it.
Pay attention to it.
Protect it.
Understand it.
Give it what it needs.
Notice what could easily be overlooked.
Stay with it long enough to understand what is actually happening.
There is stewardship in that version of the phrase.
Leadership is filled with things we are responsible for managing. It is also filled with people, ideas, relationships, cultures, systems, and possibilities that we are responsible for caring for.
Those responsibilities are not interchangeable.
A spreadsheet can be managed.
A deadline can be managed.
An inventory can be managed.
People should not feel managed.
Neither should trust.
Neither should belonging.
Neither should the fragile beginnings of a new idea.
Neither should someone who has finally gathered enough courage to tell you something is not working.
The Difference Is Often Invisible
From the outside, both kinds of leadership can look productive.
The email was answered.
The meeting happened.
The problem was addressed.
The decision was made.
The box was checked.
The initiative launched.
The difference may not appear on any dashboard.
People can feel it anyway.
They know when they have been processed instead of heard.
They know when a leader is trying to close the issue rather than understand it.
They know when a question is being tolerated rather than considered.
They know when urgency has pushed curiosity out of the room.
They also know when someone has taken CARE.
It shows up in the extra question.
The follow-up conversation.
The pause before assuming intent.
The willingness to revisit a decision.
The recognition that the fastest solution may not be the most sustainable one.
The understanding that sometimes the thing appearing on the surface is not actually the thing that needs attention.
Care Is Not the Opposite of Accountability
This distinction matters.
Taking CARE of something does not mean avoiding hard conversations, lowering expectations, or refusing to make difficult decisions.
Quite the opposite.
Care without accountability can become avoidance.
Accountability without care can become compliance.
Strong leadership requires both.
A leader can say, “This has to improve,” while also asking, “What is getting in the way?”
A leader can hold a boundary while still preserving dignity.
A leader can make an unpopular decision while explaining the reasoning behind it.
A leader can expect excellence while creating the conditions that make excellence possible.
Care does not weaken standards.
Done well, it strengthens the systems and relationships necessary to sustain them.
An Innovation Mindset Requires Care
Innovation is often associated with disruption, speed, experimentation, iteration, and change.
Those things matter.
Yet innovation without care can become a relentless parade of new.
New program.
New platform.
New initiative.
New structure.
New expectation.
New language.
New mandate.
Each one gets “taken care of” by implementation.
Someone sends the memo.
Someone creates the slide deck.
Someone schedules the training.
Someone checks the box marked launched.
An innovation mindset asks something more.
What are we responsible for taking CARE of while we change?
Perhaps it is trust.
Perhaps it is institutional knowledge.
Perhaps it is the people doing the daily work.
Perhaps it is the question from the person who is not yet convinced.
Perhaps it is an idea that needs more time before we decide whether it works.
Perhaps it is the relationship that will remain long after this particular initiative has disappeared.
Moving an organization forward requires more than taking care of problems.
It requires knowing what deserves our care.
Leadership habits are often revealed in ordinary moments rather than major decisions. These questions are worth considering when the instinct to simply “take care of it” begins to outrun the responsibility to take CARE of it.
What am I currently trying to resolve quickly that might require deeper attention?
Where have I mistaken completion for success?
When someone brings me a problem, am I listening for the issue or simply looking for the solution?
What people, relationships, or ideas in my organization need stewardship rather than management?
Where might efficiency be costing us trust, understanding, or long-term capacity?
Do people experience my leadership as something that happens to them or something built with them?
What am I measuring that tells me something was completed? What am I noticing that tells me it was cared for?
Which issue keeps returning even though we have repeatedly “taken care of it”?
What would change if I approached that issue with curiosity instead of urgency?
Care becomes meaningful when it changes our behavior. Small shifts in how leaders respond, follow up, and make decisions can transform “handled” problems into healthier systems.
Pause before solving.
Before responding to the next problem, ask one additional question. Try: What else do I need to understand before we decide what to do?
Look for recurring problems.
If you have “taken care of” the same issue three times, stop treating it as an isolated event. Look for the system, structure, expectation, or communication gap underneath it.
Follow up after the fix.
Do not let resolution be the final step. Circle back and ask whether the solution actually worked for the people involved.
Separate urgency from importance.
Something can demand immediate attention without deserving the majority of your leadership energy. Identify the work, relationships, and priorities that require sustained care even when they are not making noise.
Protect what change can unintentionally damage.
Before launching something new, name what should remain intact. Trust, relationships, effective practices, institutional knowledge, and human capacity should be part of the implementation conversation.
Make care visible.
Tell people why you are asking another question, revisiting an issue, or slowing a decision. A culture of care grows when people understand that thoughtfulness is intentional, not indecision.
Notice your language.
Listen for how often you say, “I’ll take care of it.” Occasionally stop and ask yourself which version you mean.
The Leadership Lesson from the Trench
I did not expect a World War I novel to send me wandering into a reflection about organizational leadership.
Then again, perhaps that is part of an innovation mindset too.
Lessons are everywhere when we remain curious enough to notice them.
Leadership gives us an endless supply of things to handle, solve, organize, answer, improve, and complete. A full calendar can easily convince us that good leadership is demonstrated by how efficiently we move those things from the problem column to the done column.
Some things absolutely need to be handled.
Other things need to be held.
Some problems need solutions.
Some people need someone willing to stay in the conversation.
Some initiatives need implementation.
Some ideas need protection while they are still becoming.
Some moments require us to stop asking, “How do I take care of this?”
and begin asking,
“What would it mean to take CARE of this?”
The words are almost identical.
The leadership is not.
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