New Delhi, July 9 -- A young manager in a large organization received a message from his boss at 9.45pm: "Need this urgently tonight." The task involved revising a presentation for a meeting later that week. Dinner plans were abandoned. Several hours disappeared into updating slides, checking numbers and refining arguments. The deck was emailed shortly before midnight.

Two days later, the meeting was postponed. Nobody mentioned the overnight effort. Nor did anyone seem too concerned that the 'urgent' work could suddenly wait.

In another company, a senior executive developed a habit that her team initially found irritating. Whenever someone marked a task as 'urgent,' she asked, "What happens if we do this tomorrow?" The answer was often ...