Push

Someone calls you with a problem that affects your area of responsibility and communicates a sense of urgency to get the problem resolved as quickly as possible.

Someone visits your office and describes an action by a subordinate which is in flagrant opposition to an established policy, one that you are charged with upholding.

You receive an email describing a situation which if immediate action is not taken could cost the company either a lot of money or possibly lose an employee.

All of these about a million other things like them are part of a normal day at work and what I label PUSH because they can feel like a push in the back.  What's worse is that in some of these cases what isn't perceived is that when the PUSH comes you are actually standing on the edge of a cliff.

How do you handle PUSH?

PUSH back!!!

P - Pause - more often than not what is being pushed at you as urgent, frankly, isn't.
U - Understand the full picture - not just the snippet that is being presented - look for the ramifications of immediate action versus a more measured response.
S - Solve the REAL problem, not just the presented symptom of the problem.  Don't get trapped in someone else's perception.   I've done this more times than I can count and it doesn't usually work out well.
H - Hold fast to your principles and don't allow anyone or anything to PUSH you past where you are comfortable going.  This will always work out badly.