What is best; a response that has no substance or a reaction written in fear, or a positive reaction to an action that can be the answer?

Yes. No. Maybe. Remember that a bad plan executed violently and on time is better than the perfect plan executed too late.

Yes, gathering your thoughts and coming up with a well-thought out solution to identified problems is almost always the best answer. However sometimes we simply must react to the situation at hand in an attempt to stop it from getting worse.

If we were to see someone lying on the floor with arterial blood spurts, we would never step back and take the time to figure out the best way to treat the person. We would dive in and do everything we could to stop the bleeding. This is why training is important - to know what to do BEFORE you have to do it.

Obviously in the corporate world, we are not likely to encounter arterial blood spurts. But we can often encounter "workplace first aid" situations. What do you do if you see sexual harassment occurring? What about escalating verbal conflict? Or all-out physical confrontation? What do you do when a fed-up employee intentionally tanks a meeting with an important client as their way of quitting? Or even just a BAD employee UNINTENTIONALLY tanking the meeting? Etc.

In these situations, where a reaction is not only expected, it is REQUIRED, inaction ALSO sends a very strong message - and not a good one. In these situations, even doing the WRONG thing is quite often better than doing NOTHING.

Analysis is great. But we must make sure we do not allow ourselves to get "analysis paralysis." Take as much time as you need - and have available - to come up with a good solution, and then EXECUTE. And acknowledge that SOMETIMES the time available with be measured in seconds rather than days.

Go with the truth