In this Focus Friday episode, Lead Early, Not Respond Later, I share a leadership lesson from the 2015 UCI Road World Cycling Championships, where I waited too long to give clear direction to the Resource Unit team checking in hundreds of first responders. By the time I acted, frustration had already built up, but once I owned it, spoke with the site lead, and led a layout change that separated check-in from briefings, we streamlined the process and made the operation safer. The experience taught me that leadership happens before the problem, not after. Lead early, not later.