Urgent or Important?

When the same topic comes up 3 times in one week, I take note.  In three different settings last week, the topic of urgent vs. important landed front and center.  As leaders, a vast majority of our time is spent in the urgent, but how many urgent things are all that important?  Or more importantly, do you let the urgent take priority, such that the important never gets done?

Urgent is a customer problem, server failure, or the email that decides for you that you need to place a priority on it.

Important is strategic planning, employee relationships, or your continued learning.  

As a leader, you maybe have to allow for the urgent interruptions, but can you afford to not pay attention to the important things? I think not.