I think we all struggle with the balance you discuss.  For me, the challenge has been "who" rather than "how" when it comes to my effort.  Everything is force ranked by the leader's time and priorities.

In a business, I feel the leaders top priority should be their people.  To me the best effort is in equipping others to understand the change mentioned above.  The boss is "for" the team and the team is "for" the customer.  But what's best "for" the customer is a profitable company with healthy employees who are energized to serve them again because they are energized to produce a quality service or product at a reasonable profit.

Those are just some initial thoughts.  I hope that helps a bit.  Mike...