Bill Canady argues that organizations and individuals should identify one high-leverage mission and strip away everything else. He describes saying no to attractive opportunities and killing projects that felt good but didn't align with that lever, and says a leader's job is results, not popularity.
What's the one thing that if you get it right, that if you nail it, changes everything? That's your lever. That's your mission. Strip everything away. Take and focus those resources, your top resources, your time, your people, your capital on that. That gives you the best opportunity for transformation. It's true for businesses. It's true personally. I've had to say no to wonderful opportunities. that did not align with my mission. I killed projects that felt emotionally satisfying but were strategically wrong. Every time someone tells me I'm wrong, you know, you have to get used to that, right? That's the great thing about disagreement. Someone's going to be wrong. It's better off if it's them. So being a leader is not a popularity contest. It's about delivering results.
