Leaders cannot afford to wait for the encouragement of others, otherwise they may wait too long before acting.

• As we have just begun a new year, it's an important time to reflect on the previous year.
• In particular to reflect on what you had planned to do, but for some reason you didn't achieve.
• Some of the items you did not complete in 2025 may have been for good reasons, but others may have been down to your waiting for the approval of others.
• To understand why we get stuck waiting for that green light from others, we have to look at a concept in psychology called the Locus of Control.
• Essentially, this is the degree to which you believe you have power over the outcomes of your life.
• When we wait for encouragement, we are operating from an External Locus. We are subconsciously saying, “My ability to move forward depends on someone else noticing me, validating me, or giving me permission.”
• In the early stages of our careers, this is natural. We’re learning the ropes and need that external safety net.
• But as a leader in 2026, an external locus is a liability. It makes your productivity and your vision fragile - if the encouragement stops, your progress stops.
• The shift you need to make this year is toward an Internal Locus.
• This is the rock-solid belief that while you cannot control the economy, the market, or your critics, you have absolute agency over your response and your execution.
• When you move from “I need them to tell me I'm doing well” to “I know this is the right path because I’ve done the work,” you become unshakeable.
• You stop being a passenger in your own career and finally take the wheel.
• Waiting for the encouragement of others is a great way to delay a decision, it's another form of consensus seeking.
• When I was younger, I needed a lot of encouragement.
• Sometimes when that encourage was not forthcoming, I would not act - I lacked the confidence to do it myself without someone pushing me.
• As we progress with our careers and get older, and hopefully wiser, our need for such encouragement should decline.
• A strong leader does not need the encouragement of others to do what's right: they already know what to do.
• But when the path forward is obvious, one must act immediately.
• For younger members of your team, you should provide encouragement. It is a key cornerstone of being a good mentor, and a good leader.
• But for you personally: you need to stop waiting for the encouragement of others. It will just slow you down.
• Identify the problem, solicit solutions from your team, and make them accountable for executing the chosen solution.
• Have a bias for action in 2026. Make this your mantra!
• Before we wrap up this first episode of the year, I want to leave you with a concrete challenge. I call it the Permission-Slip Audit.
• I want you to look at your to-do list for this week and identify one stalled project. You know the one - it’s the task you’ve been sitting on because you’re “waiting for a meeting” or “waiting to see how the boss feels about it,” even though you already have the data you need to move.
• Your challenge is this: Act on that project today without asking for a second opinion.
• Don’t wait for the “attaboy.” Don't wait for the encouraging email. If you are 70% certain of the direction, execute the next step. Send the proposal, ship the code, or make the call.
• Write a “permission slip” to yourself if you have to. Literally write on a post-it: “I have the authority to act.” Put it on your monitor.
• Because the secret of high-level leadership is that no one is coming to tell you it's time. You decide it’s time.
• Have a bias for action this week. I'll see you in the next episode.

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Title music is "Apparent Solution" by Brendon Moeller, licensed via www.epidemicsound.com

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