The First Leadership Decision of the Year: Why Most Leaders Get It Wrong

January creates an illusion of urgency. New goals. New plans. New expectations. And with them, a subtle pressure for leaders to “set the tone” quickly.

 

Most leadership conversations at the start of the year revolve around strategy.

What are our priorities?

What needs to change?

 

What do we need to execute differently this time?

But before any plan, any KPI, or any execution roadmap, leaders make a decision.

Not a visible one.

Not a documented one.

An internal one.

 

The Decision Most Leaders Don’t Realize They’re Making

The first leadership decision of the year is not what to focus on.

It’s how you enter the year.

 

Do you enter it reactive or intentional?

Do you lead from pressure or from presence?

Do you prioritize speed or clarity?

 

Most leaders default to execution mode.

They move fast, assuming momentum will create alignment.

Sometimes it does.

Often, it creates motion without direction.

 

Why This Decision Matters More Than Any Plan

The way a leader enters the year sets the emotional and strategic tone for everything that follows.

 

Teams feel it immediately.

Not through slides or speeches, but through decisions, conversations, and energy.

 

At the beginning of the year, people are especially attentive.

They are watching how priorities are set.

They are sensing whether this year will feel focused or exhausting.

 

When leaders rush into planning without pausing to recalibrate, a few things tend to happen: 

. priorities multiply instead of sharpen

. alignment feels forced

. leaders carry more than they should

. teams wait for clarity instead of creating it

What looks like decisiveness often turns into constant adjustment.

Strong Leaders Do Something Different

Experienced leaders understand that clarity is not something you “add” later.

It needs to be created early.

 

Before setting goals, they create space to ask better questions:

What actually changed since last year?

What worked and still belongs in this cycle?

What no longer fits, even if it once did?

Where is our energy being expended, and where is it being lost?

 

The conversations don’t slow execution.

They make it lighter.

 

This is why many organizations are rethinking how they open the year, shifting from traditional planning meetings to more intentional leadership experiences that combine reflection, alignment, and action.

The Hidden Cost of Skipping This Step

When this first decision is skipped, the impact usually shows up later.

Misalignment doesn’t announce itself loudly.

 

It appears as:

. initiatives that stall mid-year

. leaders over-functioning to compensate

. teams executing without ownership

. fatigue disguised as “high performance.”

By the time these signals are visible, the year is already in motion.

Where Experience Changes the Conversation

This is where experiential leadership work plays a critical role.

When leaders and teams engage in experiences, not explanations, something shifts:

People stop defending last year.

They stop posturing for the new one.
They start noticing patterns in how they think, decide, and collaborate.

In these moments, clarity doesn’t come from being told what to do.
It emerges from interaction, reflection, and shared insight.

This is the foundation behind the Unlock Your Brilliance experiences, including facilitated strategy sessions and the Unlock Your Brilliance Game, where leaders work with real challenges, real dynamics, and real decisions, and leave with direction they can act on immediately.

Not more information.
More alignment.

A Question to Start the Year 

Before finalizing plans, ask yourself:

What kind of leadership energy am I bringing into this year?

 

Because that decision will shape every other one that follows.

With lots of brilliance in 2026,

Lu