I think the reason a lot of people get stuck has more to do with their commitment than it does their ability.

Jacob Horne ran an EXTENSIVE two-month survey "tournament" on LinkedIn asking what keeps organizations from meeting mandatory cybersecurity requirements.

Defense contractors must meet cyber requirements, yet a lot of them don't. So the question is, why?

Two thousand votes later..."leadership buy-in" was the winning answer.

In other words, their leaders task them with figuring out how to do something, then they become the biggest blocker to getting it done.

Seems crazy, but this is actually pretty common.

It's a tale as old as time.

We all struggle with putting our chips on what we really, truly want.

It's much easier to lean towards it without ever taking the risky step of committing.

What if it doesn't work?

So we're quick to point to another factor as the "blocker".

What's interesting is, most people in the polls didn't start with pointing the finger at leadership.

They voted for cost first, or timeline, and then as the bracket wore on, they moved their votes upstream toward the root cause, which was leadership.

That's because the blockers are the symptom, not the cause. It's interesting how quickly blockers move when leaders care enough.

The same thing happens with AI adoption, brand overhauls, or any meaningful change a team is trying to make.

1. Something comes up that's important

2. Someone does the research to see what it's going to cost

3. Everyone starts pointing their finger at something else to stall the decision of committing to the change.

4. And the merry-go-round continues...

Until it either disappears into the abyss, or...the other shoe drops.

In the defense world, the other shoe is coming.

Maybe it is for you, too.

Maybe the finger can only be pointed for so long before you say, you know what, we're doing this. Come hell or high water.

I do this with my kids all the time.

"Yeah yeah yeah, we can go do that thing you wanna do."

Then the time comes to go and I'm SHOCKED by their audacity to ask me to take them.

The problem was never with my ability to do the thing they asked, but I can pick a factor and blame it if I want.

The truth is, we tend to have plenty of time/money/ability/etc. for the things we commit to.

The lesson from this exercise, at least for me, is that the blockers we point to are usually just placeholders for a decision we (or the people with deciding power) haven't made yet.

Once you commit, the cost, the timeline, and the capacity have a way of working themselves out.

The question is, how much does it matter, and are you willing to commit?