Ambition Isn’t The Issue

Ambition Isn’t The Issue

January often arrives with a familiar pressure: set the goals, sharpen the focus, push forward.
 
For most senior leaders, ambition is not the problem. You already know how to achieve. You have evidence, years of delivery, outcomes, and responsibility carried well. What I notice, however, is that ambition without intention quietly becomes exhausting.
 
Ambition asks: What do I want to achieve this year?

Intention asks a different, more consequential question: How do I want to be while I am achieving what matters?
 
For experienced leaders, this distinction matters more than ever. The mechanics of achievement are familiar. What is less often examined is the internal posture you carry while delivering, and the cumulative cost of that posture over time.

When I was walking the Camino, one of the daily rituals was having your pilgrim’s passport stamped. These stamps matter because when you arrive in Santiago de Compostela, they confirm that you completed the pilgrimage in the way you said you would. For me, that was by walking.
 
What struck me, though, was that no one sets out focused on the final stamp. The walk invites something subtler: pace, awareness, presence, and responsiveness to what the path actually requires each day.
 
Leadership is no different.

When we lead from ambition alone, familiar patterns tend to surface: 

• pushing harder when clarity is what’s needed

• moving faster when discernment would serve us better

• carrying more than is ours to carry, often under the guise of being helpful
   

These patterns are rarely about capability. They are about default responses under pressure. Intention interrupts this.
 
An intention is not a goal. It is a quality of being, you choose to return to, particularly when demands rise and pressure tightens. It becomes an internal anchor, shaping how you operate rather than what you pursue.

There is real value in setting an intention for the year ahead. Deciding how you want to lead as you go about achieving with ambition. Many leaders find it useful to distil this intention into a single word, or a small set of words, that act as a reference point.

Words I'm holding this year are Simplicity and Stillness. Not as an alternative to ambition, but as a way of holding it.
 
Simplicity reminds me to strip leadership back to what actually matters. To notice when complexity is self-generated. To choose fewer, cleaner actions rather than constant motion.
 
Stillness reminds me that clarity does not come from urgency or pressure, whether situational or self-imposed. Presence sharpens judgement. It is possible to deliver what matters while remaining grounded, aware, and responsive.

I am a visual person, so these words sit on my 2026 vision board. More importantly, they sit underneath my decisions.
 
They influence: 

• how I structure my days

• how I enter conversations

• how I respond when pressure rises

And when I drift, as we all do, they give me something steady to return to.

As you step into the year ahead, you might consider: 

• If this year were about how I lead, not just what I achieve, what would matter most?

• What quality do I want to embody when things feel stretched or uncertain?

• What single word, or pair of words, could act as my anchor?

Your word does not need to impress anyone. It needs to be true for where you are now.

Ambition will largely take care of itself, particularly if your past results already demonstrate your capacity to deliver. What is worth noticing is how you were at the end of those achievements. Energised? Or depleted? Would you willingly do it all again, right now, or does the very thought make you even more tired?
 
Intention is what shapes the way you walk through the year. It is what allows you to reach the end not just having delivered, but still resourced for what comes next.
 
If you had a word, or words, that captured your intention for 2026, what would they be? And how will you remind yourself of that intention as the year unfolds?

If you’re willing to share, I’d be interested to see where you land.

Need Some Help?

If you are looking to achieve different results this year with your leadership, let's chat and see if working together would be a good fit.

If you’d like to join me for a strategic leadership development programme this year (in Spain), are a woman leader or business owner looking for development and connection that will enable you to have more impact and greater results, or if you’d simply value some focused 1:1 time to accelerate your impact, I’d be honoured to partner with you.

I'd love 2026 to be your best year ever.