Commitment does not require the absence of doubt; often commitment means acting despite your doubt.

From Larry Anderson’s One Sentence Journal June 17 entry.

FAST FORWARD: I believe this insight can be extremely powerful in managing law firms, or any professional service firms for that matter. Bright people are constantly analyzing because that is what they do to perform their work. As a result, they always see “the other side”. No firm initiative can be free from second guessing. Therefore when we ask for a commitment, we either get a feint-hearted one or some level of resistance (from individuals who believe the initiative is flawed.)

I believe Larry’s sentence is the mantra for amazing firms…because there, the troops understand that leadership requires their commitment notwithstanding doubt. For many firms this is a shift in mindset from , “I’ll do it only if I personally have a profound belief in the initiative,” to “I will trust my leaders enough to follow through on committments even if they might be flawed.

PUNCHLINE: This doesn’t mean that we can’t strenuously argue with leaders as plans are formulated — it means, once the decision is made by a properly constituted leadership team, we will follow through notwithstanding our doubt.

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