Busyness isn’t Leadership. Not All Action Creates Value
Plenty of leaders are busy, even relentless. They act, they decide, they push forward. But busyness doesn’t guarantee results - and action without alignment rarely creates trust, momentum, or lasting results.
True momentum occurs when values and goals overlap with Aligned Action.
And Aligned Action has three parts: integrity, accountability, and impact.
Integrity begins with the self. It’s acting in ways that are consistent with your values and your goals - especially when no one is watching. Without integrity, there can be no trust in action. Leaders who say one thing but do another erode the very foundation on which execution rests.
Accountability is what happens when integrity expands into the collective. It’s the systems, rhythms, and shared ownership that hold an entire team to the same standards. Without accountability, goals remain aspirational and values remain words on a wall.
Impact is the outcome the world experiences when integrity and accountability are working together. It’s what shows up in your customers’ hands, in your culture’s energy, in your market’s perception. Impact is what happens when what you believe and how you work are proven in what the world receives.
Aligned Action is the cycle: integrity drives accountability, accountability generates impact, and impact multiplies the original values.
When I left the corporate world to build my own business, I thought the hardest shift would be stepping into a new identity. In reality, the hardest part was creating momentum through aligned action.
I had to begin with integrity - my values of joy, abundance, connection, insight, success, impact weren’t just words I liked the sound of; they had to be lived. That meant turning down opportunities that didn’t fit, saying no to old habits and yes to conviction.
That integrity created the foundation for accountability. As a solopreneur, no board or boss was holding me to account - I had to do it myself. I created OKRs, quotas, and performance tracking. Not because I love metrics (although I do!), but because without accountability, my values would have stayed good intentions.
And together, integrity and accountability created impact. Today, The Cadence Method helps CEOs and executives step into alignment themselves. That impact exists because I acted with integrity, held myself accountable, and built systems to make it real.
I think of it like a tree.
Integrity is the root system - unseen but essential.
Accountability is the trunk and branches - structure that carries strength upward.
Impact is the fruit - the visible result, carrying seeds that extend the cycle.
Without roots, there’s no stability.
Without the trunk, roots have nowhere to grow.
Without fruit, the tree cannot multiply.
That’s the power of Aligned Action: integrity at the level of self, accountability at the level of team, impact at the level of business.
I’ll leave you with this:
Where in your leadership do you need to strengthen the roots, reinforce the trunk, or focus on the fruit - so that your action creates true alignment, not just activity?
