Climbing the Right Mountain
Clarity is not knowing every step ahead. It is being honest enough to recognize when the path you are forcing no longer aligns with the purpose you are called to pursue.
Leadership Gold: You may not be getting rejected from your calling. You may be getting redirected off the wrong mountain entirely.
The Catalyst
When Advancement Replaces Alignment
Here’s the trap: an organization builds a culture where advancement is the only visible marker of success. People keep applying. Keep interviewing. Keep angling for the next title, the next promotion, the next line on the organizational chart—convinced that this is the thing that will finally confirm they have made it.
That is what happened to me.
For three years, I pursued principal positions. I kept applying, interviewing, and hearing no. The rejection hurt because I had attached more than a career goal to the outcome. I had allowed a title to become confirmation that I was capable, valuable, and moving forward.
But I wasn’t being rejected from my calling. I was being redirected off the wrong mountain entirely.
That is the catalyst every leader needs to name: people do not quit organizations because the work is hard. They quit—mentally or literally—when they realize they have been climbing someone else’s definition of success.
Leadership cultures can quietly reinforce this problem. We pursue the next position because advancement is expected or because others believe we would be good at it. Eventually, we stop asking the most important question:
Is this the mountain I actually want to climb?
My closed doors forced me to confront another truth. I said I had stepped away from speaking to be present for my daughter—and that was true. But it was not the whole truth.
I was also afraid.
After pursuing speaking since 2014 and experiencing a business failure in 2022, I was afraid of more rejection. Becoming a principal felt safer than risking another disappointment.
There is a difference between making a strategic sacrifice and using a reasonable explanation to conceal fear.
The Initiative
Conduct a Clarity Audit
Clarity requires leaders to separate calling from title, patience from avoidance, and wise restraint from fear.
The strategy is simple but uncomfortable: audit what you are pursuing, protecting, and forcing.
Organizations need this discipline too. Teams can become so invested in a position, program, process, or strategic plan that preserving it becomes more important than examining whether it still serves the mission.
Clarity gives leaders permission to release what no longer fits without declaring the journey a failure.
The Execution
Ask Better Questions
Name the mountain. What outcome, title, or achievement are you pursuing?
Examine the motive. Is the pursuit driven by purpose, expectation, ego, or fear?
Identify what you are protecting. Are you protecting the mission—or yourself from rejection?
Review the evidence. Where are people experiencing the greatest impact from your leadership?
Release the wrong brick. Stop forcing a role, relationship, or plan because you have already invested in it.
Translate pain into practice. Document what failure, rejection, and difficult leadership have taught you.
Take the next aligned step. You do not need the entire plan—only enough clarity to move honestly.
Executive Reflection: What is your organization continuing to fund, defend, or pursue because admitting misalignment feels more painful than changing direction?
The Impact
Measure Alignment, Not Just Advancement
A few months before I was rejected for an associate principal role, Michael Wright invited me to speak at a school district convocation in Stockton, California. He remembered a workshop I had facilitated for police officers in 2018 and honored a promise he had made years earlier.
After the presentation, a teacher with 30 years of experience told me, “Your speech reminded me why I do what I do.”
That was meaningful data.
The title had not materialized, but the impact had. One closed door could not erase my ability to lead, equip, and inspire others.
For organizations, the same principle applies. Measure more than promotions, outputs, and completed initiatives:
Are people reconnecting with the mission?
Is the work developing stronger leaders?
Are difficult experiences improving future decisions?
Are resources flowing toward demonstrated impact?
Are leaders becoming more honest, focused, and effective?
Clarity helped me understand that the principalship was not my purpose. Speaking was not competing with fatherhood. The waiting season was preparing me for both—equipping me to return to my calling while allowing my daughter to watch perseverance up close.
Some bricks fall away because they were never meant for the structure you are building now. Do not mistake their removal for the end of the building.
Get clear. Release what no longer fits. Then keep building—brick by brick.
Continue the Conversation
Have you ever realized you were climbing a mountain that no longer aligned with your purpose?
I’d love to hear what helped you find clarity.
Leave a comment below or connect with me on LinkedIn.
And if this article encouraged you, share it with another leader who needs the reminder:
A closed door does not mean the calling is gone. You may simply be getting redirected toward the right mountain.
Continue Your Mission Driven Leadership Journey
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Speaker, educator, and leadership advocate.