When strategy becomes a cause
In 2017, Elon Musk stood on stage and said Tesla would produce 500,000 cars by 2018.
His own team didn't believe him.
This wasn’t because the plan was a bad one. It was that no one could see how it was possible. The stakes weren't clear and the path wasn't visible. It felt more like aspiration, not reality.
Then something shifted. Musk didn't inspire them with vision statements or promises of growth. He made the stakes brutally clear: If we don't do this, we die. The mission dies. Everything we've built disappears.
Suddenly, it wasn't a target. It was a cause.
This is the gap most of us face — not just with strategies, but with any intention we want others to carry forward.
I’ve observed this first hand. A bold and uniting vision — which didn’t get translated into a story, or context people couldn’t see themselves in. It stayed within the abstract. Logical, and strategically sound, yes. But untranslated into a narrative which connected people’s ‘sense’ of things, with an authentic reason they should care, and a journey they could rally behind.
When intention becomes cause
An idea, vision, strategy, or intention is usually presented as something you're told to follow.
A cause is something you choose to carry.
Strategies feel transactional. They come with targets, timelines, and accountability frameworks. Causes feel personal. They connect to something you actually care about — something that matters beyond the tangible exchange of input, and output.
But here's what most leaders miss: the difference between the two isn't emotion. It's stakes.
The reason ‘stakes’ frames intention beyond an emotional signal — is that context is provided for that emotion which transforms that initial catch of awareness and interest, into something which matters, and is meaningful to enough people who can start a movement towards action.
People don't need to be inspired by dramatic language or visionary rhetoric. They need to see what's actually at risk. What changes if we succeed? What's lost if we fail? Who becomes different because of this?
When the stakes are clear, intention becomes cause. When they're vague or abstract, strategy stays strategy.
The social proof trap
And yet, even when the stakes are profound, leaders hesitate. They wait. They look around to see who else is moving first.
Risk, and the fear of not moving is the domain of strategy. Because strategy can only present an explanation of the intention. But it does not connect people to the reasons they should care, be convinced by, and compelled to act on. Numbers can always be disputed, or juggled about. A cause is undeniable in its universal truth.
Leaders unfortunately want evidence that others believe before they commit themselves. They want followers before they lead. They want the safety of consensus before they take the risk of conviction.
But causes don't work that way. Causes require someone to go first — to name what matters, to make the stakes visible, to give people something worth following.
Three questions that turn strategy into cause
If you want to know whether your strategy has the weight of a cause, ask these three questions:
1. What changes if we succeed?
Not just for the company — for real people, in real situations. What becomes possible that isn't possible now?
2. What's lost if we fail?
Not hypothetical risk — actual consequence. What opportunity disappears? What problem remains unsolved? Who stays stuck?
3. Who becomes different because of this?
Whose life, work, or identity shifts because we did this? Can they see themselves in the outcome?
These questions all take some level of consideration and empathetic action. They are all placing the ‘other’ at the centre of what makes sense and what value should be realised by moving forward. Storytelling is an ideal format to communicate and frame a cause, since that’s how people subconsciously make sense out of anything important enough to care about.
The courage to go first
A burning bridge scenario, or a cyclic crisis, is not a good basis to create a cause. You don't need perfect conditions or universal agreement. You need clarity about what actually matters — and the courage to say it out loud, even when no one else has yet.
The truth is—people are waiting for someone to make the stakes visible. They're waiting for someone to go first. Not with grand vision statements or corporate language — but with honesty about what's really at risk and why it matters.
That's when strategy becomes cause. And that's when people stop waiting and start moving.