You attend every meeting. You respond to every email. You have opinions about everything. You feel deeply invested in outcomes. You stay late, you think about work problems at home, you care.
But caring isn’t the same as commitment. And showing up isn’t the same as being involved.
I learned this lesson during a period when I was convinced I was deeply committed to my company’s digital transformation initiative. I attended every planning meeting, read every strategy document, offered opinions on technology choices, and felt genuinely passionate about the potential for improvement. I stayed late discussing implementation challenges, worried about timeline risks, and felt personally invested in the project’s success.
But when the initiative hit resistance from other departments, I found myself frustrated rather than taking action. When budget cuts threatened the timeline, I complained about leadership priorities rather than proposing solutions. When the project needed someone to have difficult conversations with resistant stakeholders, I hoped someone else would step up.
The turning point came when my manager asked me a simple question: “What are you willing to sacrifice to make this succeed?” I realized I had strong opinions about the transformation, but I wasn’t willing to put my reputation on the line by challenging resistant departments. I cared about the outcome, but I wasn’t accountable for achieving it. I was emotionally invested, but I hadn’t actually committed anything real.
Real involvement means you have skin in the game. Real commitment means you’re willing to make the hard choices when your comfort is on the line.
It’s easy to be interested.
Interest is emotional: having thoughts, feelings, and opinions about outcomes. Interest costs you nothing. Investment is different. Investment means you’ve put something at risk: your reputation, your time, your political capital, your comfort zone. When you’re truly invested, failure affects you personally.
Most people mistake interest for investment. They feel passionate about projects they’re not actually accountable for. They have strong opinions about decisions they don’t have to live with. They care deeply about outcomes that don’t really impact their day-to-day reality.
Being in the room doesn’t make you involved. Having access to information doesn’t make you committed. Being consulted doesn’t make you responsible. Real involvement means your actions determine outcomes. Real commitment means you’re willing to be uncomfortable in service of results.
Real commitment is scarce and valuable. Don’t waste it on things you can’t control or situations where you’re not willing to be uncomfortable.