Is Your Word of the Year Driving Decisions—or Just Sitting on the Shelf?
A Word of the Year can be powerful—but only if it shows up in real decisions.
Here’s the question I don’t see enough firm leaders asking themselves.
Every January, firm leaders choose a Word of the Year.
Focus. Momentum. Alignment. Growth. Clarity.
It’s well-intentioned. Sometimes even energizing. And at its best, a single word can act as a compass.
But here’s the question I don’t hear asked often enough inside firms:
Is your Word of the Year actually driving decisions-or just sitting quietly on the shelf?
In the early weeks, the word feels powerful. It sharpens attention. It gives language to what you want more of-and less of. It creates a sense of cohesion.
Then March hits. Client fires pop up. Staffing gets tight. A software update breaks something that “worked just fine yesterday.”
And the word? It fades into the background. You start to wonder whether it even fits the situation anymore—or if it ever truly did.
That’s where the impact erodes. Overwhelm creeps in. Panic follows.
A word alone doesn’t create change. Translation does.
If your word is Focus, what are you actively saying no to? Notice we didn’t talk about saying yes. Yes is easy. The real leadership work is deciding what no longer belongs-what must be cut so the right priorities are protected.
If your word is Momentum, what exactly are you creating momentum around? What worked at the end of last year that deserves to keep moving-smooth as butter-instead of being disrupted by shiny new initiatives?
If your word is Alignment, which roles, expectations, or structures are being clarified-or corrected? And just as importantly, who or what are you aligning with?
Without those answers, the word becomes aspirational instead of operational.
And in firm leadership, aspiration without execution is just noise-pleasant, but ineffective. In an owner or leadership role, no one has time for noise that doesn’t create profit, stability, or growth.
Where I see Words of the Year work best is when they become a decision filter, not a mantra:
Does this hire support the word-or fight it?
Does this client engagement align with it-or distract from it?
Does this process reinforce it-or undermine it?
When leaders can point to tangible actions and say, “This is what the word looks like in practice,” that’s when it starts to matter.
Otherwise, it’s branding-not leadership.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing a Word of the Year. I’ve done it for years. But this year, I approached it differently. I looked back-honestly-at how my previous words actually served me in practice, not just in intention.
Because if you stop at the word alone, you’re outsourcing strategy to vocabulary.
Real impact comes when the word is paired with:
Clear priorities
Defined boundaries
Operational follow-through
And the discipline to revisit it mid-year—when motivation is gone and reality has opinions
So if you’ve chosen a word this year, here’s the more important question:
What has changed or will change because of it?
If your Word of the Year hasn’t translated into clear decisions, priorities, and measurable movement yet, that’s not a motivation problem—it’s a strategy gap.
This is exactly the work I do with firm owners through focused 90-day intensives and targeted 1:1 strategy sessions: turning intention into execution, and words into accountable action.
If you’re ready for clarity that actually moves your firm forward, let’s talk.