But in our final workshop on Friday, the group discovered something unsettling. Purpose inspires, yes. It opens hearts and points to horizons. Yet it doesn’t hold people there. Purpose without commitment is like a promise without a witness. Easily made. Easily broken.

Commitment is the key. It is not the compliance of people who stay because they must, but the devotion of those who stay because they want to. That devotion is not summoned by slogans or strategy slides. It grows in the space between leader and follower. In trust. In the relationship. In difference revealed, in weaknesses shown, in behaviours that prove, again and again that you care as much for people as for performance.

It was striking to see how personal those breakthrough moments were. Leaders found that moving from purpose to commitment was more presence than polish.

Purpose may open the door. Only commitment keeps people walking through it, side by side with you, especially when the road gets rough.

So perhaps the deeper question is not “Why should anyone be led by you?” but “Why should anyone keep walking with you, when it would be easier to stop?”