As organizations look toward 2026, many leaders are asking what it will take to play offense in an increasingly uneven environment. The answer shows up less in new strategies or harder pushes and more in the belief systems shaping daily behavior. Teams that sustain momentum are led by people willing to examine and release fear-based assumptions that quietly interfere with execution. Playing offense emerges when beliefs, behaviors, and accountability are aligned in a way that allows progress to continue even when conditions fluctuate.
We saw this recently with a medical device company. For five consecutive quarters, their revenue team missed their number. The team was capable, the product was competitive, and the market opportunity was real, yet quarter after quarter the results fell short of what the business needed and what the team believed it could deliver.
What leadership began to notice was not a lack of effort, but a pattern in how the team worked. Fear took hold. Sales reps competed with one another across accounts. Cross selling was treated cautiously, as though helping a peer succeed might come at the expense of one’s own results. Information moved slowly and selectively. Wins were celebrated individually, even when they limited broader growth. Over time, those behaviors created friction that the organization could feel but had not yet named.
That was when the team implemented the Surrender to Lead framework.
The work began with examining the beliefs that were shaping day-to-day behavior. The team surfaced assumptions that had quietly taken hold, including the idea that collaboration diluted ownership, that trust had to be earned before it could be extended, and that internal competition was necessary to drive performance. These beliefs were not meant to be malicious or intentional, but they were misaligned with the results the organization was trying to achieve.
Through the framework, the team made deliberate belief shifts. They surrendered the notion that success was a zero-sum game and committed to shared accountability for enterprise outcomes. They reframed cross selling as a strategic responsibility rather than a personal risk. They chose to operate from trust rather than protection, understanding that clarity and openness created more momentum than control ever could. Surrender, in this context, was about releasing fear-based assumptions that were limiting performance.
As beliefs changed, behavior followed. Reps began planning together across accounts. Opportunities were shared earlier. Leaders reinforced outcomes that benefited the whole rather than isolated wins. Accountability became more consistent because expectations were aligned and visible. The culture began to support the strategy instead of quietly working against it.
The results were sustained and measurable. Over the next twelve months, the team delivered strong, consistent performance, exceeding prior benchmarks and demonstrating what was possible when alignment replaced internal friction. This was not a temporary surge or a single standout quarter, but a full year of execution that reflected a fundamentally different way of operating.
Then came a rough quarter.
Not a collapse and not a surprise, but a reminder that even strong systems experience variability. What mattered was how the team responded. Instead of abandoning the framework or reverting to old habits, leaders returned to surrender. They examined where fear-based thinking tried to reappear and where control felt tempting again. The belief system held, allowing the team to address what needed to change without overcorrecting or losing trust.
Surrender to Lead is frequently interpreted as being passive, agreeable, or focused on keeping everyone comfortable. In reality, surrender is a disciplined commitment to letting go of fear so leaders and teams can take responsibility for the outcomes they are trying to create. It does not remove pressure. It transforms it. It replaces self protection with shared purpose and replaces reactive decision making with clarity about the next right action.
Playing offense does not mean avoiding setbacks or pretending uncertainty will disappear. It means building belief systems strong enough to sustain momentum when conditions shift. Organizations that surrender fear and align culture to strategy will continue to move forward, even through uneven quarters, because their foundation is not dependent on constant wins.
The medical device revenue team did not eliminate variability. They built a way of operating that could absorb it without losing direction. That is what surrender makes possible, and that is why 2026 is the year of playing offense.
This is exactly the kind of work we will explore at the Surrender to Lead Summit.
As leaders prepare for 2026, the challenge is not avoiding uneven quarters, but building the belief systems that allow teams to stay aligned and play offense when they happen. The Summit brings together executives who are applying these principles in real organizations and are willing to share what it takes to sustain results over time.
If this story resonates, the Surrender to Lead Summit is where the conversation continues.
Register today at: https://www.surrendertolead.com/summit/
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