Choose to go to the Moon The Propulsive Power of Belief Systems
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
–JFK
Wharton professor Andrew Carton combed through 18,000 pages of NASA archives in an effort to understand President John F. Kennedy’s profound impact on the organization’s trajectory. In doing so, Carton not only dusted off overlooked historical details–he unearthed insights into how visionary leaders can translate bold ambition into shared belief, turning a moonshot into reality.
Even the boldest leaders fall into the trap of translating vision into technical or corporate language, piling on proof points that smother the vision’s power. The longer and more detailed the explanation, the smaller the imagined future feels. Words like strategy, process, and ROI don’t deliver meaning, and therefore, they don’t give people something to believe in.
It’s notable that JFK didn’t emphasize data—he used it sparingly, only to validate. He didn’t elevate the impressive science required to land a man on the moon. Instead, he told a story, creating buy-in not through metrics, but emotion. JFK connected his vision to something far more powerful than logic: a shared belief in achieving something bigger, together.
Belief as Rocket Booster
To say JFK rallied NASA and the United States to rise to a daunting challenge is an understatement. Carton’s research found that he, with NASA, took several key steps to translate a new vision for the organization and the (initially skeptical) country.
- He sharpened focus by simplifying NASA’s set of three overarching goals into the single loftiest aspiration: “to advance science.”
- He connected grand aspiration to concrete objectives, the highest order of which was “to advance science by first landing on the moon before 1970.”
- NASA leadership then developed the “ladder to the moon,” a set of specific milestones that enabled each employee to connect their contribution to the concrete objective and highest goal.
But progress would have stalled without a belief system as foundation for that bold agenda. A decade’s worth of collective striving was ignited by a set of emotionally charged ideas that compelled people to invest in the vision. This is how the moonshot became more than an engineering feat. It became a reflection of who we are and what we stand for as a nation.
“This city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward–and so will space.”
–JFK
Three core beliefs stand out in Kennedy’s “We Choose to Go to the Moon” speech:
- We can do hard things.
- We are a people committed to advancing scientific progress and exploration.
- In a time of unrest, we are called to use science as a force for good.
JFK instinctively knew that data doesn’t change behavior—emotion does. Vision or ambition is the destination. Objectives and milestones lay out the flight path. But belief is the propulsion system that gets you there.
As Carton noted, “[NASA] employees construed their day-to-day work not as short-term tasks (‘I’m building electrical circuits’) but as the pursuit of NASA’s long-term objective (‘I’m putting a man on the moon’) and the aspiration this objective symbolized (‘I’m advancing science’).”
That’s what belief systems do. They align people and teams around meaning. They turn individual contribution into collective pursuit. They create coherence between what’s said, what’s done, and what’s felt.
Designing for Belief
When organizations fail to design for belief, they design for deceleration. Vision fades. Brand experiences contradict stated values. Teams drift. Customers sense dissonance. In moments of change or disruption, the absence of shared belief becomes a vacuum that uncertainty quickly fills.
But when belief is intentionally designed—and becomes the scaffolding system for the vision—every touchpoint can reinforce the emotional truth of the vision. For employees and consumers, brand becomes the medium through which belief is experienced, shared, and sustained.
That’s the real power of brand in accelerating leaders’ goals. It doesn’t just express what you believe. It helps others feel it too. And when people feel it, they strap in.
From Vision to Impact
Visionary leaders can tell you what the future looks like, but people don’t believe what you say. They believe what they feel.
Belief systems are how leaders transform conviction into collective motion. They’re how a company moves beyond step-by-step strategy to take on the momentum of a movement.
So the next time you’re tempted to translate your vision into safer, smaller, tactical language, resist. Instead, ask, “What do we believe? How do we help others feel that belief?”
Because belief, when designed, lived and shared, is what gives vision lift-off.
