Your team needs clarity, not certainty
And other tips for leading when the world is on fire
Humans despise uncertainty.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barret, a renowned neuroscience researcher, studied two groups of patients: one group that was seriously ill and had an excellent chance of recovery, and one group that was seriously ill and knew their disease was permanent.
Barret found that the group with a good chance of recovery (but an uncertain outcome) were notably less satisfied with their lives than those with a permanent condition.
It seems that humans prefer certainty and the ability to plan for the future, even when we are certain of a bad outcome.
Unfortunately, today’s environment offers little certainty. And the impulse to make assurances or rely primarily on historic expertise is increasingly dangerous.
What practices can we utilize to lead well in complex and chaotic times?
Focus on clarity over certainty
I found Shackleton’s advertisement to be a 21-word masterclass on motivating people when the future is uncertain. Two lessons I saw there for leadership in uncertain times: clarity is essential and purpose is grounding.
Clarity should be not confused with certainty. Be transparent about what you do and don’t know. Admitting uncertainty builds trust and opens the door for collaborative problem-solving: "We don’t have all the answers yet, but we’ll figure this out together." Or share your own learning process: "Here’s what I’m still trying to understand…"If leaders pretend to have all the answers, people may feel pressured to hide confusion or avoid experimentation.
Uncertainty also becomes less overwhelming when people understand why their work matters. Start tough meetings by returning to your purpose or core mission: Why are you doing this work? What impact do you want to have? Remind your team: "No matter the uncertainty, our mission is clear: we’re here to provide XX."
Listen without agenda or judgment
Back in my 20s, I had the opportunity to chat with Clayton Christensen, the brilliant academic and business consultant who developed the theory of Disruptive Innovation.
He was the keynote speaker at a big conference I was attending and I marched over after his talk to share my thoughts about his work. Instead of searching the room for more distinguished attendees or nodding dismissively (behaviors I was quite used to at this moment in my career), I remember him being curious and engaged and really wanting to learn from me.
I still remember that conversation clearly twenty years later because of how that interaction made me feel. And I suspect that Christensen’s career success was due in some part to his ability to mine for truths that others overlook in their hubris or impatience.
We so often listen only for what we want to hear. Especially in moments when people are anxious and uncertain, they need to be confident that they can speak up and be heard, share ideas, admit mistakes, or raise concerns. This wins you not only trust, but access to better data and divergent perspectives that will improve your decision making.
Recognize your “Action Urge”
When your body faces stress, your nervous system often produces an unconscious impulse to act - you jump out of the way of a car, you swat away a mosquito.
At work, stress also can prompt you into action. Maybe you dive into a situation and begin micromanaging, or immediately spin up a new team to solve a problem by the end of the week.
Complexity researcher Jennifer Garvey Berger encourages a pause before you leap: “While action is useful, not all actions are useful. And the kind of reflexive action that is created by our sympathetic nervous system is rarely useful…to truly learn enough to change our perspective and then change the system, we need to resist that action urge.”
In chaotic moments, it’s easy to default to micromanaging, perfectionism and other fear driven actions. Garvey Berger urges leaders to identify their action urge and notice what it feels like. Notice the urge, pause and decide if taking that action is truly useful.
Over the past few months, I keep coming back to one central question: as leaders, what do we owe this moment?
We can ask, listen, be transparent and manage our reactions. Or we give in to our “action urges” and stress. Each of us, through our actions, has the power to make people’s lives easier or harder as we face uncertainty and change together. In this moment, making that journey just a little be easier may be the most important thing we can do for each other.
A place to indulge my love of poetry, books of all kinds, and finding the perfect song for the situation, old-school mixtape style.
“I used to think that if you cared for other people, you needed to study sociology or something like it. But I have concluded, if you want to help other people, be a manager. If done well, management is among the most noble of professions.”
— Clayton M. Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life?
An anthem for a long day / week / year. It’s been appropriated by both the Black Lives Matter movement and the WWE, so there’s broad appeal. Don’t judge, just turn it up.
Hope and fear. Resolve and bone-deep exhaustion. I have long believed that the ability to hold paradox is one of the most important traits of a leader, especially in times of chaos and uncertainty. This poem captures that act so beautifully.
For When People Ask By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer I want a word that means okay and not okay, more than that: a word that means devastated and stunned with joy. I want the word that says I feel it all all at once. The heart is not like a songbird singing only one note at a time, more like a Tuvan throat singer able to sing both a drone and simultaneously two or three harmonics high above it— a sound, the Tuvans say, that gives the impression of wind swirling among rocks. The heart understands swirl, how the churning of opposite feelings weaves through us like an insistent breeze leads us wordlessly deeper into ourselves, blesses us with paradox so we might walk more openly into this world so rife with devastation, this world so ripe with joy. Source: All The Honey, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, 2023.
SOURCES
Unleash Your Complexity Genius, Jennifer Garvey Berger and Carolyn Coughlin, 2023.
“Safe Return Doubtful,” Designed Learning, Peter Block, 2025.
How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, Dr. Lisa Feldman Barret, 2017.
How Will You Measure Your Life? Clayton M. Christenson, 2012.
I am an experienced consultant, coach and facilitator for executive teams and leaders. To learn more about my services, visit my website.
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