How Collaborative Leaders Navigate Uncertainty

When I work with leaders lately, I keep hearing the same concern on repeat:

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺.”

“𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨?”

“𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸?”

These aren’t complaints. They’re signals.

📉 Recently, major companies like GM, American Airlines, JetBlue, and Stellantis withdrew their earnings forecasts, citing unpredictable conditions and shifting global policies.

But this isn’t just about tariffs. It’s about the world we now live in.

We used to call it 𝐕𝐔𝐂𝐀. Today, 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐈 might describe it better:

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑵𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑰𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆.

(A term introduced by futurist Jamais Cascio)

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬?

It means even Agile planning tools and frameworks, while helpful, may no longer be sufficient on their own.

We need to go deeper, beyond methods, to build the 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 that enable adaptability and resilience.

And that starts by asking different kinds of questions—ones drawn from the lens of collaborative leadership:

© Anjali Leon, 2025. All rights reserved

💠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴?

(𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘻𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦?)

💠 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘥𝘺𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸?

💠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯?

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘐’𝘮 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧?

💠 𝐂𝐨-𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝘖𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩?

 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?

💠 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞

 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐’𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨... 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨?

 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘺?

💠 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳?

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰?

We may not find certainty.

But we can build the inner and collective capacity for clarity, courage, and connection to become comfortable with uncertainty.