Uncertainty is a team sport

There is a special kind of exhaustion that arises when the world moves faster than our ability to keep up. Changes are coming faster—technology, markets, expectations—and in the midst of it all, we have placed an almost impossible expectation on the shoulders of leaders: They must know the direction, have the answers, show us the way. As if the right person in the right role could somehow keep uncertainty at bay on everyone's behalf.

They can't. And slowly but surely, it's wearing everyone down — including the leaders themselves.

Part of the problem lies in the way we talk about the future. Many organizations approach it like a player at a roulette table: they analyze the data, try to find the most likely outcome, and build their strategy around it. The problem is that the future doesn't work that way. Not because the analyses are bad, but because there are too many moving parts, too many things that no one can predict. Fixating on one version of the future is not preparation. It's a gamble.

The alternative is not to give up, but to explore possible directions for the future together.

When we begin to imagine multiple directions, not just the one we hope for or the one that resembles today, something happens. We become aware of our own assumptions. The things we take for granted. The things we have never questioned. The strategies that only make sense if the world continues as it has until now. These questions cannot be carried by one person alone — nor by one leadership group.

There is an old story about five blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time. Each touches a different part—the trunk, the tusk, the side, the leg, the tail—and each reaches his own conclusion about what they are facing. No one is wrong. And no one has the whole picture. Most strategy processes are actually similar—just with PowerPoints and various analyses instead of an elephant in the room.

If you want to gain insight into the future, you need to gather multiple perspectives. Different roles, different experiences, different life experiences, different places in the organization. Not just the usual voices—but those who see the world differently. But getting people into the room is only half the battle.

I often see how leaders enter into strategic discussions with an almost instinctive desire for clarity. What is going to happen? What should we focus on? What is the right direction? The discussion revolves around reducing uncertainty. But when the work shifts from finding one expected future to exploring several possible ones, the space changes.

Suddenly, it becomes clear how differently the organization is perceived. Some see technology as the biggest disruption. Others see the lack of skills. Some see customer expectations as the most unstable factor. No one is right on their own. And no one is wrong. The interesting thing happens not when the group finds the answer, but when they discover how much of their thinking is based on assumptions they didn't know they had. The conversation shifts from "What do we think will happen?" to "What do we do if several things happen at once?"

It may sound simple enough, but it is almost always overlooked that none of this works if people do not feel secure enough to actually say what they think. To ask questions, to be in doubt, to say "I don't know" or "I may have been wrong." It sounds trivial, but it is surprisingly difficult—especially when managers are in the room. Because there is still an expectation that managers should know. That certainty is strength. That doubt is weakness.

But in a world that no one can predict, the opposite is true. A leader who exudes confidence they don't have does not create security — they close the space. The leader's job is not to have all the answers, but to create a space where answers can emerge. To make it legitimate not to know. To keep questions open longer. To make room for more perspectives before closing down. This is not vague or soft. It is necessary.

The search for the silver bullet solution does not help either. It does not exist. No consulting model works for everyone. No trend report contains the answer. No strategy day produces a plan that holds up when faced with reality. What works is learning. Testing ideas, adjusting, discovering what works in your own context. Treating initiatives as experiments rather than promises. This means small mistakes, course corrections, and uncertainty along the way—the path is only revealed as you walk it.

And the most important effect lies elsewhere. When people are genuinely invited to participate in shaping the future, something happens to them. Their curiosity grows. Their tolerance for the unknown increases. Their sense of ownership increases. They go from feeling exposed to the future to feeling like they are helping to create it. I believe this is one of the most important ways to create meaning in uncertain times.

That is why uncertainty is a team sport. Some read the game, some set the pace, some see openings before others, some hold the team together. Uncertainty cannot be borne by one leader, analyzed away by one team, or solved in one document. It must be lived every day, together.

The uncertainty will not disappear. The pace will not slow down. The future will continue to surprise us. So stop trying to predict it — and above all, stop trying to do it alone. Invite others to join you in the work. Make it safe not to know. Explore more than one possible direction. Ask better questions.

The future will not be easier to navigate. But it will be easier to navigate when we do it together.