What's changing with authentic leadership?

I'm sure you are very familiar with the concept of authentic leadership and that it has always included being honest about what you don’t know. There was, however, normally an assumption that someone, somewhere, has the answer. Traditionally, a leader might admit a gap in their knowledge, then turn to their team, an expert or an adviser to fill it. Increasingly, we’re operating in situations where none of us knows... because the technology is new, the context is shifting or the problem itself is still emerging. That changes more than how a leader comes across; it changes the job of leadership. Your role becomes less about finding and communicating the answer, and more about helping a group make sense of what’s happening, bringing different perspectives together, testing ideas and creating the way forward as you go. Read on to understand how leadership is evolving...

The context around us is changing too fast, often in areas where we know very little. Think AI, geopolitics, changing workforce expectations, regulation, economic uncertainty.

Nobody expects you, as a leader, to have all the answers anymore. Not your exec team. Not your consultants. Not the agencies you pay a fortune to.

As a modern leader, you need to be honest that certainty isn’t always available and become confident in not knowing.

It’s the same integrity, just a different job.

The organisational psychologist Karl Weick spent decades studying how people cope with ambiguity. His work on sensemaking suggests that, in genuine uncertainty, a leader’s job isn’t simply to hand down the answer. It’s to help people build a shared understanding of what’s actually going on, together, in real time.

As a leader of a large team, I know this feeling well.

There’s a real skill in moving a culture from looking to you for the answer to you holding up a mirror and asking people to work in uncertainty. To step forward with ideas, opinions, and different interpretations, then help synthesise them into a way forward.

Importantly, not knowing doesn’t mean not leading.

You can be uncertain about the answer while being incredibly clear about your purpose, your values, what matters and the next step you’re going to take.

That’s the new leadership job now.

Not always knowing where you’re going. Helping people navigate the not knowing.

Top tip: spend less time appearing certain and more time helping your team make sense of what’s changing around them.

Oh, and there’s a big watch-out.

If you do happen to know the answer, don’t pretend you don’t.

I wrote a pretty brutal post on performative vulnerability and why leaders need to avoid it. Worth a read! What to get across every skill that modern teams and leaders need? Check out our training