What to do when you don't know what to do

Most of the leadership writing I find useful is from people who clearly know what they're doing. They have a system. They have a track record. They've been through it before.

But most of the work I do with leaders happens in the seasons in between — the moments where the leader doesn't know what they're doing, doesn't have a system, and doesn't yet have a track record for the question on the table.

I want to write about those seasons.

The first thing I'd say is that the not-knowing is not a problem to be solved. The instinct, when you don't know what to do, is to find the person who does — to read the book, hire the consultant, study the case. There's a place for that. But not always at the start. At the start, the not-knowing is information. It's telling you that the situation in front of you is asking something the old answers don't fit.

The second thing I'd say is that you don't have to figure it out alone. Most of what I do with leaders in the fog is not give them answers. It's sit with them long enough for the questions underneath their questions to come up. That's almost always where the work is.

The third thing I'd say is that the move you're looking for is usually smaller than you think. Not the reorganization. Not the new strategy. The conversation you've been avoiding. The thing you'd say if you weren't worried about being wrong. The decision that's been waiting for you to stop pretending you haven't already made it.

If you're in one of these seasons right now, you don't need a better playbook. You need company.