A new leadership narrative from control to courage

An obvious truth: these are turbulent times. And with the rise of AI, our work is changing faster than ever. In times like these, the desire for control is understandable, but we have known for some time that control is not the right answer. The pursuit of leaders who have all the answers sometimes seems like a reflex in uncertain times. Let’s let go of the illusion of the “hero leader.” Leadership is not a one-person show, not a constant search for perfection, but a shared journey that creates space for courage, willingness to change, and adaptability.

When we let go of this illusion, there is room for a different narrative. Room for courage, willingness to change, and adaptability. Those who adapt well know when it is time to push ahead and when to ease off for a while, so that the team can also carry the change.

Recently I heard Ulcca Hansen say something beautiful about this. She hopes that in ten years’ time we will be having a very different conversation about leadership. The leaders who matter then will not be recognized by their title or their certainty. You will recognize them by how they keep a group of people together in real uncertainty, and by how they model what it means not to know something.

What AI does not take away from us

Anyone who asks what the world will look like in ten years is, according to Hansen, usually asking something smaller and more difficult: will there still be room for what I am good at? An understandable question from someone who built a life around being useful and now sees that definition being rewritten, without having a seat at the table themselves.

Yet that fear is looking in the wrong direction. What is being automated today is the part of our work that was always the easiest to replace. What remains is precisely the part we never had enough time for: a real conversation with a client, thinking through a difficult decision properly, being there for a colleague who is having a hard time.

According to Hansen, the organizations that automate the fastest will therefore not necessarily come through the coming transition best. That will be done by the organizations that discover what people are capable of and consciously invest in it: creativity, judgment, care, and the ability to deal with complex questions without dismissing them with a simple answer.

For mission-driven organizations, that is good news. Their added value has always been in what is difficult to automate: relationships, trust, and care. But it does ask something of those who take on leadership. I see ten development challenges for leaders in these turbulent times.

10 development challenges for leaders in turbulent times

1. Keep moving in the fog
No one knows what the world will look like in ten years. Feel free to show that you don’t know either, while still providing direction. You don’t always have all the answers, and yet you still have to decide. Those who wait for certainty come to a standstill. So dare to make the decision, even if you still have doubts, and make sure your team knows that you are in it together.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Take small, reversible steps. Decide for the next three months instead of for three years, and immediately schedule an evaluation moment.
• Explicitly name within your team what you know, what you don’t know, and what you have already decided anyway.
• Agree on what information you need at a minimum in order to decide, so that you don’t keep waiting for certainty.

2. Letting go of what no longer serves
Dare to consciously stop when a partnership, a project, or a department has reached its purpose. Letting go also requires mourning: the world that was may come to an end and be grieved. Only then is there room for something new.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Plan an annual stop session: which projects, meetings, or tasks no longer serve the mission?
• For each project, ask the question: would we still start this today?
• Say goodbye consciously. Take a brief closing moment to reflect on what something brought and what you will take with you.

3. Confidence in yourself
Your bold choices will sometimes meet resistance, and sometimes you will also make the wrong choice. In those moments, it is important to keep supporting yourself, even in the face of failure or rejection. The challenge: being critical of yourself while also being kind.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Keep a learning journal. Note each week what went well and what you learned.
• Speak to yourself the way you would speak to a colleague who made a mistake.
• Distinguish between your choice and the outcome. A good decision can turn out differently than hoped.

4. Trust in people
People and groups are naturally caring, creative, and focused. Precisely those qualities will make the difference soon, now that AI is taking over replaceable work. But workload, change, and uncertainty eat away at people’s ability to stay engaged and focused. As a leader, you can create space for that.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Start a new assignment with the why and the desired outcome, not with the how.
• Ask in your one-on-one conversations: what is taking up the most energy right now, and what can I take off your plate?
• Consciously set aside time for work in which creativity and care can come into their own.

5. Staying focused when it’s foggy
As a person, team, and organization, you don’t have an unlimited supply of time and energy. So choose your acupuncture points: those few places where a small intervention has the greatest effect. That could be in your strategy, in your structures, or in your culture. Focus on those. And use the time that technology frees up for the work people do best: creativity, judgment, and care.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Choose no more than three priorities per quarter with your team, and also state what you will not do.
• Map out which tasks smart tools can take over, and agree on where that freed-up time will go.
• Test new questions and ideas against your priorities first, before you say yes.

6. Investing in personal leadership
Find your own voice. Know what you stand for and act accordingly. Then leading takes less energy and you have more impact. Help others do the same: good leaders create new leaders.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Name three core values and check whether you are acting in line with them when making difficult choices.
• Schedule a weekly half-hour reflection moment, without screens.
• Find a sounding board, such as a coach, mentor, or peer consultation group.
• Pass leadership on: for example, let a team member lead a meeting or project.

7. Invest in group cohesion
To face constant changes, you need solid support and a strong team. That is why you should invest in mutual relationships: this way, the group helps itself cross the thresholds of a transition each time. Leaders are constantly balancing: between connection and loneliness, between responsibility and letting go, between power and powerlessness. With a strong group that shares that burden, it is easier to find that balance.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Start meetings with a brief check-in: how are you arriving today?
• Regularly organize moments without an agenda, such as a shared lunch or team day.
• Make tensions discussable: where do we, as a team, feel the tension between connection and autonomy, or between responsibility and letting go?

8. Exposing harmful patterns and working toward healing
Mission-driven organizations are often more vulnerable, and sometimes they create that vulnerability themselves. Think of the tension between ambition and capacity: we set the bar high, but have too few people and resources. Or overidentification with the mission, where passion becomes obsession. Pay attention to those vulnerable spots in your team and organization, and also to your own vulnerable spots. After all, how you treat yourself partly determines how you relate to a turbulent environment.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Compare ambition with capacity: where do we say yes more often than we can handle?
• Watch for signs of overidentification, such as long days as the norm or feeling guilty when resting.
• Make vulnerable spots discussable, for example in a team retrospective or with an external facilitator.
• Also look at yourself: how are you contributing to this pattern?

9. Slow down and resist the sense of urgency
Now that technology seems to be accelerating everything, slowing down now and then is more important than ever. Dare to choose enjoyment and relaxation, even when other matters feel more urgent. Slowing down brings calm and warmth, and that releases what was stuck: energy and creativity that you badly need in turbulent times.

Here’s how to approach it:

• Block out time each week for thinking or recovery, and treat it as a real appointment.
• For every urgent request, ask: what happens if this waits a week?
• Deliberately schedule enjoyment, both alone and with your team.

10. Truly feeling and showing vulnerability
Doubt, anger, sadness, powerlessness, paralysis: we all feel them at times. The question of whether there will still be room later for what you are good at may also be felt and voiced. Those who truly dare to feel often discover what they really find important. Encourage that in others too. Mutual vulnerability makes relationships stronger: together you can better withstand setbacks.

This is how you approach it:

• Set the example yourself: share with your team a doubt or something you are struggling with.
• Respond with curiosity when someone shares something vulnerable, not immediately with solutions.
• Make space for the uncertainty around AI and changing work: what does this bring up for us?

On the road together

Taking on leadership means choosing a journey without fully knowing what you will encounter along the way. In ten years’ time, it will turn out that predicting the future accurately mattered little. Those who come through well kept investing in what makes us human, and had the courage to do so together with others.

Two questions to take with you:

• Which three development challenges are the most important for you right now?
• Which part of your work would you like to finally give the time it needs to do it really well?

Whether you undertake this journey alone or together with others makes a big difference. Let yourself be supported and seek out people who are on a similar journey. Everyone’s path is unique, but walking part of it together often provides a great deal of support and inspiration.

The insights on AI and leadership in the future are inspired by the work of Ulcca Hansen.