Coaches & Leadership
Here’s something they don’t tell you about leadership before you take it on.
You will almost never have all the information you need to make the decisions you have to make. The situation is always more complex than the framework you have for it. The people are always more complicated than the roles they play. And the deadline for the decision is almost always before the clarity arrives.
That gap between the information you have and the information you need — that’s the permanent condition of leadership. And how you function in that gap determines everything.
Read this passage slowly.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5–6 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Lean not on your own understanding. That’s a counterintuitive instruction for a leader. Leaders are supposed to understand things. That’s part of what they’re there for. But Proverbs is drawing a distinction between informed judgment and total reliance on your own capacity to figure it all out.
The leader who can only function when they have complete information is brittle. They either delay decisions past the point of usefulness or they project false confidence to cover the uncertainty. Neither serves the people they’re leading.
The leader who can make good decisions in conditions of uncertainty has learned to do a few specific things. They gather the best available information without waiting for perfect information. They consult the people around them whose judgment they trust. They make the decision that best serves the values they’re committed to, knowing the outcome isn’t fully in their control. And they hold the decision with enough humility to adjust when new information arrives.
That’s trust in the Lord expressed in practice. Not passive waiting. Active engagement with the best available information, submitted to a wisdom larger than your own understanding, with open hands for the path that results.
You don’t need all the answers to lead well. You need good values, good judgment, and honest humility about the limits of what you know.
The leader who can only function with complete information is brittle. Good leadership operates in conditions of uncertainty.
What’s a decision you’re currently facing that you don’t have complete information for? What do you know, what don’t you know, and what’s the best decision available to you right now?
Practical framework applied to a real current decision. Push for specificity.
You don’t need all the answers. You need good values, honest humility, and the next right decision.
Works well in a coaches’ meeting or leadership team setting where actual decisions are being discussed.