
Leadership transitions often result in a phenomenon known as 'Leadership Shock', leaving many accomplished professionals feeling lost in new roles.
In this episode, leadership expert Pete Steinberg (Author, Leadership Shock) joins Adam Russell (Director, AI Division, Information Science Institute) to explore what it means to lead in the face of imperfect information. They discuss the challenge of staying grounded in ambiguity, especially when organizations often measure success by quarterly or annual results that may, in hindsight, be the wrong path altogether.
True leadership, they argue, is not about projecting certainty but about admitting what you don’t know. While many assume leaders have a clear crystal ball, anyone offering strong, confident predictions about the future is almost certainly wrong, and often unaware of it until it’s too late. Instead, the best leaders (and forecasters) are those who continuously update their understanding, gather signals from multiple sources, and remain flexible enough to adjust course as new information emerges.
▶︎Leadership Shock, by Peter Steinberg, is available now on Amazon: https://a.co/d/9rSJ79i
▶︎More episodes of Leadership Shock are available to listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Apple Music and Audible.
▶︎Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MoXRknEbmso