# Leading Through Uncertainty: Clarity Over Certainty

**Podcast:** LEITWOLF Podcast - Leadership, Führung & Management
**Published:** 2026-05-10

## Transcript

In stable times, people follow your expertise.
In uncertain times, people follow your clarity.
You cannot provide certainty, but you can provide clarity.
And I think this is one of your and my own most important leadership tasks today.
Hello and welcome in today's Lightwolf podcast.
It's my pleasure to welcome you here again.
Lightwolf, your podcast for leading with impact.
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And with that, let's jump right in today's topic.
It's taken from the current reality, from current news, and it's entitled World Chaos.
How you can create clarity in uncertain times.
In my view, we live in a time that creates more and more uncertainty for more and more people.
Wars.
geopolitical tensions are increasing.
From a European and specifically from a German perspective, I think three tectonic shifts are unfolding over the last two to three decades.
First, the loss of China as a major export market.
In fact, China has become an exporter themselves.
Two, the loss of cheap gas from Russia as a result of Und drei, die Verlust der effektivität von den USA zu verhindern.
Aufgrund der Ökonomik Uncertainty, Inflation und Volatile Markets sind größer und größer Entscheidungen.
Technologische Disruption, insbesondere durch Artificial Intelligence, ist repräsentiert die gesamte Geschäftsmodelle.
And at the same time, customer expectations, investors' needs and employees' expectations are changing and often rising.
In my perspective, the reality is, uncertainty is no longer the exception, it's the normal state.
And this is exactly where many leaders make a critical mistake.
They believe they need to provide certainty to others.
That is not possible.
You cannot provide certainty, but you can provide clarity.
And I think this is one of your and my own most important leadership tasks today, especially if you are a member of the C-suite or if you are the woman or the man who as a general manager or a CEO is leading an entire business.
So what does clarity mean in practice?
Clarity does not mean having all the answers.
This is no longer possible in today's world.
And it's no longer expected of a leader to have all the answers her or himself.
Clarity means understanding the criteria that define success.
Understanding critical success drivers.
That remains an element of clarity.
Clarity means asking strong, insightful questions.
And then truly listening to what others have to say, rather than just waiting to speak yourself.
Because what others say might contain pure gold.
It might contain better solutions than ever before, if only we take the time to truly listen.
And three, clarity means providing orientation, despite uncertainty.
And if any of these topics shared so far resonate with you, then I brought three ideas for you to consider, to reflect upon, and if you deem them useful, feel free to try them out in your daily leadership practice.
First, one about decision-making and alignment.
Tip number one, clear priorities instead of perfect plans.
In uncertain times, long-term plans Es ist nicht möglich, was es passiert in einem Jahr.
Long-term plans become outdated, quickly.
Instead, define what matters truly now.
What is really essential now?
That's one thing you can define.
And what will we consciously choose not to do?
This is another area where you can create clear priorities.
People need focus.
not perfection.
So tip one is, provide and ensure all around you clear priorities instead of perfect plans.
The second suggestion I'd like to share is related to communication.
Communication and leadership are inseparable twins, right?
Almost like Václavik once said, you cannot not communicate.
I would like to add, You either lead or you follow, but there is nothing in between, right?
So it's important that you communicate and how you communicate.
So tip number two, calm, clear communication instead of false certainty.
Don't even try to somehow explain away uncertainty.
Instead, communicate calmly.
And clearly, this is what we know.
That is what we don't know yet.
And this is what we are going to do to find out.
And in two weeks time, I'm going to give you an update.
This kind of communication shows openness, honesty, transparency and reduces the perceived uncertainty in everyone around you.
And do so in a calm tone.
Convey calm through your voice and through your body language.
When people clearly hear what you think in your message and at the same time clearly feel through your tone of voice and your body language that you mean what you say.
Then you create calm all around you.
And this calm transfers to your people.
Because humans mirror human behavior.
If you radiate uncertainty, people get increasingly uncertain.
If you radiate calm, people's uncertainty will decline.
Because what you send returns.
What you send multiplies.
Therefore, message and body language together create calm and trust.
More than any form of false certainty.
Let me illustrate this with an example that I truly experienced in my first career.
as a marketing director in a great multinational consumer goods company.
Imagine you and I are peers.
We are together.
We've been there for about 9 or 10 years.
Both of us, we are shareholders of our own company.
And within just 48 hours, our company's share price has dropped from $120 to as low as $56.
Not only have we lost quite some money if we were to sell the shares now, both you and I are responsible for sizable teams.
We are both running teams with 70 or 80 people around us.
And those people are uncertain, to say the least.
And as a result of this, The first time in our company's 180 years history, our former CEO gets asked to leave the company.
It had never happened before, but now it happens.
Which sends a strong signal, but there is still uncertainty.
Until a few days later, our new CEO is coming to town.
We have 300 people in our boardroom, the biggest room we have, and the company is building.
And there is a 10-minute speech that changes a lot.
In comes our new CEO.
And he says, ladies and gentlemen, I am the new CEO of the company.
If you think I already know what we need to do to turn this upside down and turn this downward trend around, I have to disappoint you.
I don't know yet.
And if you guys here running those three countries think that I could already advise you what to do to turn the business around in your three countries, I have to disappoint you a second time.
But there are two things that I know.
Here are my 10 beliefs.
And these 10 beliefs have carried this business since 180 years.
Belief number one, consumer is boss.
And belief number 10, lead change.
And there is another thing I know I believe in.
Not only our strong brands, but it's you guys.
The strength of our people.
I know that together we will turn this ship around again.
And together we will make this business work again.
Thank you.
And that moment was so strong in the what, and I would say even stronger in the how, that I felt a bit more confidence 10 minutes later.
I felt a bit more hope.
I felt we are somehow more together.
We are honest.
We admit we don't know every answer yet.
But we were also getting closer and assembling and aligning more on the two things that have always carried this company, which is its values and its brands.
Led and managed and glued together by its people.
So that's to me a masterpiece of this second tip I'd like to share with you, which is calm, clear communication instead of false certainty.
And tip number three, clear decisions despite incomplete information.
Waiting for full information is no longer an option.
Make decisions.
Based on 70-80% clarity.
Adjust quickly.
And expect your teams to adjust quickly as well.
Speed beats perfection by a mile.
Better fast than perfect should be our mantra.
And to close, let me leave you with one key message.
In stable times, people follow your expertise.
In uncertain times, people follow your clarity.
If you want to learn how to lead yourself, your boss, your peers, your team effectively in calm or in turbulent times, then I recommend, please, have a look at Lightwolf Academy.
Lightwolf Academy, linked here in the show notes, contains the six Topics that any leader needs to master.
If you invest that one year of time of learning leadership together with me, online, self-paced, and six times a year in group life coaching with all the other members of Lightwolf Academy and with me, then I promise, if you invest the time, say half an hour a week, to consume the content and to put it into your daily lives and then reflect from time to time.
and use what works for you, then I promise you, one year later, you will be a stronger leader.
I sometimes wish I would have had these tools at any point in time in my corporate career.
I would have advanced five years at least at any point in time, had I only had taken the time and condensed the knowledge into the tools I now share with everyone in Lightwolf Academy.
If this resonates with you, have a look into the show notes and it would be my huge pleasure to soon welcome you as well in Lightwolf Academy.
The quality of your leadership is not shown when everything is predictable and when the sun is shining.
The quality of your leadership is shown when much is uncertain.
If you take away one thing from this podcast today, let it be this.
Ask yourself once a week.
Maybe if you reflect more frequently, ask yourself at the end of every day, where do I create clarity tomorrow instead of waiting for certainty?
Where do I create clarity tomorrow instead of waiting for certainty?
I hope it was useful for you.
I hope you have taken at least one thought or one idea from today's podcast that helps you to become the leader you want to be.
I can't wait.
To have you again here on the show, maybe already next Monday again in the next Lightwolf podcast.
For today, a sincere thank you for your time and have a great week.
Until next time.
Thank you, your Stefan.