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Leading in an unstable world: deciding when reference points are shifting
Leading has never been an easy thing. But only a few years ago, one could tell oneself that with enough work, experience and rigour, it was possible to stay the course. In 2026, that time is over: leaders are compelled to lead in an unstable world.
Today, leaders operate in an environment resembling quicksand, where the reference points are constantly shifting. Political decisions and markets change faster than strategic plans. And meanwhile, teams still need to be listened to, to experience coherence and to be guided towards a clear direction. But how is this to be done when decisions taken in the morning can be called into question by the evening?
At Visconti Partners, this observation arises in almost every discussion with the leaders we support. Not as a complaint, but as a lucid acknowledgement: what weighs on them most is not complexity, but the responsibility of deciding without guarantee.
For deciding no longer consists in choosing between clearly mapped-out options. It often means making a call with partial information, under pressure, knowing that the consequences will be lasting — for the company, for the teams, and frequently for the leader himself or herself.
This article is addressed to the women and men leaders who live this reality. Not to propose yet another theoretical framework, but to state things as they are. That is to say: what does it mean to lead in an unstable world? Or, to put it in solution-oriented terms: how can one make sound decisions when certainty is no longer present?
Instability is no longer a temporary crisis; it is your everyday reality.
Inflation, geopolitical tensions, technological transformations, new social expectations, regulatory pressures... These phenomena do not add up in a linear way. They intertwine, sometimes contradict one another, and create an environment that is difficult to decipher.
For the leader, this translates into a diffuse yet persistent impression: the ground is shifting beneath one’s feet, even when the indicators appear to be green.
Decisions can no longer rely solely on solid projections and proven models. The past sheds less light on the future than it once did. And yet, progress must be made.
This new context has profoundly altered the very nature of leadership, without this always being explicitly acknowledged.
Until recently, leading essentially meant:
Today, these skills remain useful, but they are no longer sufficient. Leaders are increasingly expected to demonstrate other dimensions:
In other words, the leader is no longer only the one who knows. He or she is the one who stands firm when obvious answers do not exist.
In this unstable world, one can no longer postpone decisions while waiting to have all the information. Waiting to be certain often means allowing events to decide in one’s place.
This is where the silent transformation of the leader’s role takes place: the ability to decide without guarantee becomes a key competence.
It is not about deciding at random, nor in haste. It is about recognising that, at a certain point, lucidity replaces certainty, and that some decisions require more courage than analysis.
Many leaders feel it: deciding today is more uncomfortable than before. Not because of a lack of competence, but because the framework has changed. Reference points are less stable, situations more fluid. As a result, decisions weigh more heavily and isolate more often.
Leaders have access to abundant data: figures, analyses, field feedback, expert opinions. Nothing is lacking. And yet, the decision is no easier. Because information is not understanding.
A leader supported by Visconti Partners expressed it this way:
“I do not lack data. What I sometimes lack is the ability to sort through it, to understand what is truly decisive and what is not.”
The accumulation of information can therefore paradoxically hinder decision-making. For the decision may then be delayed, for fear of overlooking an important element. Yet deciding does not mean taking everything into account; it means choosing… and renouncing.
Deciding has always involved commitment. But today, the impact goes beyond economic performance alone. A decision can have legal, social and media effects, sometimes immediate ones.
It is observed, commented upon, sometimes distorted. This constant exposure makes leaders more cautious, even hesitant, even when action is required.
Few leaders speak openly about fear. And yet it is very much present. Not a paralysing fear, but a diffuse, almost rational concern: that of making a mistake in a context where errors are costly and difficult to remedy.
Faced with this, some slow down, others seek to share responsibility. Yet today, not deciding carries almost as many risks as deciding.
Even when surrounded, even when well advised, the leader finds himself or herself alone at the moment of making the call. This solitude is not new, but it has intensified. Opinions are more numerous, sometimes divergent, and the final responsibility remains complete.
In such moments, the leader seeks less a ready-made solution than a space in which to clarify his or her thinking, confront intuitions, and measure what he or she is prepared to assume.
It is often here that the difference is made between a decision endured and a decision owned.
Saying that the world has changed has become commonplace. Yet when it comes to the leader’s decision, certain deep shifts deserve to be clearly named, because they explain why yesterday’s recipes no longer function in quite the same way.
Decisions taken today produce almost instantaneous effects. A strategic direction, a managerial choice, a misinterpreted communication can have rapid, sometimes irreversible repercussions.
This acceleration alters the very nature of responsibility. The leader no longer always has the time necessary to adjust gradually. He or she must often accept that the decision creates a before and an after.
This does not mean that one must decide in haste, but that the moment of decision has become more decisive than ever.
Leaders are caught between two apparently contradictory demands. On the one hand, they must respond to very concrete urgencies: cash flow, business continuity, internal tensions, immediate stakeholder expectations. On the other hand, they must preserve a vision, a coherence over time.
A leader in the industrial sector, confronted with strong cost pressure, explained during his support by a Visconti coach:
“I knew what had to be done in the short term. But I felt that certain decisions, if I took them too quickly, would permanently damage the company.”
Deciding in 2026 often means accepting to choose an imperfect balance, knowing that no option ticks every box.
The most resilient leaders do not seek to resolve this tension once and for all. They learn to move through it consciously. That is the role fulfilled by a coach in moments of uncertainty or strategic turning points: supporting the leader in reaching that outcome.
In this context, decision-making can no longer be reduced to an act of management. It becomes an act of leadership in its own right. What the leader decides, but also how he or she decides and how it is owned, sends a powerful message to the organisation.
A clear decision, explained and sustained over time, reassures — even when it is difficult. Conversely, a hesitant or poorly embodied decision fuels uncertainty and weakens trust.
Teams do not expect leaders to be right all the time. They expect them to be clear, coherent and present.
When one observes leaders who endure in unstable periods, one sees that they are not necessarily more brilliant or better informed. Their strength lies above all in their way of being. More in their stance than in their methods.
Over time, they have understood that one does not lead in uncertainty as one would on stable ground. Certain illusions must be relinquished and something else relied upon. So how does one make strategic decisions in 2026?
A difficult step to take, even for the most experienced, is to admit that expertise is not always enough. Not that it has lost its value, but because the context evolves too quickly.
Resilient leaders do not wait to have all the answers before acting. They accept a normal share of the unknown and distinguish between what is inherently unclear and what genuinely lacks preparation.
This is not a relinquishing of control, but a shift in perspective: less seeking to master everything, more seeking to judge well.
Faced with complexity, many want to address everything at once. Resilient leaders begin by sorting.
They seek to understand what is truly at stake, what is essential and what is less so, what concerns substance and what merely relates to the situation of the moment.
This work is often invisible. It is done alone or in exchanges built on trust.
A SME leader supported during a phase of rapid growth explained:
“Coaching mainly helped me to reformulate my decisions. As long as I could not express them simply, I felt something was not clear.”
Clarity often precedes decision. A decision taken on a poorly defined problem rarely leads to the right outcome.
These leaders have integrated a simple reality: decisions are no longer made with certainty. They are made in order to take a direction.
Courage here is not rushing forward without listening, but making the call when the time has come, even if doubt remains. Then being present afterwards: explaining, adjusting if necessary, owning it.
This courage is discreet, unspectacular. Yet it is one of the foundations of solid leadership in times of uncertainty.
When the environment is shifting, leaders need simple reference points. Not to eliminate uncertainty, but to prevent it from taking up all the space.
Many begin by reformulating the decision to be taken in a very simple way. One sentence. No more. This effort of formulation often dispels part of the confusion. A leader supported during a conflict between partners recounted:
“As long as I said ‘we have a governance problem’, I was going round in circles. The day I was able to say ‘I must decide whether I continue to lead with this person’, everything became clearer.”
This step may seem obvious. Yet it is often neglected. And a poorly named decision is almost always a fragile decision.
In an unstable world, the leader is exposed to many factors beyond his or her control: economic context, political decisions, market behaviour, competitors’ reactions.
Faced with this, some exhaust themselves, while others distinguish what truly depends on them from what escapes their control. This sorting is liberating. It refocuses energy where it is useful.
One of the most persistent illusions is to believe that not deciding is a way of protecting oneself. In reality, inaction almost always carries a cost, even if it is less visible in the short term.
Leaders who manage to face this often ask themselves a decisive question: what happens if I do not decide? This shift in perspective reveals the cost of inaction, sometimes higher than that of an imperfect decision.
A leader of an international group, confronted with a strategic repositioning decision, testified:
“What tipped the balance for me was not the certainty that the decision was right. It was the realisation that doing nothing was slowly degrading the organisation.”
Integrating the cost of inaction rebalances the reflection. The question is no longer “what is the best possible decision”, but “which decision is the least risky over time”.
Solitude is an integral part of the role. It becomes problematic when it traps the leader in his or her doubts.
Certain questions cannot be raised internally without creating concern or confusion.
A leader supported during a period of strong uncertainty explained:
“I could speak about everything with my teams, except what was truly making me hesitate.”
It is often in this space that support finds its full meaning: offering a place where the leader can think freely, without political stakes, without a mask.
It is in these moments of stepping back that many decisions take shape. Not because an answer suddenly appears, but because the leader regains a more stable inner position.
Leaders who navigate instability best are rarely those who decide alone in urgency. They are those who grant themselves moments of reflection, even brief ones, to clarify their thinking.
These spaces can take different forms:
A leader who had held several executive positions confided:
“What helps me most is not being told what to do, but being helped to think more clearly.”
In an unstable environment, the quality of reflection becomes a strategic advantage.
In instability, direction is not a fixed plan. It is coherence. Clear values. Lines that are not crossed. These reference points give teams a sense of continuity, even when decisions evolve.
Giving meaning to a decision is part of the leader’s work. A difficult decision can be accepted if it is understood. An opaque decision permanently weakens trust.
To conclude, leading in an unstable world is not a technical skill to be acquired once and for all. It is a demanding, sometimes uncomfortable practice, engaging both lucidity and courage. There is no perfect decision, especially in an uncertain context. But there are sound decisions, in the sense that they are coherent, owned and embodied.
Leaders who accept this reality stop seeking absolute security. They develop another form of solidity, more internal, more enduring. The kind that enables them to hold a line, even when the ground is shifting.
It is often in these moments that the leader no longer merely manages an organisation, but fully exercises his or her role.
At Visconti Partners, we support leaders confronted with complex, sensitive or structuring decisions. Not to tell them what to do, but to offer them a space for reflection, clarification and demanding challenge.
Executive support (by a coach who has himself or herself held such a position) often makes it possible to transform a decision endured into a decision owned, and to regain an inner solidity to lead, even when the world remains unstable. Get in touch to discuss it.
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