It’s hard to ignore the disconnect.
On one hand, there’s a rising clamour for greater leadership and organisational agility.
On the other, it remains surprisingly rare in practice.
Over the past decade, neuroscience has revealed a lot—about neuroplasticity, growth
mindsets, and how learning and change are possible, even later in life. And yet, one big
question remains:
I find myself wondering has all this insight actually made us better at leading change?
To be generous, you’d have to say it’s patchy.
So what’s stopping adaptive leadership in its tracks?

Let me offer a paraphrase of Hanlon’s Paradox
“Impending or actual change lowers self-esteem and the ability to cope or ask for
help—just at the time we most need to.”
In other words, our ability to adapt, to try new approaches, is directly linked to how
confident and supported we feel. And in my experience, one root cause shows up again
and again:

An intolerance for uncertainty.
Anyone involved in change knows the signs:
• A relentless hunger for information and direction
• Pressure for clarity when none yet exists
• Stakeholders who “just don’t buy in”—not because the plan is flawed, but
because it feels uncertain
These are familiar objections—but often, they’re symptoms of something deeper:

Our addiction to certainty.
And that addiction is one of the biggest drags on adaptive leadership today.
If you’ve coached leaders, you’ve seen this firsthand:
• Analysis paralysis
• Fear of making a mistake
• The whispered doubt: “What if I get this wrong and no one backs me up?”
But there’s an even deeper, unspoken truth many leaders carry:
“I’m uncomfortable not knowing—and I’m not sure I trust myself or my team to lead
through uncertainty.”

This is the shadow side of leadership.
We build our professional identities on having answers. We’re rewarded for projecting
confidence, making plans, and eliminating ambiguity. Certainty becomes our default
posture. Boards expect it. Markets reward it. Our teams look for it.
But here’s the second paradox in this article:

Adaptive leadership is forged in discomfort.
It’s about leading through uncertainty, not around it.
Uncertainty isn’t meant to feel comfortable

Adapting requires letting go of control, being vulnerable ,getting others perspectives
active experimentation and holding up a mirror to our practice.

Overcoming these barriers takes more than tools. It takes culture. Intent. Practice.

To lead adaptively, organisations must create for its people :
• Deliberate leadership development pathways
• Psychological safety and peer learning spaces
• Permission to experiment, reflect, and learn—together
If your organisation isn’t actively investing in its leaders—or building the kind of
performance culture that can tolerate uncertainty—then your strategy execution may
remain little more than a pipe dream.

The future belongs to those who can lead with curiosity, not just clarity.

 Want to explore how Mantle supports adaptive leadership development? Interested how Ai can support the learning process Get in touch—we’d love to share what we’ve learned.