When You Don’t Know What You Want (#265)
The Confident Leader
BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
A leader I coach, Chris, recently said, “I know what I don’t want, but I can’t tell you what I DO want. Is that normal?”
She had just completed a year’s long vision cycle. It was challenging, but it had produced the intended results. It was now time to look ahead and create the next long-term vision, but she was stuck!
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver
This Week’s Edition
You’ve built. You’ve led. You’ve executed. And now? You’re now looking ahead, unsure which way to go.
Clarify Your Thinking
This leader’s team had proposed a bold new product idea — but he couldn’t stop comparing it to the first Leaders are wired to drive forward. And when you’ve been sprinting for years, completing one big cycle of vision and execution, the idea of starting over can feel…daunting
Some attribute the inability to re-engage as lazy. I’m not sure that’s an accurate description.
Vision fatigue can be real It takes a lot of effort to:
- Conjure up the next destination,
- Inspire the team,
- Teach them how to do the things to get you there,
- Train them each day and,
- Coach them to greater heights of performance.
Old Thinking:
If I don’t have a clear vision yet, something’s wrong. Maybe I’ve lost my edge.
New Thinking:
The fact that I’m slowing down to discern a new visionmeans I’m still leading with integrity. This pause isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom.
Thoughts Lead to Actions
“Casting vision is a process. I don’t want to fake clarity I don’t have just to satisfy the team,” Chris said.
So she paused. And what surfaced wasn’t exactly a crystal-clear dream. It was a list of what she never wanted to repeat again. #fair
– I don’t want to chase growth for ego’s sake.
– I don’t want to build a team that burns me out (or them out).
– I don’t want to lose myself in the momentum
And that list, interestingly, became the starting point of her vision journey.
Sometimes clarity doesn’t begin with desire. It begins with rejection. Rejection is protection.
Leaders who “reject” what they don’t want clear space in their thinking for what they truly want. What they want for the organization and for themselves.
Here’s a framework I use with leaders at the edge of reinvention:
1. Audit the Cost. Ask yourself:
- What did the last vision cost me?
- Was it worth it?
- Do I want to do that again?
- If not, what do I want to do?
2. Reverse Engineer from “Not This”
- Write down what you don’t want in your next season. Not out of bitterness—but out of awareness.
- Protect those guardrails.
3. Discern Before You Decide
- You don’t owe anyone speed.
- Create a space—a morning, a weekend, a few deep conversations—to sit in reflection.
- Your vision will surface. Let it come to you clean.
When leaders don’t know what they want next, they often default to just grinding or stalling.
But there’s a better way forward—and it begins with curiosity, not pressure.
You don’t need to push for vision. You need to prepare for it.
Because sometimes the most powerful clarity comes right after a long season of uncertainty.
The secret is: you just have to wait long enough to hear it.
Boost Your Performance
In this week’s video, I share how one CEO rebuilt their next chapter from a list of “Not This” moments—and how that shift gave them a vision they actually wanted to live inside.
What’s Your Opinion?
Have you ever reached a moment when you didn’t know what you wanted? What helped you move forward? Email me at robin.pou@robinpou.com
If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!
Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist
We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders.
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What is “The Confident Leader”?
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.
