The Decisiveness Crisis in Senior Leadership Teams: Sam Conniff
From Creative Confidence Podcast by IDEO U
June 4, 2026 · 1h 1m
About this episode
This episode discusses the decisiveness crisis in senior leadership teams and how leaders can better navigate uncertainty.
Two thirds of leaders say they would rather be seen as decisive and get it wrong than appear uncertain and get it right. It may sound illogical, but it's actually the result of decades of organizational culture training leaders that decisiveness equals strength and that not knowing is a liability. In this episode, Mina Seetharaman talks with Sam Conniff, founder of Uncertainty Experts and author of The Uncertainty Toolkit, about the data behind what he calls the decisiveness crisis, why senior leadership teams are the most likely layer in most organizations to get uncertainty wrong, and three learnable questions that help leaders make better decisions without pretending to have answers they don't have. This is part of an ongoing series of conversations about uncertainty on the Creative Confidence Podcast. Subscribe to catch them all. Related Resources: The Uncertainty Toolkit: How to Feel Calmer, Happier, and More Confident in an Uncertain World, by Sam Conniff — https://www.uncertaintyexperts.com/the-uncertainty-toolkit Sam Conniff on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/samconniff Uncertainty Experts — https://www.uncertaintyexperts.com How to Stop Fighting Uncertainty &…
People in this episode
Host: Mina Seetharaman
Guest: Sam Conniff
Topics covered
- decisiveness crisis
- leadership
- organizational culture
- uncertainty
- decision making
- senior leadership teams
Keywords
- decisiveness
- leadership teams
- uncertainty
- decision making
- organizational culture
- Sam Conniff
- The Uncertainty Toolkit
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Uncertainty Experts, IDEO U
Books & works: The Uncertainty Toolkit
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