Canutian Leadership Is Costing Us More Than Wet Feet
Leadership is under strain.
Not just from the usual suspects (burnout, complexity, mistrust) but from a deeper tension: the dissonance between what leaders are expected to be, and what today’s world actually demands.
We’re pleased to welcome Clare Richmond as a new adviser to Jericho. Clare is a long-standing social innovator, coach and author of The Scavenger Mindset. Her work centres on an idea both counterintuitive and quietly radical: that the most effective leaders in uncertain times are those confident enough to say, “I don’t know.”
In this guest blog, Clare challenges the illusion of control that underpins so much leadership today and makes the case for what she calls The SuperPower of Not Knowing.
Are we setting leaders up to fail?
If you look ahead to the next 6 months or year, what percentage of your plans can you guarantee will happen in the way you hope?
For most of us, the answer to this question is less than 20%.
Given this high level of uncertainty, how is this reflected in the way you work, the conversations you have, the way you feel and how does it affect relationships, key stakeholders and your organisation?
There is a well documented crisis in Leadership. In a recent DDI Global Leadership Forecast, leaders are facing more stress and distrust, leading to increased burnout – with 40% of stressed out leaders considering stepping down and credibility and trust dropping significantly.
In my experience, the big problem lies in the fact that the world has changed, but our views on leadership have not.
This is not surprising. We have not been brought up to expect the unexpected.
We have been led to believe that the world can be ordered, that being in control is within our gift. As Margaret Wheatley says:
“We engage in planning for a world we keep expecting to be predictable”
We have created a nation of Canutian Leaders – like King Canute commanding the tide to stop – resulting in very wet feet, and the danger of drowning.
We need to ReThink Leadership, its role and responsibilities and how we build our relationships.
Leadership is no longer about control but curation; Its not the job of a leader to be ‘right’, but to cultivate high-performing working environments that everyone can contribute to, whether they work together in person, or within a hybrid environment.
We know that there’s more we don’t know than we’re willing to admit – so we must broaden our perspectives and foster a culture that anticipates uncertainty rather than fears it.
The first step in this process is for leaders to adopt a new perspective on their role, one that requires self-reflection, challenge and curiosity and adopt the SuperPower of Not Knowing.
This may sound counterintuitive but it is the first vital step in opening up a more collaborative and innovative environment, reducing stress and overwhelm for leaders and creating a more productive, fulfilling work place.
How I learnt the SuperPower of Not Knowing
My leadership experience began in media marketing. For years I led sales teams running and launching new media. My world was driven by targets, strategy and client engagement.
In every organisation I worked in, the flow of information, who got involved, and how decisions were made were all dictated by rigid job descriptions. When targets weren’t met, the blame game would begin. While I loved the work itself, the environment felt unproductive – learning, innovation and growth were often missed, and this style of leadership rarely brought out the best in people or made the most of the resources available.
This all changed for me when, in 2007, I embarked on a leadership role that was to completely transform my views on leadership and the optimum role it needs to take.
I set up a groundbreaking regeneration project with no funding, no experience, and little sense of strategy. I had no contacts, no official backing, and knew almost nothing about retail or local authorities—which, in hindsight, turned out to be a real advantage.
Like many of the leaders I feature in my book The Scavenger Mindset the success of my project relied heavily on working with what was already there, challenging my assumptions, building strong working relationships and sharing a vision that allowed everyone ownership.
My approach to tackling this complex problem was necessarily very different to the approach I would have taken had I had a brief, budget and experience. I didn’t have the answers, so I needed to find out. I didn’t have the budget so I needed to think differently and bring people with me. In short I had to build a community around this complex problem and act to learn in small viable steps.
The results were astonishing and led to a complete change in my career.
The SuperPower of Not Knowing is about focus. Understanding where you have power and can have impact, being open and upfront about uncertainty and building a congregation of diverse thinking around complex problems.
It introduces a new narrative and role for leadership that is upfront, builds trust, encourages diverse perspectives to enrich learning and innovation and equips people with the confidence to handle change, conflict and innovate.
Why it matters — and what we’re exploring together
Clare’s provocation touches a nerve.
Many of the leaders we work with are asking versions of the same question: How do I lead when the ground won’t stop shifting beneath me? The old answers (more control, more certainty, more performative confidence) aren’t just ineffective. They’re actively doing harm.
At Jericho, we help leaders navigate this new terrain. Not with slogans or prefab solutions, but by creating the space to listen, reflect, challenge and build coalitions of trust and legitimacy around the things that matter most.
If this resonates or if you’re wondering what a more human, more sustainable leadership culture might look like in your organisation – get in touch.
From the July 2025 Jericho Notices Newsletter