What Today’s Workplace Demands of Us—and How to Respond
I’ve spent the past two decades working with leaders navigating change. And lately, something feels different. Not just because the pace is faster or the pressure is higher, but because the demands of work itself have changed. What used to be occasional complexity is now constant. The strategies that once brought clarity—set a direction, align the team, move forward—aren’t cutting it anymore.
We need a new approach. One that helps us lead through contradiction, ambiguity, and competing needs—all at once. In my work, I’ve been developing a framework called SHIFT to support this kind of leadership—not as a formula, but as a way to build the internal and organizational capacity to lead when there’s no single “right” answer.
What’s Actually Changed?
It’s not just that work feels heavier—it’s that it’s asking something new from all of us.
Leaders aren’t just managing tasks or tracking performance anymore. They’re holding space for people processing the loss of what they once knew—how work used to feel, how it used to flow—and the very real fear of becoming obsolete. FOBO is quietly everywhere, especially in moments of reorgs, AI disruption, or shifting expectations.
The old playbook—set a direction, optimize for outcomes, control what you can—can’t keep up with the multidirectional nature of work now. Leadership isn’t just top-down or forward-looking anymore. It’s relational, iterative, and often uncomfortable.
Here’s what I see showing up most often:
Change isn’t episodic. It’s constant. Leaders can’t just “manage” it—they have to lead within it, while helping others find their footing.
Power isn’t positional. Influence flows through relationships, trust, and clarity—not just titles or org charts.
Solutions aren’t solo. The problems we face now require more voices, more perspectives, more willingness to be wrong and try again.
Tech isn’t replacing us. But it is reshaping how we relate to our work, to each other, and to ourselves. Leaders who can bridge human needs and digital realities are the ones who move teams forward.
Purpose isn’t peripheral. It’s what helps people stay engaged in the messiness. But it has to be real, not performative—woven into how decisions get made and how people are treated.
None of this is easy. But it’s real. And the leaders who are willing to meet that reality—not with control, but with clarity and curiosity—are the ones who are building what comes next.
So How Do We Respond?
When you’re leading in a world that’s pulling you in multiple directions—performance and care, structure and agility, present needs and future unknowns—it’s tempting to try to do it all. Or to freeze. Or to retreat into what’s worked before, even if it no longer fits.
But the most effective leaders I work with aren’t doing more. They’re leading differently.
Here are five strategies I’ve seen help people stay steady, responsive, and human in the midst of complexity:
1. Regulate before you react.
Before you can lead others through tension, you have to know how to stay grounded in it. That doesn’t mean pretending to be calm—it means learning how to work with your own nervous system so you don’t lead from fear or urgency. Clarity starts there.
2. Name the tensions, don’t avoid them.
Trying to resolve every contradiction is a fast track to burnout. A more honest approach is to name the competing needs—performance and rest, autonomy and alignment, certainty and experimentation—and help people see they’re not doing it wrong. The tension is the work.
3. Build psychological safety on purpose.
People won’t take risks, ask hard questions, or challenge groupthink if they don’t feel safe to do so. That safety doesn’t happen by accident—it happens when leaders consistently model humility, curiosity, and accountability.
4. Prioritize learning over knowing.
The pace of change means we’ll get things wrong. Leaders who show they’re learning—who update, adjust, and invite feedback—don’t lose authority. They build trust.
5. Connect today’s work to a future that matters.
Whether it’s mission, meaning, or just making it to next quarter, people need to know how their effort fits into something bigger. In complex systems, alignment isn't about forcing compliance—it’s about helping people understand where they’re going, and why it matters.
Where We Go From Here
There’s no single method or model that makes this easy. But there is a way of showing up that makes it possible.
The leaders I see thriving right now aren’t the ones chasing mastery or waiting until things feel clear. They’re the ones willing to stay present in the mess. To move with curiosity instead of certainty. To listen, adjust, and act—with care and with conviction.
They’ve stopped trying to resolve the tension—and started learning how to lead inside it.
That’s the heart of what the SHIFT framework is designed to support. Not a rigid set of steps, but a way of building capacity—for self-awareness, for strategy, for connection, for complexity. The kind of capacity we need if we want to lead in ways that are both sustainable and real.
The path forward isn’t about picking a side. It’s about learning to navigate.
If you’re looking to build these capacities in yourself or your team, The Regulated Mind at Work starts April 21. It’s a short, practical experience focused on internal steadiness, clarity, and leadership under pressure. You can check it out here →