For decades, leaders operated under the assumption that uncertainty was temporary: You weathered the storm, waited for clarity and then moved forward with confidence. That approach no longer works in an era where uncertainty is the only constant, and organizations that freeze up waiting for answers will find themselves left behind.

In 2025, we watched companies hit pause as tariffs, political shifts, economic volatility and rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) created a perfect storm of unknowns. Many leaders responded the same way that they did at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They waited to see what would shake out before making decisions and stood frozen in the meantime. But nothing shook out, the uncertainty didn’t resolve and now those same leaders are realizing that they can’t afford to wait any longer.

This shift requires rethinking how we train leaders in the face of permanent uncertainty. The ability to move forward and make smart decisions without having all the answers will be key to remaining competitive in the coming years. Here’s what that looks like.

Building Adaptability Into Your Systems

Developing individual leaders isn’t enough to survive the increasing rate of change and the uncertainty that comes with it. Instead, adaptability must be integrated into an organization’s systems and culture at every level. It is no longer possible to pick just a few priorities and focus exclusively on them — today, everything needs to be parallel pathed to balance efficiency with growth opportunities, short-term execution with long-term strategy and operational excellence with innovation.

This is where many organizations struggle, largely because they’re structured for stability, not agility. Their processes were designed for a world where you could plan three years out with reasonable confidence. That world doesn’t exist anymore and planning even three months out is nearly impossible.

The solution is to create systems that allow employees across departments and functions to move quickly when new information emerges. That means enabling individuals at all levels to make appropriate decisions, rather than waiting for direction through the hierarchy. It requires building feedback loops that surface problems and opportunities faster. It also means creating a culture where experimentation is encouraged and failure is seen as a learning opportunity when applied, instead of a career killer.

Embracing the Human Side of Change

Here is where training becomes critical. An organization can have the best systems in the world, but if its people don’t know how to operate in an environment of constant change, those systems won’t matter. The reality is that most leaders aren’t equipped for this.

AI is an ideal example, because everyone is grappling with what it means for how they operate and what business opportunities the technology could unlock. However, the same people afraid of losing their jobs to AI are being asked to adopt it. Any kind of change is challenging, but a transition that is perceived to threaten your livelihood is even harder.

Moving employees from this place of fear to one of opportunity requires a different kind of leadership. Leaders need to be able to create psychological safety, communicate a compelling vision, and mobilize teams to experiment together. These are skills that require intentional development once taught.

Training Adaptability

Traditional leadership training focused on giving people frameworks and tools to implement as they saw fit in their day-to-day work. That’s still important, but it’s not sufficient. Leaders need to help employees practice making decisions when the path forward isn’t clear, so they can learn how to create alignment around a direction even when the destination might shift.

Training therefore needs to be more experiential and ongoing. Leadership development needs to be embedded into the flow of work with regular opportunities to reflect, learn and adjust. Leaders themselves need to get comfortable learning with their teams, networking with peers and staying curious about what’s happening in the world.

The good news is that many organizations and leaders therein are starting to realize that there is never going to be a clear answer about the future, so they need to figure out how to move in an uncertain world. At the same time, the next generation of leaders need to be trained tobalance multiple priorities at once; they need to be able to spot risks and opportunities by partnering with their teams and asking the right questions, ultimately creating organizations that thrive in uncertainty.

Our research is definitive: Organizations that invest in building adaptability and emboldening leaders who are committed to developing the capability will see the most success. Waiting for clarity will only increase the distance between you and your competitors and leave you behind.