Peter Drucker once said that “the greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” This is especially true when considering the impact of leadership assumptions during such times.
Drucker was a brilliant management thinker, one of the few who could see around corners. He knew that a lot of leadership assumptions are outdated because he was paying attention to how the world actually works, and how people misread it.
I’ve been thinking about that quote a lot lately, because let’s be honest, these are turbulent times.
We are watching conflict escalate around the world. Our political system feels like it’s breaking under its own weight. We are in an inflationary environment that is quietly reshaping how people spend, live, and think about the future.
And the hardest part is this.
It’s unpredictable.
The ground is shifting, and most people can feel it, even if they can’t quite explain it.
Which makes leadership harder than it’s been in a long time. Lately, much of that difficulty comes from unexamined leadership assumptions that many still hold.
In my book, Subtle Shifts, I wrote about the importance of thinking about your thinking. I encouraged everyone to step back and quietly examine the assumptions driving their decisions, because when the world changes, your assumptions have to change with it.
If we don’t, we end up acting with yesterday’s logic, and as Drucker said: that is the greatest danger we face. Leadership assumptions tend to linger even as circumstances change.
So this week, I want to invite you to pause for a moment and question a few assumptions many managers still operate under today.
7 Assumptions That Are Quietly Undermining Your Leadership
1. My job is to have the answers
Managers often feel their value lies in being decisive and providing solutions. This leads them to step in quickly, offer answers, and drive decisions. Over time, this limits the team’s thinking and creates an overreliance on the manager. Strong leadership today is less about having answers and more about creating the conditions for better thinking.
2. More oversight leads to better performance
Do you believe that staying close to the work, checking in frequently, and monitoring progress will improve results? That is great, but excessive oversight can slow down decision-making and condition people to wait for direction rather than think for themselves. If you want to improve performance, let go of your need to be in control. Focus instead on ensuring that ownership is clear and support is available. These are important shifts in modern leadership assumptions.
3. Being busy means we’re productive
Triple-booked calendars, constant emails, and an overloaded to-do list make us feel important, but busyness destroys our productivity. Even worse, it keeps us from being effective because we struggle to see the forest for the trees. Being effective today is less about volume of activity and more about clarity of focus.
4. If I explain it well enough, they’ll get it
Are you an over-explainer? Do you explain, clarify, and repeat? Do you ever feel like you try so hard to help people understand, yet they leave the same conversation with different interpretations, leading to inconsistent execution? The gap is not in how well something is explained, but in whether understanding is actually shared and confirmed.
5. Good people don’t need much direction
Don’t assume that capable, high-performing individuals will figure things out on their own. This is true, but it doesn’t mean they need zero supervision. People want clear context, priorities, and boundaries, and great leaders provide them. Without that, even strong performers can drift or invest energy in the wrong areas. Direction is not about control; it is about focus.
6. Speed is always an advantage
In fast-moving environments, managers push for quicker action and assume speed will create momentum. But when decisions and actions are rushed without sufficient thought, the result is rework, misalignment, and eventual slowdown. Speed only helps when it is paired with clarity. Otherwise, it creates drag later.
7. Accountability means holding people responsible after the fact
Do you wait until the end to address the accountability issue? Too many managers wait until it is too late to play the accountability game, and their reactive approach misses the point. Accountability is established upfront through clear expectations, agreements, and ownership. Ask people for commitments and be explicit about them. Don’t be vague and assume accountability.
The Subtle Shift
Don’t respond to turbulent times with your standard set of assumptions. Instead, think carefully about your leadership assumptions moving forward.
Think about your thinking and consider how the things you believe are triggering the actions you conceive.
And if you want to learn more about how you can shift your assumptions, pick up a copy of my book. It’s available everywhere books are sold.
