Event: Annual Leadership Summit
Speaker: Dr. Amanda Foster, CEO
Duration: 15 minutes
Tone: Inspiring, practical, authentic
---
Good morning, everyone.
Three years ago, I stood in our empty headquarters. Desks were abandoned. Plants were dying. The only sound was the HVAC system, which I'd never noticed before because it was always drowned out by human voices.
We had sent 500 people home to work. Nobody knew when—or if—they'd return. I remember thinking: "I have no idea what I'm doing."
That feeling—the discomfort of not knowing—is exactly what I want to talk about today.
We call it "leading through uncertainty." But here's the truth: leadership has always been through uncertainty. The pandemic didn't create ambiguity. It just removed our comfortable illusion of control.
So what actually works when the path forward isn't clear?
Three practices changed everything for me:
First, over-communicate what you know—and what you don't. In early 2020, I sent weekly updates. Some weeks I had answers. Some weeks I had only questions. But my team told me the questions were more helpful than silence pretending to be confidence.
Second, make decisions with the data you have today. Not the data you wish you had. Not the data you'll have next quarter. Today's imperfect information is still better than analysis paralysis.
Third, protect your people's energy, not just their time. We stopped pointless meetings. We eliminated approval processes that existed "because we've always done it that way." We asked: "Does this serve our people or exhaust them?"
Here's what I learned in that empty building: Leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about creating conditions where your team can find answers together.
Thank you.
