I used to think clarity meant having the answers.

Now I know it usually means asking better questions.

Most leadership breakdowns I see don’t come from bad intentions or weak talent. They come from leaders assuming everyone understands what feels obvious to them.

But clarity in your head is not clarity in the room.

Teams don’t struggle because they don’t care.
They struggle because they’re guessing.

Guessing what matters most.
Guessing how decisions are made.
Guessing which tradeoffs are acceptable.
Guessing what “good” actually looks like.

And guessing quietly erodes confidence.

The moment a leader says the obvious out loud, something changes.
People relax.
Execution speeds up.
Ownership increases.

Not because people suddenly became smarter.
But because they’re no longer operating in fog.

Strong leadership today isn’t about certainty.
It’s about orientation.

Naming priorities.
Making assumptions explicit.
Saying “this matters more than that.”
And being willing to revisit decisions as new information shows up.

If your team feels stuck, don’t push harder.
Try clarifying faster.

The question I ask most often with leadership teams is simple:

What do you know in your head that your team hasn’t heard yet?

That’s usually where the work begins.