What I learned at Harvard that changed everything…
June 2023. I'm sitting in a classroom at Harvard Kennedy School, listening to Professor Ron Heifetz. He says something that stops me: “Leadership is the work of disappointing people”.
Over past two years I have recommended his frameworks, his books to many of my clients as well as run Adaptive Leadership workshop to the organizations across Europe and Middle east. His Adaptive Leadership framework is brilliant. Mind-shifting. Essential for today’s reality although created decades ago.
But brilliant frameworks don't implement themselves. As I watched leader after leader struggle to apply Prof. Heifetz's insights, a question kept surfacing:
How do leaders get themselves into a place where they can actually DO this work?
The work of Adaptive Leadership. Because – the work is not simple. It requires one ability to self-reflect and take a step back to “go on the balcony” to see the bigger picture as well as be in the middle of the ‘dance floor” to take action and work through when the heat is high.
It requires the work of turning the heat up or down to increase the pressure for the team to perform, just strong enough that the speed and results accelerates, but not so strong that people fall off the edge.
It requires for a leader to serve as a container to hold space for teams to process their anxiety, work through their disagreements, conflicts and issues to be able to do to the work that matters.
It requires the mindset of inclusivity and humility to surface the voices from below, to navigate dynamics and politics. It asks a lot from a leader to do this work.
Look at what disappointing people actually demands of a leader:
Stamina
Character
Purpose
Emotional and mental capacity
Relational Intelligence
Sense making ability
Influence skills to mobilize teams
Ability to sit in uncertainty without jumping to conclusions.
It requires resourcing yourself to hold space for others.
It requires the strength to take the heat when you raise the bar and mobilize people toward work, they don't want to do but are meant to do.
Read that list again. Now ask yourself: How many leaders do you know who possess all of this and can sustain it under pressure, month after month?
I've been sitting with this question for 18 months: thinking, coaching, observing leaders across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
And I've come to realize something crucial:
You can't do the work if you don't have the capacity to do it.
To do the work of Adaptive Leadership, the kind our world desperately needs, leaders must first expand their capacity to hold more, lead under pressure, and carry themselves before they can carry others.
The word 'capacity' comes from the Latin capax – ‘able to take, contain’ and capere – ‘to take, to seize’ . Combined, they mean: something that can take in a lot. Space. Volume. Ideas. Complexity.
Capacious is the adjective for someone who can hold a lot.
This is what leaders need to become.
We're living through what organizational theorists call 'permacrisis', a state where uncertainty is no longer the exception but the operating condition.
Geopolitical instability. Tech disruption. Climate shocks. Constant turmoil.
Waiting for clarity means falling behind.
Here's what I observe daily in my work: Talented leaders feeling stuck. Problem-solving slowing down. Creativity dimming or replaced by AI work-slop (see HBR reference).
Burnout knocking on doors.
These leaders don't lack skills. They lack the Adaptive Capacity to lead effectively under these conditions.
If someone thinks this is temporary challenge that will resolve itself, they might be in for a surprise. This isn't about resilience - bouncing back after a crisis hits.
It's about expansion - building the capacity to hold more while you're in it.
Resilience assumes crises are temporary. Capacity building assumes they're continuous.
There is some silver lining though. Uncertainty is not going away. The leaders who will thrive are not those who have all the answers , they are those who can sense clearly, mobilize wisely, resource sustainably, and evolve continuously.
This capacity can be built.
The question isn't whether you'll face sustained uncertainty and pressure. You already are.
The question is: Will you expand your capacity to meet it or will you keep trying to do more with the same container that's already full?
What does "permacrisis" look like in your organization right now? Where are you feeling the capacity crunch most acutely?
Drop me a note or comment below - I'd love to know.
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References:
https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivity
Adaptive Leadership book: https://store.hbr.org/product/leadership-on-the-line-with-a-new-preface-staying-alive-through-the-dangers-of-change/10125