The productive power of doubt. What if we lack the leaders we need because of how we think about doubt?

People tend not to like leaders who are unsure and who take time to make decisions. A key part of Dominic Cummings’s role as advisor to the British prime minister was ‘overcoming Boris Johnson’s floundering procrastination’ and forcing him to make a decision. Nicola Reindorp, the incoming chief executive of Crisis Action, held herself back from CEO roles fearing her own doubtfulness. Then she decided to investigate the issue and discovered another side to doubt that is productive and powerful, not the destructive doubt of paralysis and pain, but a productive form of questioning and discovery.