How to lead with confidence when you don’t have the answers

Being the leader can sometimes feel like you’re a human Google: Everyone comes to you expecting an answer – preferably a good, speedy one. But when your internal search engine starts buffering, and there’s no obvious result, it can throw you for a loop.

“Honestly, my first instinct is to panic internally,” says Ng Xiu Hui, an assistant digital marketing manager, of moments in uncertainty. After switching industries from F&B to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), she found herself leading a team with more industry experience than her, making those times she didn’t know the answer all the more daunting.

“Sometimes, my mind really goes blank because I don’t have the perfect textbook answer,” she confesses. This reaction isn’t just reserved for rookie managers – even the most experienced leaders can find themselves drawing blanks when faced with a problem they haven’t encountered before.

In an earlier interview with Her World for our mentorship programme, Christine Goh, commercial senior general manager at Shiseido Singapore, shares that facing uncertainty and being out-of-depth as a leader is not as unusual as one might assume.

“In such times, I choose to take a step back and do a lot of self-reflection,” she says. “If I’m really in a situation where I am unable to get out of a ‘down mood’, I will speak to my own mentor. This encourages and validates me, giving me the courage to move on.”

Siew Ting Foo, former global chief brand and insights officer at HP, remembers how the question marks made her uneasy early in her leadership journey.

“I might feel a bit anxious, but I was not afraid. I treated fear as a source of energy to push me forward,” she shares. Her 25 years of experience, including senior leadership roles at Unilever, Mars, Diageo and Fonterra, have since made her more comfortable with navigating ambiguity.

And that’s something that the leaders we spoke to agree on: Getting comfortable with uncertainty is pivotal to good leadership. “Making decisions at only 70 to 80 per cent of information needs to be a muscle built into all leaders,” Siew Ting says.

Ritika Cabral, a governance and risk professional who has had a 30-year career in finance, knows this well. “We operate today in a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world. The environment is not black and white, and there are multiple shades of grey that we need to work with,” shares the Her World Mentorship Programme 2026 mentor in an interview with us earlier this year.

“Decisions often have to be made based on incomplete information. As a leader, that uncertainty is something you have to get comfortable with.”

The goal, then, isn’t to have every answer ready – it’s to know what to do when you don’t. Simply put, leadership isn’t about eliminating uncertainty, but about learning to navigate it with enough confidence to make a call. So, how do you do that?

Step one: Look at the facts

Start by getting clear on what you do know – and, just as importantly, what you don’t. There’s no shame in being transparent about your uncertainties with your team, either.

“What I’d do is pay more attention to the question and clarify it,” Xiu Hui adds.

For many leaders, grounding potential solutions in facts provides a steady anchor. Says Jill Tan, chief operating officer at Republic Healthcare Group, during our interview for the Her World Mentorship Programme: “I go back to the data. When I feel out of my depth, I strip away the emotion and look at the facts. I also have a ‘right-hand woman’ whom I can call and say, ‘I don’t know the answer to this.’

“Admitting uncertainty isn’t a weakness – it’s the first step towards finding clarity,” she adds.

For Xiu Hui, doing her homework and “over-preparing” is what helps her feel more assured when faced with the unknown. “I really do my due diligence to digest that foreign information, and ask questions to understand the topic,” she says. She also makes it clear when she’s presenting a potential solution rather than a definitive one, and flags when further confirmation is needed.

Step two: Don’t make it a one-woman show

You’re not meant to figure everything out on your own. When the path ahead isn’t clear, there’s no shame in asking for directions.

After coming up with potential solutions, Siew Ting turns to her team for their perspectives, using their input to test her hypotheses. When the stakes are higher, she also seeks advice from mentors both within and outside the business, before arriving at her own decision.

For those new to leadership, she recommends staying open to different perspectives, while remaining anchored to your principles. “Seek help from mentors and other senior leaders,” she says about navigating particularly tough situations. “Build shared accountability, rather than charge forth on your own.”

Asking for help is also something that Ong Si Ying, a first-time manager in the finance industry, is not afraid to do. She approaches uncertainty as a collaborative effort rather than a solo task.

“I would phrase this as a learning journey for the both of us, and encourage the employee to be patient as we could be moving two steps back but three steps forward,” she explains.

“I would also seek their help to find out more details, so that we can regroup and discuss the next course of action together.”

Ritika also emphasises the importance of seeking diverse opinions from stakeholders to avoid blind spots. “I find it helpful to talk things through with a mentor or a trusted sounding board, as they often bring perspectives you may not have considered,” she says.

Step three: Empower your teams

Contrary to popular belief, not every solution needs to come from you. Sometimes, the best answer is already sitting with the people closest to the problem: your team.

For Rae Nah, head of customer experience at Singtel Singapore, it’s a lesson that has shaped how she leads today.

“The role of a leader is not always to provide the answer. It is to frame the problem well, set the ambition clearly, and create the conditions for the best solutions to emerge,” she shares in an earlier interview with Her World.

That means focusing less on telling people exactly how to do things, and more on aligning teams to shape the solution together. According to her, that often creates a stronger solution that any one leader could have prescribed.

In the same vein, Siew Ting says that building trust with your team becomes “extremely important” when navigating ambiguity. To do so, communication is key.

“Being clear on the principles behind the decision-making is critical, so that employees know where you are coming from, and the ‘why’ behind those decisions,” she explains.

“This is part and parcel of building the right conditions for employees to operate.”

Get comfortable with ambiguity

Turn your fear into curiousity

Question marks don’t have to send you into a wide-eyed panic. Give yourself permission to not know, and figure things out as you go.

See it as a growth opportunity

Tackling an unfamiliar problem is often where the most meaningful learning happens. It may be difficult to see a way forward at first, but changing your mindset from fear to opportunity could be the perspective shift you need to find clarity.

Not everything needs an immediate answer

When the stakes are high, it can be tempting to respond quickly just to feel like you’re doing something, but making the right decision matters more than making a fast one.

Remember, you’ve earned your seat

People trust you. That’s why your superiors have put you in the position that you’re in. Chances are, you already have what it takes to make the decisions in front of you.