The Best Leaders Don’t Have the Answers

Key Takeaways

• Innovation starts when leaders drop the pressure to be the answer person and open the door to curiosity.
  
• Curiosity reframes uncertainty into possibility, shifting fear into collective opportunity.
  
• Asking stronger questions builds trust and engagement, turning teams into collaborators rather than bystanders.
  
• Admitting you don’t know sparks creativity and fuels breakthroughs by making space for experimentation.
  
• Co-creating vision with your team leads to shared ownership, faster execution, and more resilient strategies.

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Imagine sitting at the head of a conference table with all eyes on you. As a business leader, you’ve likely felt the pressure to always have an answer. Many leaders fear that admitting “I don’t know” will be seen as a weakness. But clinging to certainty often backfires. In reality, innovative leadership is born from curiosity, not from pretending to know it all. The best leaders aren’t answer machines; they’re the ones asking the most insightful questions.

Innovation thrives when you stop trying to have all the answers

When leaders let go of the need to have all the answers, something counterintuitive happens – innovation accelerates. I learned this the hard way by stifling my own company’s growth. During a candid 360° feedback session, one team member told me I was asking for their input but already had my mind made up, so they never felt truly involved. That hit hard. I realized my “visionary” leadership style – always jumping in with a solution – was shutting down my team’s ideas. I wasn’t alone. While 84% of CEOs believe innovation is critical to growth, only 6% are satisfied with their company’s innovation performance. Clearly, trying to single-handedly own every answer isn’t working.

I stopped rushing in with answers and started listening. Instead of dominating strategy meetings, I posed open-ended questions and gave my team space to respond. The change was immediate. Team members grew more confident offering bold ideas, and our company became more agile. Within a few years of leading with genuine curiosity, our firm’s profitability doubled. Once I let go of the pretense of knowing everything, we unlocked creative solutions I could never have imagined alone. Innovation thrives when leaders trade certainty for curiosity, making room for ideas beyond their own.

Curiosity turns uncertainty into opportunity

Business today is unpredictable as markets shift overnight when crises erupt. When a major market change upended one of my “foolproof” plans, clinging to that plan would have sunk us, but questioning our assumptions saved us. Curiosity turned uncertainty from a threat into an opportunity. Instead of reacting in panic, I began asking, “What are we missing? How else could we approach this?” That mindset transformed a volatile situation into a chance to discover new paths.

This approach isn’t just my anecdote. In one global survey, 62% of managers said encouraging curiosity improved team efficiency and productivity, and 62% said it boosted creative thinking. I saw the same dynamic in my company. When COVID-19 hit and there was no “correct” answer for what to do next, we openly explored options together. We held “uncertainty brainstorms” where no idea was off the table. That process sparked initiatives – from new services to a marketing pivot – that helped us not only survive the chaos but find fresh growth opportunities. By meeting uncertainty with curiosity instead of false certainty, you invite your team to innovate their way through the unknown.

Asking better questions builds stronger teams

The simple act of asking better questions – and truly listening to the answers – can transform your team’s culture. I used to play the heroic leader who swooped in with solutions, unintentionally signaling that my team’s input wasn’t needed. The result? People shut down. That 360° review was a wake-up call: my team had largely disengaged. It was painful proof that I needed to start asking instead of telling.

When leaders show genuine curiosity about employees’ perspectives, it flips a switch. They feel valued and heard, which boosts trust and morale. Barely four in ten Canadian employees trust their senior leaders, so it is no surprise when 83% of executives say they encourage open dialogue but only 52% of employees feel heard. If your people sense that input isn’t truly wanted, they’ll hold back their best ideas or disengage entirely.

The solution is simple: involve them. I began actively asking my team for ideas in areas I once dictated. More importantly, I let them finish their thoughts without jumping in. I also used follow-up prompts like, “Tell me more about your thinking.” As my team saw I was sincerely interested, they opened up. People who rarely spoke up started sharing suggestions. We began solving problems faster because we combined our brainpower instead of relying on mine alone. Over time, as everyone took ownership of the process, my team became a tight-knit unit that tackles challenges collaboratively.

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Admitting you don’t know fuels creative breakthroughs

There’s a powerful phrase every leader should use more often: “I don’t know – what do you think?”. Admitting you don’t have the answer isn’t incompetence; it’s confidence and trust in your team. Early in my career, I thought I had to project certainty 24/7. In truth, when a leader sheds the façade of having all the answers, it frees everyone to start problem-solving together. Simply saying, “I’m not sure how we’ll solve this – let’s figure it out together,” invites others to contribute ideas without fear.

This vulnerability from the top creates psychological safety – the foundation of an innovative team. When employees feel safe to speak up and take risks, they share ideas that would otherwise stay hidden. Data backs this up: only 30% of workers strongly agree their opinions count at work, but raising that to 60% links to a 27% drop in turnover and a 12% jump in productivity. In other words, when people know their voices matter, they stick around and give their best effort.

My team actually grew more respectful once I started acknowledging what I didn’t know. My honesty gave them permission to experiment and they began suggesting bold, sometimes risky ideas. Some failed, but many led to breakthroughs. In fact, some of our most innovative ideas were born in meetings where I began by admitting I didn’t have the solution. By creating a safe space for exploration, you unlock your team’s full creative potential.

Co-creating the vision with your team sparks collective innovation

Many CEOs assume they must single-handedly set the vision. I tried that, and watched my “perfect” plans fall apart when conditions changed. The truth is, no leader can foresee every twist in the road. Vision in a vacuum leads to fragile plans. The alternative is co-creating the vision with your team. Involving your people in shaping the roadmap taps a collective intelligence far beyond your own. The ideas get better, and buy-in skyrockets.

Co-creation turns strategy into a dialogue rather than a decree. At my company, we replaced the typical annual strategy meeting (where I used to unveil my plan) with a collaborative workshop. We posed a big question to the group: “What are we not delivering that our customers really need?” Employees from every level shared insights, and we incorporated the best of those ideas into our new vision and goals. The result was a strategic plan that everyone felt ownership of,  because they had helped create it.

Execution sped up because team members were already invested in the shared vision. Innovation became a team sport rather than a top-down mandate. And research bears this out: employees with inclusive managers were 3× more likely to say their workplace was innovative. When people are included in plotting the course, they bring more energy, creativity, and accountability to achieving it. Involving your team in co-creating the future isn’t just a feel-good exercise – it’s a smart way to build an agile, resilient organization.

How Curious as Hell Helps Leaders Innovate Through Curiosity

The principles above were hard-won lessons from my leadership journey. They inspired Curious as Hell, a framework for moving from “having all the answers” to “asking the right questions.” This approach tackles the pain points of traditional leadership head-on by providing direct, practical guidance that replaces the pressure to know everything with the confidence to lead through curiosity and collaboration.

Most importantly, this framework is rooted in real business experience, not theory. It aligns with the benefits we explored above: building trust by asking better questions, sparking innovation by admitting you don’t know, and igniting engagement by co-creating the vision. The tone is no-nonsense because Canadian business leaders don’t need fluff, they need insight they can act on. By applying these principles, you won’t just lighten your own burden; you’ll empower your entire team to innovate and grow together, fueled by a culture of curiosity.

Common Questions

How can I stop feeling pressure to always have the right answers as a leader?

Leaders often feel that knowing everything is expected, but this pressure drains energy and limits creativity. Shifting to curiosity allows you to frame uncertainty as a strength rather than a weakness. Asking better questions signals confidence and opens space for others to contribute their insights. Over time, you’ll reduce stress, deepen trust, and improve performance by modelling that leadership is about curiosity, not control. Curious as Hell helps you apply these ideas practically, so your team benefits while you gain clarity.

What are practical ways curiosity can help me manage uncertainty at work?

Uncertainty is unavoidable, but curiosity turns it into opportunity instead of paralysis. When you ask open-ended questions, you uncover fresh perspectives that lead to solutions you wouldn’t reach alone. This approach builds resilience in your team, helping them respond constructively rather than freeze. By fostering curiosity in your daily routines, you create a culture where uncertainty becomes a source of energy, not fear. Curious as Hell shows leaders how to embed these practices in meaningful ways.

How does asking better questions impact team engagement?

Teams disengage when they feel their input is irrelevant or ignored. Strong questions demonstrate genuine interest in others’ thinking, sparking dialogue and encouraging people to contribute openly. Over time, this builds trust, fuels creativity, and makes people feel ownership in the outcomes. Instead of carrying the full load yourself, you share it across a motivated, committed team. Curious as Hell equips leaders to apply questioning strategies that create stronger, more engaged workplaces.

Why is admitting I don’t know important for leadership innovation?

Admitting you don’t have all the answers signals vulnerability, which builds trust and opens the door to shared problem-solving. Far from weakening your authority, it encourages your team to experiment, share bold ideas, and tackle challenges together. Creative breakthroughs happen when people feel safe to test new approaches. Leading with curiosity, instead of certainty, makes space for this. Curious as Hell provides examples of how to use “I don’t know” as a strength in your leadership.

How can co-creating vision with my team improve business outcomes?

When employees help shape a company’s direction, they feel invested in the results and motivated to execute. Co-created vision sparks ownership and collective accountability, turning strategy into a shared mission. This alignment accelerates execution and strengthens innovation across the business. Leaders who invite participation gain more agile, resilient teams that carry the vision forward. Curious as Hell demonstrates how to structure collaboration so both leaders and teams benefit.

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