Negative Capability: The Overlooked Skill of Adaptable Leaders

The experience of magic stretches our minds - this can help us be better leaders as change happens faster.

I love performing magic. Not just because it’s fun (though it usually is), but because it creates something rare: the feeling of a paradox.

Teller (of Penn & Teller) once said magic is both real and unreal. That tension - between what we know and what we’re seeing - evokes curiosity, wonder, and joy. And, importantly, it forces the mind to stretch beyond what it thought was possible.

That’s the power of awe. It interrupts our sense of certainty about things and invites us to update our mental models. The mystery in the wake of a magic trick has the power to expand our sense of what could be. 

And in that space, where something feels both true and impossible, I believe there’s a powerful lesson for leadership.

Why Leaders Need Negative Capability

Great magic is destabilizing in a mostly enjoyable way. It creates a state of wonder where you don’t know, and yet you’re okay with the not knowing.

That state is what poet John Keats called negative capability: the ability to remain “in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”

It’s a beautiful phrase for what’s becoming one of the most essential leadership skills today.

As the pace of change accelerates and complexity deepens, the pressure on leaders to have all the answers is rising. But while we crave certainty, the best leaders are those who can navigate without it.

Leaders with negative capability don’t panic in ambiguity. They don’t rush to conclusions just to ease the discomfort. Instead, they think In•Possibility - entertaining multiple perspectives, staying open to what they might be missing, and delaying judgment until new insight emerges.

This mindset helps them catch blindspots, spot opportunities faster than the competition, and build more collaborative, engaged teams.

But while the benefits are clear, negative capability is rare.

Why It’s So Hard

Uncertainty is uncomfortable.

When I teach people the phrase “we’re always missing something,” they often report a flicker of anxiety. Our minds crave closure. Not having all the answers creates tension.

But that tension is a reality we can learn to hold.

Because the truth is that we’ll never have all the answers. So we need to develop the skill - the muscle - of being comfortable in the space where many possibilities coexist.

Scientists do this. So do great artists, thinkers, and innovators. As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said:

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.”

It’s not easy. But it’s learnable.

How to Build It

So how do you strengthen this overlooked leadership muscle? Here are a few places to start:

• Seek awe. Look up at the stars. Get lost in the complexity of a tree. Read something that scrambles your worldview. Awe stretches our frameworks and makes space for uncertainty.

• Let yourself be fooled. Watch a magic performance. Let yourself be deceived and enjoy it. The feeling of not knowing can be thrilling, if we learn to welcome it.

• Pause your judgment. When faced with a tough problem or multiple explanations, resist the urge to immediately pick a side. Sit with it. Let the unknown breathe.

• Seek out perspectives. Invite others to challenge your assumptions or share what they see. This stretches your thinking and helps you move beyond your current mental model.

• Ask more questions. Replace the pressure of having the answer with a posture of inquiry. My favourites are:“What am I missing?” - to open blindspots.“What do you see?” -  to invite fresh perspectives.“What if?” -  to entertain multiple possibilities.

  
  

Practicing these habits won’t make uncertainty disappear but they will help you lead with more clarity, presence, and flexibility when it matters most.

Poise Over Panic

Negative capability isn’t about passively floating through chaos. Rather, it’s about poise in the space of possibilities. It’s what allows leaders to move forward with curiosity, humility, and grounded confidence, even when the road ahead is unclear.

The key to adaptability, innovation, and future-readiness lies in our ability to navigate uncertainty and complexity. Building our negative capability will give us the edge and help us and our organizations stay ahead of the curve. 

What helps you stay steady in uncertainty? I’d love to hear your thoughts.