Leading through unprecedented times requires leaders to rethink how they understand resiliency
New York, New York / September 25, 2026 – Most people in leadership roles right now probably wish they were living in precedented times. Pages and pages have been written about increasing rates of change and how to build resiliency into teams in these uncertain times. For women in leadership roles a lot of this advice likely reads as hollow and more than a little repetitive. Is there any woman who has made it into any leadership role without weapons grade resiliency?
The challenge for women in leadership during an inflection point isn’t necessarily helping their teams manage a pivot. The challenge is being an example for how to act and make decisions when the pivot isn’t clear. What do you do when there are no obvious answers? When refining the business model might not be enough? How do you model leadership when there are many emergent futures happening at once? That requires a different skillset than steadily shepherding operations down a known and expected path.
Transmutation: leading into the unknown
Inflection points aren’t just a challenging moment. In biology, they are the point where a system chooses to move into a new direction in response to an adaptive dilemma. Often these adaptive dilemmas arrive because current ways of existing have become too rigid or aren’t suited for recent environmental changes. The same things can happen in business. Organizations can become hidebound over time, creating a set of circumstances where things work until they don’t. When things aren’t working, the inability of a team to adapt is revealed.
When an inflection point is reached, leaders need to be willing to experiment and be transparent about it. Disruption and change is uncomfortable for everyone. Leaders that acknowledge this and that they too are trying to manage through the unknown builds more credibility than trying to muscle through.
This is where understanding transmutation can be helpful. At an inflection point it’s not just the organization that must change but also the leadership styles that will carry it to the next level. That means being willing to break down every structure and framework to clear the path for something new. When a caterpillar goes into its cocoon it doesn’t look for ways to keep its caterpillar body and add wings. It drops everything into a primordial goo and reemerges as something new entirely.
Women do this all the time at all stages of life and it’s the skillset that can provide the most value during times of high disruption.
Experimentation and integration: leading with action
Leadership at an inflection point requires action. There are times when leadership requires delegating, or being a good diplomat. But when an organization is charting a new path, leadership is much more hands on.
Responding effectively to an inflection point requires a willingness to try new things and hold space for possibility. The action comes in deciding quickly to integrate what works, while just as quickly discarding what doesn’t.
In the moment, inflection points feel very high stakes. They often come with a lot of pressure. You feel it and so does your team. If you create the space for your team to work through the uncertainty and try to find solutions without the fear of failure, the collective temperature comes down. Solutions will reveal themselves more easily in this scenario. When things start working again – even just one or two things – that can create a foundation for positive momentum.
But, if everything feels make or break, very often teams respond through paralysis. Paralysis makes it impossible to build momentum. Momentum is what supports integration and ultimately transformation. It is the pathway out of disruption and into maturity.
For women in investment leadership, it can feel especially challenging to create space for failure. The culture of investment teams is often focused entirely on looking for wins. But there is a way to reframe this. Maintaining a team or an approach that is ultimately misaligned – whether that be to an investment goal or a market regime – always costs more than being willing to look for aligned solutions.
At the upcoming AIF Women Investors’ Forum on October 1 in New York, NY, leading investors, industry practitioners and facilitators will come together to discuss strategies and action steps leaders can take when they find their organizations at an inflection point. Participants will have the option to share lessons learned and network with veteran investment professionals.