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Thank you. I'm Alison Beard.

I'm Audie Ignatius, and this is the HBR IdeaCast.

Thank you. I'm Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR Ideacast. Adi, what are some of the most important skills that you think leaders out there need to be successful right now?

You know, if you'd asked me a couple years ago, I probably would have said empathy is sort of the number one skill that successful leaders need.

Now I think things are changing so quickly that the number one skill might be an ability to be strategic, an ability to lead a company through a transformation, which is kind of where we are now.

Yeah, I agree. And I'm going to throw out another word that's related, courage.

You know, in periods of deep uncertainty, when you do have this rapid technological change,

shifting economic conditions, new political pressures, it can feel really hard to be brave.

But I think history shows that the best business leaders do find the strength to act

even when the path forward is unclear, even when it feels scary.

I'm thinking of moves like read Hastings and Netflix going all in on streaming.

Or Ed Stack at Dick Sporting Goods, who pulled guns from store shelves after the Parkland

School shooting. You know, neither of them knew that what they were planning would be successful,

but they had gathered enough information that they were willing to take a leap.

Yeah, I mean, you put your finger on two types of courage, and one is pivoting in your strategy when you don't know,

but where you are trying to divine the future and read Hastings is a great example.

But then there's the courage to try to do the right thing when Wall Street maybe isn't applauding

...