The question every leader seems to be asking right now isn’t whether their organization will face turbulence — it’s how they can best navigate through it. Markets shift overnight. Technologies disrupt entire industries. Global events cascade into challenges no one anticipated. The leaders who thrive aren’t those who avoid uncertainty, but those who build the capacity to move through it with confidence and clarity.
We’re happy to tell you that there is a blueprint for this kind of leadership. It comes from a slightly unexpected place, the most extreme environment humans have ever worked in — the final frontier. Turns out the same strategies that keep crews alive 250 miles above Earth, hurtling through space at 17,500 miles per hour, hold the key to leading teams through uncertainty, complexity, and change.
When Colonel Chris Hadfield commanded the International Space Station, the margin for error was zero. Every decision carried life-or-death consequences. Every system malfunction demanded immediate, effective leadership. And there was no calling for backup — the team was on their own in an environment where a single mistake could be catastrophic.
Commanding a spaceship demands exceptional leadership, the same kind required to lead teams through turbulent times. Drawing on 30 years with the military, NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency, Chris shares battle-tested insights on navigating uncertainty, building adaptable teams, and leading with confidence when the stakes are highest and the path forward is unclear.
Reframing Leadership
“The only reason you have leadership is to deal with change and unplanned events,” Chris said. If everything always ran smoothly, you wouldn’t really need leaders. Things would just tick along fine on their own. Leadership becomes essential precisely when change arrives.
As a leader, Chris says it’s important to frame your role with this in mind. Leaders are here to guide people and organizations through the inevitability of change, whether that change is deliberate and planned, or unexpected and disruptive. Both require the same foundational approach.
Three Questions Every Leader Must Answer
When facing uncertainty and change, Chris says three critical questions will determine how effectively you’ll lead:
1. What does success look like?
This may sound mundane, Chris said, but it’s vital. Success is multilayered and constantly evolving. Whether you’re dealing with the next 10 minutes, the next meeting, or the next crisis, you need to be able to answer: if we execute this perfectly, what will we accomplish? Without this clarity, you’ll treat everything as equally urgent and get pulled in every direction.
2. What are the actual stakes?
It’s remarkably easy to overreact or underreact when you don’t clearly understand what’s at risk. Are you dealing with an inconvenience or an existential threat? It’s crucial for leaders to clearly understand the stakes — whether they’re low or catastrophic — so they can prioritize their response appropriately. Otherwise, leaders will end up exhausting their teams by treating every issue as if it’s life or death.
3. What are you doing right now to prepare?
Once you’ve identified what success looks like and what stakes you’re dealing with, the question becomes tactical: what are you doing on a minute-by-minute basis to be ready for the inevitability of change and unforeseen problems?
Building Competence Before Crisis Strikes
The life of an astronaut isn’t about preparing for things to go well, Chris said. It’s about preparing for undesirable change — for things to go wrong. This requires constant, tenacious improvement of competence. “No one will follow you as a leader unless you’ve done the work,” he continued.
This is where resilience gets built. Not in the moment of crisis, but in the preparation beforehand. As an astronaut, running simulations was a way of life. “That’s what we do for a living. We simulate failure. We practice it so we can see where the shortcomings are in our methodology and support systems.”
The same principle applies to business. When a real emergency occurs — whether it’s a cyberattack, a public relations crisis, or a sudden market shift — that’s the worst possible time to start figuring out how to respond. So, practice your response before the crisis hits.
Chris still applies this thinking today to his own organizations, running simulations on critical scenarios like succession planning. He currently serves as a director and advisor to multiple tech companies, including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, and is the co-founder of the Space Stream at the Creative Destruction Lab tech incubator.
The Confidence Gap and How to Close It
Many leaders harbour a secret worry, Chris said. They question, when the real test comes, will they be able to do it? It’s like taking a CPR course and gaining the skill but never being tested. You don’t actually know if you can respond effectively when it matters most, he continued.
If you’re the leader, your team is expecting you to perform under pressure. The only way to get ready for that pressure cooker, Chris said, is to do the homework so you have something to base your confidence on. Without that confidence and those skills, you simply won’t perform when it counts.
This is why how leaders apportion their time matters so much, according to Chris. He recommends using quiet periods strategically, delegating as much as possible so you can focus on staying current with emerging threats. His approach as a fighter pilot was always: anticipate, identify, simulate, and prepare. You develop a depth that allows you to be prepared and feel confident and ready and able.
Keeping Teams Focused Under Pressure
Chris shared several strategies to help leaders keep their teams calm, focused, and productive under pressure as well:
- Reiterate what success looks like, constantly. If people can’t answer what success looks like right now, then they won’t know what to do next. Success must be understood and bought into by the team, then reinforced with high frequency.
- Proactively identify skill gaps. Consistently ask: who’s not ready? Who doesn’t have the skillset they need? Address gaps before they become critical.
- Practice during quiet times. Even in high-stakes environments, most of the time things are relatively quiet. Use those periods deliberately to build skills and run through scenarios.
- Communicate with radical clarity. Make sure people understand the purpose of what they’re doing. State objectives clearly and listen attentively. Create space for people to voice what they’re ready for and what they’re unsure about.
These four strategies do more than just maintain focus, they also build trust. Creating an environment where people feel safe to voice concerns, ask questions, and collaborate openly — especially when mistakes could have serious consequences — doesn’t happen by accident. It requires the intentional effort and practiced skill reflected in these strategies.
Maintaining Perspective in Turbulent Times
It’s tempting to believe that leadership has never been harder than it is right now, that complexity and change have never been more intense. But this perspective is more self-aggrandizing than accurate, Chris said. Every generation of leaders has faced their own set of unprecedented challenges. The McCarthy era, the Vietnam War, economic depressions, technological upheavals — “when was there ever a time in history when you didn’t need good leadership?” he asks.
Reading about how effective leaders handled their specific challenges helps maintain perspective, Chris continued. It prevents panic born from the belief that you’re facing something uniquely impossible. The challenges are real. The uncertainty is genuine. But the principles of good leadership remain constant, even as the circumstances evolve.
Bringing Space-Tested Leadership to Earth
Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades refining these leadership principles — as a fighter pilot and test pilot, through three space missions and commanding the International Space Station, and as a leader in multiple business ventures.
Chris’ keynote presentations, described by Harvard Business Review as “an astonishing display of visual storytelling,” bring these principles to life. Chris is the author of five internationally bestselling books, including An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth and the hit thriller series featuring The Apollo Murders and The Defector. His third book in that series, Final Orbit, was released on October 7, 2025.
Ready to equip your leaders with battle-tested strategies for navigating turbulence and building resilient teams? Contact us to book Chris as your next keynote speaker and give your organization the tools to lead with confidence when the stakes are highest.
