“I don’t know—but let’s find out.”

The Leadership Superpower Everyone Overlooks

By Bryan Kaus

The most underrated phrase in leadership at all levels? “I don’t know—but let’s find out.”

It’s not a weakness. It’s a signal- of confidence, clarity, and respect for complexity of reality.

If we relied only on what we personally observe or calculate, we’d fall short—especially in high-stakes, fast-moving environments. Leadership isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about knowing who to ask, how to listen, and when to act.

In energy, this plays out constantly.

No one person can single-handedly see around the corners of geopolitics, policy shifts, supply chain volatility, and commodity cycles. But when operators, engineers, analysts, and commercial teams bring their expertise together, patterns emerge. The fog clears.

The best decisions I’ve seen didn’t come from a corner office - they came from the floor, the field, the plant, the meeting where someone said, “Here’s what we’re really seeing.”

It’s tempting to think leadership means having the answers. In reality, it’s about building systems of trust - and learning how to extract the signal from a sea of noise.

The so-called “wisdom of the crowd” only works when you know which voices matter for which questions. It’s not about the average opinion. It’s about the right insight, at the right time, from the right person(s).

Good leaders don’t pretend to know everything. The more we know, the more there is to know.

We must build the environments where the best thinking surfaces - then they make the call.

And in times of uncertainty or volatility, that’s what moves organizations forward.