Managing in the Age of Uncertainty

Managing is one thing, but how to manage a high-performing team?

In investing terms, “alpha” measures performance above the market averages. Can managers do the same? How can managers build a team that outperforms?

I’ve heard investing experts talk about “alpha,” but I had to look it up: alpha refers to the excess return an investment generates above what the broader market or a relevant benchmark delivers. It’s essentially the “extra” performance that comes from skill, strategy, or insight — not just riding the market.

For example, if the S&P 500 returns 10% in a year and a portfolio returns 13%, that extra 3% is your “alpha.” It’s the part of your return that can’t be explained by market movements alone — it can be explained by your personal, specific actions and behaviors as the person doing the investing.

Just as investors seek alpha through skill and strategy, managers can generate their own form of alpha by inspiring teams to outperform expectations.

I think the concept of “alpha” is what the best managers are trying to do: have a great team of people that performs better than other teams.

Remember: if your team out-performs expectations, you are creating opportunities for people on your team to be recognized and rewarded — and write a bestselling chapter of their career story. As I write about in this newsletter, in the age of AI — where the corporate ladder no longer provides a consistent career path — millennials and gen-z know they have to chart their own course and want to work for managers who give them a chance to grow and advance.

Meet Ash Seddeek: Making Alpha Actionable for Managers

I’ve said many times that the greatest gift I received from working at Cisco is the large number of amazing people with extraordinary skills that I met. Among them was a young content creator named Ash Seddeek — who’s now an accomplished leadership coach to companies like Cisco, Uber and SalesForce. We could all see his potential back in the day, but it’s amazing to see it play out.

I reached out to Ash because I love that he is focusing on how leaders and managers can build out-performing teams, teams with “alpha.” I wanted to learn more about it and share with the readers of this newsletter.

I knew Ash and I were like-minded, but he had me at “hello” when he said this: “When you talk about managers being the last mile, when it comes to how companies translate strategy into action, people leaders are essentially that frontline battleground where either strategy is going to get executed beautifully, or it’s going to get stalled.”

It’s this idea that “executing beautifully” where “organizational alpha” comes from, according to Ash. “The difference always comes down to the people leaders,” he emphasizes. “It’s about those people leaders who are able to inspire a higher level of action from their team members — and when compared to others, those teams end up creating what we would call organizational alpha.”

A higher level of action. Let that sit for a while.

And then Ash says something we’ve all heard before: “Sometimes in companies, people start saying this: I don’t know what’s going on in this building, but something different is happening.”

Are different things happening in your “building”? Are you building a high-performing, um, out-performing team?

High Performing Teams Have Clarity

We’ve all seen it in sports. The same team gets a new coach and suddenly things change. They start winning, and winning all the time.

Ash says the same is true with managing. He tells me why:

“Yesterday the team had no direction and felt that there is nothing that binds them together; that they have nowhere to go,” he says. “And then a new person comes in, and he or she is able to create a clear sense of direction, a clear common ground and a clear common purpose, and all of a sudden you have a group of people who cannot wait to get up in the morning.”

Ash says — and my experience has proven this out — that clarity of communication is the key for people manager.

“All that changed was the clarity that happened,” he tells me. “Clarity comes from a leader talking about the present and connecting the dots about the past to a place in the future.”

Alpha organizations have a clear sense of purpose — that’s what I’m hearing, and I love it. But I know it is easier said than done.

Homework: 7 Strategies

Ash has some homework for readers of this newsletter. He’s developed seven different strategies for managers to build the necessary clarity of purpose to achieve organizational alpha — to outperform.

How many do you practice?

1) Take Time to Reflect

Dedicate intentional time to step back, assess strategic priorities, and connect the dots across your organization. Reflection fuels insight on long-term vision, stakeholder engagement, and personal growth.

2) Create Positive Tension

Challenge the status quo and drive change by creating productive tension between current reality and desired future state. Engage stakeholders, build urgency, and develop robust change management plans.

3) Create Meaning

Foster purpose, fulfillment, and alignment by connecting daily work to a compelling vision. Inspire shared purpose, recognize contributions, and lead with authenticity and integrity.

4) Be Relentlessly Impatient

Create a sense of urgency and bias for action. Challenge complacency, celebrate quick wins, and lead by example to drive momentum toward strategic goals.

5) Communicate & Create Alliances

Build cross-functional collaboration through effective communication. Nurture strategic relationships, break down silos, and foster two-way dialogue that drives alignment and innovation.

6) Build Capacity

Develop capabilities for long-term organizational success. Invest in leadership development, foster a learning culture, encourage cross-training, and build a sustainable talent pipeline.

7) Get Out Of The Way

Empower others by delegating effectively, encouraging autonomy, and cultivating a culture of trust. Provide feedback and support while giving your team the space to achieve their goals and develop as future leaders.

Try Career Story Builder

Recently I launched an AI-powered tool called “Career Story Builder” to provide a mentor, coach and buddy to help people write best-sellers about themselves — and why they’re ready for the next skills-based role.

Give the Career Story Builder a try. It’s free and unlimited. I’d also love to hear your feedback about how to make it better. It’s new and I’m sure it can be improved. Send me a DM with any thoughts.

In Summary: Principles of Managing in the Age of Uncertainty

• I left Cisco to answer this question with research and evidence: What does the manager of the future look like? What are millennials and gen-z seeking in a manager? Which behaviors, tactics, skills or processes matter? What’s it going to take to attract and keep the best people over the next decade? In short, how to be a great manager.

• Based on this research, the core philosophy of this newsletter is rooted in one idea: successful managers in this moment in time, for this generation of talent, need to be “career dot-connectors.” The next-gen doesn’t expect to spend their entire career on your team — that’s an idea boomers grew up with. A job on your team is like a chapter in a career story to the current generation. If you want the best people on your team, you have to connect the dots between roles on the team and the career opportunities of the people working on the team.

• What is the“Age of Uncertainty”? If the industrial age was about taking predictable steps up the ladder, the age of uncertainty is about finding or discovering the path of a career without any predictable steps, without an obvious ladder — it’s why being a career dot-connector will differentiate you as a manager.

• How to be a Great Manager in the Age of Uncertainty: Be a Career Dot Connector is available on Amazon.

• What kind of manager are you? Take my free self-assessment and learn about yourself.