Most leaders walk into uncertainty with a 15-point plan, but Karina Mangu-Ward argues that the plan is almost always going out the window and the leaders who admit that openly are often the ones people trust most. In this episode, Skot sits down with Karina, partner at August and author of Teams That Meet the Moment, to unpack the assumptions that keep teams stuck. They explore why humans are neurologically wired to crave certainty even when certainty is impossible, the difference between avoidable failures and intelligent ones, and why one of the most powerful things a leader can say right now is, “Here’s what I don’t know.”

Karina also introduces her Candid Comms framework, built around three deceptively simple questions that could change how you approach your next one-on-one. The conversation also tackles the goal-setting debate, the real cost of blame culture, and why strategy, superstar talent, and hard work alone are never enough. If your team feels buried in pressure, reactive, and stuck in a failure narrative when they should be learning, this conversation deserves your full attention.

Timestamps 00:00:00 – Cold Start & Intro 00:02:03 – Meet Karina and the Book Launch 00:04:58 – Why Companies Say Agile But Act Rigid 00:06:37 – The Say-Do Gap Nobody Talks About 00:08:48 – What “I Don’t Know” Actually Does to Trust 00:12:31 – When Leaders Protect People From the Truth 00:15:49 – What Kills Learning Faster Than Failure 00:20:28 – How to Actually Build Psychological Safety 00:24:14 – Goals vs. Purpose: What Really Moves Teams 00:34:13 – What to Do When Your Team Hits a Wall 00:41:54 – Takeaways and the Know-It-All Problem

Website: aug.co/book LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/karina-mangu-ward-276a558