When Leadership Feels Like Drifting: Relearning the Art of Wayfinding
Modern leadership can feel a lot like being at sea. Meetings stack up like waves, emails roll in without end, and even the best-laid plans seem to drift off course. Many leaders I talk to aren’t short on effort or intelligence — they’re short on clarity. They’re steering hard but can’t quite tell if the boat is still pointed in the right direction.
It’s an understandable feeling. The world is fast, reactive, and noisy. But what if leadership isn’t about steering harder? What if it’s about seeing more clearly?
The Wisdom of Wayfinding
Across the Pacific, traditional navigators once crossed thousands of miles of open ocean without maps or compasses. They practiced wayfinding: reading the subtle patterns of wind, waves, stars, and birds to understand where they were, even when no land was in sight. They didn’t fight the ocean. They learned to travel with it.
In that worldview, leadership isn’t control. It’s awareness. It’s understanding your environment, your people, and yourself deeply enough to move together in the right direction. In Polynesian traditions, two ideas have long shaped this way of being:
Va — the relational space that connects people, responsibilities, and communities. Healthy leadership honors that space.
Mana — the integrity and spiritual energy that grows when we lead with authenticity and care.
These concepts remind us that good leadership is less about authority and more about alignment, with self, with others, and with purpose.
When the Compass Starts to Spin
If you’ve been leading for a while, you may recognize the signs that you’ve started to drift:
You’re reacting to every wave instead of reading the tides.
You’ve lost the connection between daily actions and long-term purpose.
Your team seems to be pulling in different directions.
You’re moving fast, but not necessarily forward.
These moments are often seen as failures, but they’re really part of the voyage. The question is how to reorient without burning out or doubling down on control.
That’s what inspired me to create Leadership Navigation Coaching, not another leadership framework, but a practice of orientation. It’s a space for leaders to pause, observe, and reconnect, to develop the awareness and confidence to navigate complexity rather than resist it. The process blends structured reflection and strategic thinking with the deeper work of noticing: noticing patterns, noticing people, noticing yourself.
Clients often arrive looking for tools, and leave with perspective. They rediscover a sense of direction, even in uncertain waters. This approach draws on both sides of my work: the practical tools of theory of change, logic models, and strategic planning; and the human side of leadership, where clarity, balance, and presence matter most.
Finding Your Direction
You can’t control every current. But you can learn to read them and trust your own compass again.
If that idea resonates, I invite you to explore Leadership Navigation Coaching, a new HB3 offering for those ready to lead with clarity, presence, and purpose.
