Hamish Wilson is Director and Co-founder of Wasafiri.
What does leadership look like in complexity?
Complex environments aren’t just tests of what you know; they’re tests of who you are.
I’ve spent much of my career in places where the ground was literally shifting: earthquakes in Pakistan, refugee camps in Uganda, recovery efforts after the Southeast Asian tsunami, UN operations in Somalia, work on violent extremism in northern Kenya, and so on. It’s never been about chasing war or disaster… for me, it’s always been about working with people and communities. And one question has always driven me:
How do you help people move forward when everything feels impossible?
Over the years, I’ve learned that leading through complexity is rarely about heroics or hierarchy. It’s about how you show up, how you act when nothing is clear, and how you bring others with you.
Here are three lessons that continue to shape how I think about leadership in complex times.
1. Human-centred leadership
When things get tough, it’s easy to think leadership means taking charge, raising your voice, or finding the right answer. But in every challenging environment I’ve worked in, real leadership has looked very different.
In my experience, it shows up in the people doing the small, unglamorous things that hold everything together. In Uganda for example, the person everyone turned to wasn’t the ‘big boss’. It was a woman called Esther, a quiet, humble project manager who knew everyone in the camp. She was someone who built trust one conversation at a time.
To me, this is leadership at its most human. It’s about presence, not position. It’s about making others feel seen, safe, and capable, even when you don’t have all the answers yourself.
I’ve seen the same truth in much darker moments. In Afghanistan, a colleague was killed during a suicide attack on our base. It was brutal. Yet what carried us through was a culture of trust, belief, and belonging that had already been built within our rag-tag, close-knit team: civilian and military, Afghan and international. Because when the pressure hit, that foundation of trust held us together.
And ultimately, that’s what counts, not only in extreme situations but in every workplace facing uncertainty or change. Leadership is never a solo act, it lives in relationships. For me, a core question for any leader is: How can I help us move through this together?
2. Leadership is action
Complex environments rarely offer clear answers – there’s no rulebook, no perfect move. But you can’t analyse forever. At some point, you have to act.
When I think about the most effective leaders I’ve worked with, they all had an instinct for movement. They noticed what was really happening, decided what mattered most, and acted, even when they couldn’t be sure of the outcome.
That’s why I find Impact’s leadership model, Notice, Decide, Act, so useful. It’s not a formula, it’s a rhythm:
- First, notice what’s going on around you. Pay attention to patterns, people, and possibilities, not just problems.
- Then, decide what matters most in this moment – not in theory, but right now.
- Finally, act. Take the next small, meaningful step, then pause, reflect, and adjust. And then do it again.
This rhythm of action and reflection is what keeps teams moving through uncertainty. It creates a culture where progress is made through sensing, testing and learning – not through pretending to know it all.
Because, at the end of the day, leadership isn’t a title or a trait. It’s a choice. A choice to act when others might not, a choice to stay curious when the situation feels overwhelming, and a choice to keep learning, even when you get it wrong.
In complex times, leaders who can combine humility with momentum are the ones who keep their teams alive and moving. They understand that clarity often emerges only after you start moving, not before.
3. Leading systems change
Leadership can be so hard on the ego. I learned that the hard way in Myanmar after the cyclone. I was running on fumes, convinced that I had to somehow heroically hold everything together. One morning I looked in the mirror and barely recognised the person staring back. It was a humbling moment. I was burned out, and a living reminder that none of us lead alone.
If you take a moment to step back, youll see that any leader sits inside an ecosystem – a messy, ever-changing community of people, teams, partners – and that nothing moves unless the system moves with you. The more complex the challenge, the more interdependent it becomes.
That is the real work of systems leadership. It means helping others find their voice, their power and their leadership, letting go of control, and creating the conditions for momentum to emerge. Sometimes, the most powerful act of leadership is to step back and make space for others to step in.
I often think back to the Ebola response in Sierra Leone. Thousands of people were involved, from local chiefs and community health workers to international agencies and the military. No single leader could possibly coordinate all of that. In the end, what made it work was the collective ownership that grew across the system. Leadership and ownership became something that was shared.
So amid the noise of our inboxes, the urgency of deadlines, and the constant pull on our time, remember: the real work is not to be the hero at the centre. It’s to help the whole system move forward together, towards a shared purpose.
Navigating a complex world
When the world gets messy, it’s easy to tighten your grip, speak louder, or retreat into control. Yet the truth is that we now live in a world where complexity is the norm, not the exception. The systems we lead are too interconnected, too dynamic, and too unpredictable for any one person to hold all the answers.
That’s why the future of leadership will belong to those who can stay human in the midst of complexity. Leaders who can combine clarity with empathy, and conviction with curiosity. Leaders who understand that progress is a team sport.
Whether you’re rebuilding after a cyclone, leading a business transformation, or simply trying to keep your team together through a hard time, the same questions apply:
- How are you building trust when it matters most?
- How are you earning the right to lead, every day?
- How are you helping others find their own leadership?
The best leaders I know are still asking those questions of themselves, every day.