This Is the New Normal: What Systems Leaders Do When the Rules Change
Robert E. Siegel
Lecturer in Management - Stanford Graduate School of Business, Venture Investor, Author The Systems Leader and The Brains and Brawn Company
Change, by now, needs no more warning labels. It arrives uninvited, unapologetic, and often relentless. We’ve had years of this—economic upheaval, technological disruption, and leadership crises—and somewhere along the way, one quiet realization has taken root:
This is the new normal.
That phrase can sound passive, like resignation. But in truth, it marks the beginning of the systems leader’s journey. It’s the first step in acceptance—not of the chaos, but of our responsibility in the face of it.
As I discussed recently with Roxanne Tully Baine of Piva Capital, acknowledging the “new normal” isn’t about liking it. It’s about recognizing the current reality and choosing to engage anyway. “Not to say we have to like everything,” Roxanne noted, “but knowing that this is what it is.” From that point forward, our job is to stop waiting for the tide to recede and start figuring out how to swim in it.
In The Systems Leader, I explore how some of the most effective leaders I’ve studied and interviewed operate when the playbook gets thrown out. These are not superhero CEOs or media darlings. They are individuals—many of whom you may never hear about—who carry themselves with integrity, humility, and a relentless commitment to solving problems with clarity and care.
What do they do differently?
1. They Ground Themselves in Trusted Relationships
When the external environment becomes unstable, the most resilient leaders go inward—not into isolation, but into their network of trusted voices. They seek out people inside and outside their organization who can serve as grounding points: advisors, skeptics, truth-tellers.
These are not always the loudest voices in the room, but they are the ones who help leaders separate signal from noise. “Find the trusted parties,” I write in the book. These people help keep you honest, especially when you're tempted to insulate yourself or cling to comforting narratives.
2. They Are Willing to Do the Hard Work—Themselves
One of the traps of senior leadership is the illusion of omniscience. You get reports, dashboards, summaries. But those can only take you so far. The leaders I most admire are the ones who are still willing to get their hands dirty. They walk the factory floor. They join the sales call. They sit in on customer service feedback sessions.
It’s not about micromanagement—it’s about perspective. Doing the hard jobs yourself, with some level of regularity, gives you insight you can’t replicate from behind glass. It ensures you stay connected to what’s really happening.
3. They Say “I Don’t Know”—And Mean It
Roxanne and I both agreed: too many leaders are afraid to admit when they don’t have the answer. But here’s the truth—your team already knows when you’re bluffing. Systems leaders are comfortable with ambiguity. They say “I don’t know,” not as a final answer, but as the starting point for finding one.
That vulnerability doesn’t diminish your authority; it reinforces your credibility. It signals that you’re not playing politics—you’re pursuing progress.
4. They Carry Themselves with Quiet Gravitas
I make no claim that the leaders I profiled in The Systems Leader are saints. They are flawed, human, imperfect. But what separates them is their presence. They lead with a sense of gravity—not performative or dramatic, but calm and clear-eyed.
They don’t chase headlines. They don’t confuse charisma for competence. And most of all, they don’t fracture under pressure. They are systems thinkers—able to hold competing truths, navigate dynamic environments, and remain focused on outcomes over optics.
As Roxanne pointed out, many of these leaders “don’t get a lot of attention in the media.” And maybe that’s part of the problem. We elevate the bombastic, the brash, the brand-driven. But it’s the quiet systems thinkers who build resilient organizations that actually last.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
We’re not going back to business as usual. Whether it’s generative AI, geopolitical conflict, or economic volatility—there’s no “normal” to return to. That’s not a loss. That’s an opportunity.
Systems leaders accept that stability is not a given. They recognize that their job is not to control every variable, but to shape the conditions where people and teams can thrive, even in flux.
The checklist is not complicated, but it is hard:
Everything else is noise.
Roxanne and I ended our conversation reflecting on a simple truth: leadership today isn’t about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about being the clearest thinker, the most consistent listener, and the person most willing to grow when others cling to the status quo.
We don’t get to choose the waves. But we can become better swimmers.
About The Systems Leader:
A groundbreaking blueprint for mastering “cross-pressures” in a rapidly changing world, teaching leaders to execute and innovate, think locally and globally, and project ambition and statesmanship alike—from a Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and consultant to some of the biggest and most innovative CEOs.
Actionable and powerful, The Systems Leader is a playbook for riding turbulent waves instead of drowning in them—and for taking readers from chaos to clarity.
About Robert:
Robert Siegel is a Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a venture investor, and an operator.
At the Stanford Graduate School of Business he has taught nine different courses, authored over 115 business cases, and led research on companies including Google, Charles Schwab, Daimler, AB InBev, Box, Stripe, Target, AngelList, 23andMe, Majid Al Futtaim, Tableau, PayPal, Autodesk, Axel Springer and Michelin, amongst others.
Robert is a Venture Partner at Piva and a General Partner at XSeed Capital. He sits on the Board of Directors of Avochato and FindMine, and led investments in Zooz (acquired by PayU of Naspers), Hive, Lex Machina (acquired by LexisNexis of RELX Group ), CirroSecure (acquired by Palo Alto Networks), Nova Credit, The League (acquired by Match Group), Teapot (acquired by Stripe), Pixlee (acquired by Emplifi), and SIPX (acquired by ProQuest).
He is the author of The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies, and The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical.
He is the co-inventor of four patents and served as lead researcher for Andy Grove’s best-selling book, Only the Paranoid Survive.
Robert holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University. He is married with three grown children.