The Mindset Leaders Need When Leading Systems: Insights from our 2025 conference: The System Is the Strategy

Across our 6th edition of the Cosmic Conference, systems thinking repeatedly surfaced as more than a toolset or a way of structuring work. It showed up as a way of relating to complexity, time, and uncertainty.

This led us to explore a core question: What mindset does a leader need in order to lead systems effectively over time?

We asked our speakers directly. Some articulated a clear mindset, others described an orientation toward reality, failure, or time. Together, their answers shed light on the inner stance that allows systems leadership to endure.

Consistency, Commitment & Staying the Course

“The ultimate mindset needed for effective systems leadership is…”

• “Consistency”

  — Sander Hoeken, Co-Founder of The Fearless Organization Scan & Founder of CellSpace

  
  

• “Long-term commitment and orientation”

  — Stoyan Yankov, Productivity & Performance Consultant

  
  

Systems leadership is less about momentum and more about staying engaged long enough for patterns to compound.

Courage, Experimentation & Learning Through Failure

“The ultimate mindset needed for effective systems leadership is…”

• “Courage”

  — Marilyn Zakhour, CEO of Cosmic Centaurs

  
  

• “Courage: the willingness to act, experiment, and risk failure rather than freeze in fear of mistakes”

  — Imad Lahad, Global Chair for AI & Intelligence at APCO

  
  

These perspectives point to leadership as an active stance: systems evolve when leaders are willing to test, learn, and adjust rather than wait for certainty.

Groundedness in Reality, Not Assumptions

“The ultimate mindset needed for effective systems leadership is…”

• “Curiosity: staying grounded in reality rather than assumptions”

  — Dr. Laura Cabrera, Professor at Cornell University

  
  

• “Loving reality: letting go of ego and seeing what is”

  — Dr. Derek Cabrera, Professor at Cornell University

  
  

Systems leadership depends on an ongoing willingness to update one’s view of reality, even when it challenges existing beliefs or identity.

Time Awareness & Acceptance of Change

“The ultimate mindset needed for effective systems leadership is…”

• “Accepting the arrow of time: systems evolve, the future will be different from the past, and strategy must account for that reality”

  — José Santos, Professor of Practice in Global Management at INSEAD

  
  

Professor Santos’ perspective situates the mindset within time itself. Leading systems well requires accepting irreversibility and designing with change, rather than against it.

Alignment, Energy & Sustainability

The ultimate mindset needed for effective systems leadership is…

• “Getting the system to work for you so you enjoy the work without burning out”

  — Darren Yeh, Managing Director at Omplexity

  
  

Effective systems leadership is not only about outcomes, but about preserving energy, engagement, and capacity over time.

The Extra-Ultimate Mindset:Systems leadership is sustained by commitment, courage, and a steady relationship with reality as it unfolds.

This completes the third rapid fire question explored with our speakers at The 2025 Cosmic Conference: The System is the Strategy.

Together with What an Effective Systems Look Like, The leadership Qualities That Make Systems Thinking Stick, and Systems Thinking Tools Leaders Actually Use, this article forms a coherent picture of systems leadership as both outer design and inner development.