Leading Through Uncertainty

Leaving the predictable math of aerospace engineering for film meant trading certainty for raw narrative impact; leadership is having the conviction to trust your internal compass when there's no calculated flight path to follow.

You'll never know how far you can fly until you jump off the branch. Be like an Eagle!

Leadership isn't about having every answer it's about having the faith and courage to move forward when the path ahead isn't clear. Scripture teaches us to walk by faith, not by sight, and I've learned that sometimes the greatest decisions are made by trusting the vision God has placed in your heart before you can see how the story will unfold.

When I founded Putting for Miracles, I had no corporate playbook or guaranteed funding just a conviction that we needed to make a real impact for children's healthcare. Early on, we reached a fork in the road: play it safe with a minor event, or take a calculated risk by committing to major venue contracts and aggressive fundraising targets before a single sponsor had signed on.

Taking that leap meant putting my own reputation on the line without knowing how the numbers would play out. I made the decision to go all-in, trusting our core mission and focusing relentlessly on operational execution, transparent communication, and community partnership.

The initiative broke records and has since raised over $40,000 for pediatric care. That experience taught me that in times of uncertainty, leadership isn't about waiting for a clear roadmap it's about laying down the track yourself, taking total accountability, and keeping your team focused on the mission.

The toughest decision was embracing server virtualization, even though it meant consolidating workloads onto a single server. We had built our business around selling individual servers the foundation of our customers' operations yet we had to champion virtualization despite its threat to the existing business model. Ultimately, the long-term benefits of virtualization prevailed.

When I set out to build an AI-native operating system for product managers across more than 400 product teams, there was no precedent to follow. Nobody had a mature playbook for how PMs at that scale should actually integrate AI into their day-to-day work, not as a novelty, but as something that measurably reduces friction across the delivery lifecycle. I had to make a bet on a structure before I had proof it would work: four pillars (tooling literacy, workflow design, signal and insight, and a coaching model) built on assumptions about where teams were struggling and how confidence with AI tools actually gets built, not lectured into people.

The hard part wasn't the framework itself. It was rolling it out in a way that gave PMs enough conviction to actually try something new, while staying nimble enough to adjust as real usage patterns surfaced, all without losing sight of the underlying objective: teams that are genuinely more comfortable and capable augmenting themselves with AI, not just teams that adopted a tool.

We're still in the middle of it. The teams are adjusting, the framework is adjusting with them, and whether this approach holds up is still being written.

I was lucky enough to go to KSA 4 times, to train clients on our equipment sales.

On one occasion, the DMI (distance measuring instrument), which in our case was attached to the rear wheel hub and you had to patch a wire into the transmission wire on the vehicle. This measured distance traveled and was embedded in the GPR data we were collecting.

Well, it wasn't pairing up with the newer Honda Passport, the engineering company I was training, an equipment sale, spent tireless hours trying to get it to work. In Jeddah, there is one area where you get car parts, one area to get electronics, epoxy doesn't exist there, traveling to all these locations, to the dealership to consultant and go over blueprints. We finally had to ship another model from the states, my trip was extended from 5 days to 10, but we got it working and completed the training!

One of the greatest lessons I have learned in leadership is that you rarely have all the information you want before a decision has to be made. As a leader in retail management, an entrepreneur, and the founder of Keep It Simple Financial Growth®, I have had to make decisions involving people, finances, operations, and the future without knowing exactly how everything would unfold.

During those moments, I learned not to confuse uncertainty with a lack of direction. I focus on what I can control: the information available to me, the principles behind the decision, the potential risks, and the people who will be affected.

Building my own company while continuing to lead in my professional career has reinforced this lesson. There was no guaranteed roadmap showing me whether every investment of time, money, or energy would produce the result I wanted. I still had to move forward, protect my resources, learn from the results, and adjust when necessary.

Leadership through uncertainty does not mean pretending to know what will happen next. It means having the discipline to make the best decision you can with the information you have, accepting responsibility for that decision, and being willing to adapt as new information becomes available.

"When you set your mind on accomplishing a goal, your subconscious begins shaping your decisions and creating the path toward it. But true growth begins within because before you can become who you want to be, you must first understand who you are."

I've always told others not to be afraid to jump, and this time it was my turn to live up to my own words.

After retiring from the Navy, I knew I had more to offer, but I kept running into roadblocks that stood between me and the role I envisioned for myself. So I went back to school to earn my MBA at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, hoping its rigor would help open doors that had stayed closed.

Along the way, I built skills in Business Analytics, Data Visualization and Generative AI that gave me the confidence to act on an idea. That idea became CairnLedger, which gives small healthcare clinics one readable view of their data.

I can't know whether people will value it or whether I'll succeed. But I gave it my best thinking and effort, and I'm betting on becoming the person I set out to be, and an example for others.

I believe having a prayerful relationship with Jesus is essential to navigating uncertainty. One scripture I often pray over and reflect on is Proverbs 16:9, "The human heart plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps."

I have many ideas, goals, and things I hope to accomplish, but I have learned the importance of keeping the main thing the main thing. I want the Lord to direct the traffic in my life, guide my decisions, and help me prioritize what truly matters. I may have a vision for where I want to go, but I want to remain open to where He is leading me.

Making tough choices is a part of life, especially when we cannot predict how things will unfold. I believe that when we lead with our hearts and allow ourselves to become vessels of God's love and kindness, we develop the disposition necessary to make difficult decisions. Love does not always make a decision easy, but it can help us approach that decision with the right intentions.

Prayer and discernment are essential when we cannot see the outcome ahead of us. I believe the process matters just as much as the destination. We must be willing to slow down, listen for God's voice, examine our motives, and seek wise counsel before reaching a decision. Sometimes, a decision may feel final, but we can still move forward with humility, knowing that God can redirect our steps when necessary.

My faith has taught me that following God does not mean life will always be easy. In the Old Testament, we see the blessings associated with faithfulness to God. In the New Testament, Jesus reminds us that following Him also means taking up our cross. The journey of faith requires sacrifice, courage, and a willingness to choose what is right, even when it is difficult.

Sometimes, that means choosing kindness over gossip, integrity over convenience, or truth over popularity. We may not always receive applause for making the right decision, and we may not immediately see the positive results. But when we learn to love the process of becoming the people God has called us to be, we begin to understand that success is not simply about the outcome. It is also about who we become along the way.

I believe there are two paths we can choose in life. There is the broad path, which may seem easier and more appealing but can ultimately lead us away from God's purpose. Then there is the narrow path, which can be rugged, challenging, and sometimes feel unpaved. We will not walk it perfectly, but we can continue moving forward by trusting Jesus and following His direction.

Ultimately, leading through uncertainty means making decisions with the right heart, relying on prayer and discernment, and being willing to accept wise counsel. When we are running on the right fuel faith, love, truth, and humility difficult choices may not become any less difficult, but we can approach them with greater clarity and courage. We become better equipped to recognize God's direction, even when the full picture remains unclear.

I may not always know what lies around the next corner, but I can trust that I do not have to walk the road alone. My responsibility is to remain faithful, make the best decisions I can with the wisdom available to me, and trust God with the destination.

In October 2024, I was laid off and faced an uncertain professional future while continuing to carry responsibilities as a husband and pastor. After decades in business and life sciences leadership, I took an hourly position selling shoes at Belk. I did not know when another opportunity in my field would come. I did not care. I embraced the opportunity to remake myself and connect directly with people every day.

The difficult decision was to take the step available to me, an hourly job selling shoes, without knowing where it would lead. It required humility and a willingness to adapt. I continued serving my congregation while working toward my next professional opportunity.

In March 2026, I joined Vitalant as National Biotherapies Account Director. Looking back, that season reinforced a lesson I carry into leadership: you cannot always offer people certainty, but you can model perseverance, responsibility, resilience, and a willingness to keep moving forward. Sometimes leadership means taking the next responsible step before you can see the whole path.