Brilliant Doubt
Harnessing uncertainty to lead with impact
Jenny Williams MCC
Description
What if the real problem isn’t that you doubt yourself, but that no one ever taught you how to use doubt well?
Doubt is often treated as a weakness in leadership. Something to overcome, hide, or silence. Yet whether it shows up as self-doubt or imposter syndrome, doubt carries insight that leaders can’t afford to ignore.
In Brilliant Doubt, executive coach Jenny Williams reframes doubt as a critical leadership signal. When understood and used well, it leads to better decisions, stronger collaboration and more effective leadership in complex organizations, particularly in a world where uncertainty and change are constant.
The book introduces three forms of Professional Doubt – self, situational and systemic – shaped by the pressures and realities of modern organizational life. When leaders learn to read doubt rather than push past it, they gain greater clarity, confidence and impact.
At the heart of the book is Active Doubt, a practical approach that helps leaders turn hesitation into insight, uncertainty into movement, and questions into meaningful action.
Brilliant Doubt is for leaders who want to navigate uncertainty with courage and intelligence and who are ready to turn doubt into a strategic advantage.
All change starts with a doubt.
Endorsements
‘In business, as in AI, intelligence starts with asking better questions. Brilliant Doubt shows leaders how to transform uncertainty into sharper decisions and bold action.’ — David Benigson, CEO & Founder, Signal AI
‘At a time when certainty is overvalued, Brilliant Doubt offers a bold and refreshing perspective… This is an essential companion for anyone who has ever quietly wondered, ‘Am I enough?’ — Jo Hicks, Chief People Officer, NHS
‘This book crackles with energy and purpose. Read it. Use it. Then go shake up your organisation.’ — Tony Miller, CMO Direct Line Group
‘At a time when certainty is overvalued, Brilliant Doubt offers a bold and refreshing perspective. Jenny Williams reveals doubt not as a weakness, but as a hidden source of insight and strength… With clarity, compassion, and practical wisdom, she shows how leaders can transform uncertainty into wiser choices, stronger relationships, and more authentic leadership.’ – Jo Hicks, Chief People Officer, NHS
‘In business, as in AI, intelligence starts with asking better questions. Brilliant Doubt shows leaders how to transform uncertainty into sharper decisions and bold action.’ – David Benigson, CEO and Founder, Signal AI
‘Leaders who pretend they have all the answers rarely do. Brilliant Doubt hands us something far more powerful: the confidence to question, to challenge, to stay curious… This book crackles with energy and purpose.’ – Tony Miller, CMO, Direct Line Group and Board Chair of the Data Marketing Association (DMA)
Contents
Introduction
Section 1: Don’t Doubt Doubt
Chapter 1: Why the business world needs doubt more than ever before
- The crisis of certainty
- Culture: the breeding ground of doubt
- What if we can’t succeed without doubt
- Power in doubt for the leader, the team and the organisation
Chapter 2: What is doubt? * Inner doubt and the imposter * External doubt * Professional Doubt
Section 2: Leadership Doubt
Chapter 3: Doubt is a process
Chapter 4: Processing the doubt demons
Chapter 5: The Professional Doubt process:
- The question from doubt
- Do the ‘do’ in doubt
- Challenge
- Collaboration
- Creativity
- Changing
- Calculation
- Decide and drive
Section 3: Team Doubt
Chapter 6: Surfacing the doubts
Chapter 7: Sharing the doubts
Chapter 8: Solutionising doubts
Section 4: The Future of Doubt
Chapter 9: Using doubt to create future leaders
- Recruiting doubtful leaders
- Using doubt to unlock future dreams
Chapter 10: Why the future needs doubt?
- Doubt and AI
Conclusion
End Pages
About Jenny Williams
Acknowledgements
References
Editions
FORMAT / ISBN / PUBLICATION DATE / RRP
Hardback / 9781788606448 / February 17, 2026 / £25.99
Paperback / 9781788606455 / February 17, 2026 / £15.99
Ebook / 9781788606479 / February 16, 2026 / £7.99
Paperback and eBook Bundle / £17.99
Authors
Jenny Williams MCC
Jenny Williams (MCC) is a top Executive and Systemic Team Coach who works with leaders to leverage the power in their doubts. For the last 15 years, she has spent thousands of hours working with exceptional senior clients who also doubt, to deliver exceptional results.
While leaders often see their doubt as a problem, Jenny knows how to use it as a catalyst for clarity and a powerful aid to better decision-making. Her unique approach is based on research and her own experience working through her own doubts, first as a global Creative Director for Nokia, and then with her coaching abilities. This work has established her in the top 4% of coaches globally with an International Coaching Federation certification as Master Coach. She has lectured at Cambridge University on leadership, entrepreneurship and creativity.
