Recently on a leadership podcast, the host asked me a question clients often wonder but rarely say out loud.

We were talking through the Leaders Journey model, the four quadrants we use to help leaders understand where they are and where they’re headed. I had just described Quadrant 3 — the Analyze quadrant — as the place where the real magic happens in coaching.

And my host, Dr. Patrick Jinks, stopped me.

“Marc, I’m looking at this quadrant,” he said. “Why do I want to be ‘unsure‘? And focused ‘internally‘? It looks like… navel gazing. Why would anyone want to be there?”

“Internal” focus and being “unsure” looks like navel gazing. Why would you say this is a great place for a leader?

He was right to push.

On paper, it sounds terrible. Low confidence? Looking inward instead of outward? That’s the goal of leadership development?

Let me explain why, yes, this is exactly where the breakthroughs happen.

The Setup: Four Quadrants, One Journey

Picture a simple grid. The vertical axis is your confidence level — high at the top, low at the bottom. The horizontal axis is where you’re getting your leadership cues — external inputs on one side, internal on the other.

Quadrant 1: Observe

You’re new to a leadership role, or newly aware that you are a leader. Your confidence is high — either because someone finally saw in you what you hoped was there, or because you trust the person who put you in the role. You’re watching other leaders. You’re doing what they did. Copying, really.

This works…until it doesn’t. Because you’re not those other leaders. What worked for them doesn’t seem to work for you.

As your borrowed leadership styles start to fail, confidence drops.

Quadrant 2: Experiment

As your confidence drops, you start asking: What’s wrong with me? You go to conferences. You get certifications. You read the books, listen to the podcasts, take the courses. All good things. But underneath it all is that nagging question: When will they find out I don’t know what I’m doing?

You’re still looking for your answers externally — for the fix, the framework, the right formula. You’re lurching from solution to solution, trying to stay just ahead of the people you’re leading.

This is where a lot of leaders spend their entire career. And it’s exhausting.

Quadrant 3: Analyze

Here’s where Patrick got confused. I’m so glad he asked because I think this is where most people get confused.

This is where doubt stops being a verdict and starts being an invitation. This is where some leaders get fed up feeling broken and they ask themselves, “What if I’m not ‘broken’?”

It starts as a faint glimmer. But in Quadrant 3, that is enough.

Why Unsure and Internal Is Actually a Great Turning Point

Somewhere in Quadrant 2, something shifts. Instead of What’s wrong with me?, a different question surfaces:

What if there’s nothing wrong with me?

What if I’ve been trying to fit into someone else’s leadership suit. What if I’m simply a different size?

What if my team isn’t broken. What if they are bringing something to our sector that hasn’t been articulated before? 

That’s Quadrant 3. You stop looking exclusively outward for the answer and start paying attention to your own internal cues. Your wiring. Your values. The way you naturally see problems. The things you’ve always noticed that others miss.

As I coach leaders, Quadrant 3 is where I see light come back into people’s eyes. It’s where the leader asks for the first time, “I’m not the only one making it up as I go?”

No. You’re not.

So let’s help you discover what you already know and start the process of assembling your custom made leadership suit. This self-knowledge is what makes leadership sustainable.

Patrick said it well: it’s not navel gazing. It’s asking, What would someone see from the outside — and what does that tell me about myself? It’s questioning the inner critic instead of just obeying it. It’s learning to say I happen to be an introvert instead of I’m broken because the last leader got energized by unstructured interaction with the team.

This Doesn’t Mean Going It Alone

Here’s what Quadrant 3 is not: abandoning everything you’ve learned externally.

The research you did in Quadrant 2? Still valuable. The mentors, the frameworks, the courses, you don’t throw those out. You start integrating them with who you actually are. Your confidence grows because you finally have a map. You know your strengths, your blind spots, the way you learn. You can name things, giving them language, instead of just feeling them.

That growth in confidence is what moves you toward Quadrant 4 — the Focused quadrant. Increased confidence because you are drawing on your internal wiring and now you have language for it. You know when to copy, when to experiment, when to sit with the discomfort long enough to let it teach you something.

Quadrant 4 isn’t a permanent, blissful destination. We’re still a human being on a planet with billions of other human beings. A while back, one of my clients told me, “I thought I was in Quadrant 4. Then we went through a major system change. Now I think I’m back in Quadrant 1.”

I loved her understanding of the dynamism on the model. We keep moving. But now we know there’s a map. The very fact that she could identify being in Quadrant 1 was a win. That’s not failure. That’s leadership.

The Question Patrick Asked Is Worth Considering

Why would any leader want to feel unsure and look inward?

Because certainty that hasn’t been tested is just performance, not wisdom. Because the leaders who only look outward for their cues are the ones who get lost when the external world stops cooperating. Because the magic in coaching — the kind that actually changes how someone leads — almost always happens in Quadrant 3.

If you’re in a season of low confidence right now, you might not be failing. You might be right on the edge of something amazing.

Never stop learning. That includes learning about yourself.

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I love helping leaders move more effectively in Quadrant 3. If this sounds like you, check out the leadership coaching options and schedule a call. If you’re not sure, a great place to start Quadrant 3 thinking is our free, 2-3 minute Leadership Style Quiz.