One of my client companies has a ‘just in case’ culture. What that means is that there are people staying in the office till 10 pm or even midnight preparing PowerPoint presentations, ‘just in case’ they are asked a particular tricky question.

This creates the most toxic of conditions in business. The message that goes  out is that if somebody senior asks a question and you don’t know the answer, you are in deep trouble. This drives a culture of fear and supports the premise that one person can have all the answers.

This is crazy. The world is so dynamic that even trying to have 1% of the answers in your head would make your brain explode. The idea of being so smart that you can know everything and predict the future is pure fantasy.

Every business needs a group of leaders who can deal with ambiguity, change and surprises. The nature of the business environment means you can never have all the answers; the best leaders are the ones who are resourceful and creative enough to know where to find them when necessary.

The idea of leaders being geniuses is actually destructive – and the impact filters through to all employees, who start believing that to be a leader you have to have all the answers (an impossible goal). It also means that nobody is prepared to share a half-formed thought that might fuel new ideas. Two heads are always better than one, so imagine how good linking together the brainpower of a whole organisation must be. Whenever someone is too scared to share their thinking early, a potentially extraordinary breakthrough is stillborn.

So, be confident that you can’t always know the answers, and don’t expect your people to. It’s simply unreasonable.

Don’t be afraid to say you are unsure. Share your worries and concerns about predicting the future. Be honest when you are lost and ask for help; doing so will encourage a more honest conversation with the whole business.

You will be saying, ‘What we value are people who are curious, intuitive and smart.’ People who can find out their own answers and make sense of this beautiful world.

Chris Baréz-Brown is the author of SHINE: How To Survive and Thrive at Work (Portfolio Penguin, £9.99).