#115: The Antifragile Leadership Framework
Taking the Antifragile Leadership to the next level
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Hey Friends,
Welcome to the 115th edition of The Antifragile Leader.
Today, I want to share something personal and a realization.
If you know me personally or you’ve come across me online, you know I didn’t start out wanting to be a leader.
I was born in a small Romanian town with little to no access to technology.
When I went to university, I didn’t even have a computer in my first year, and I was sharing one with my colleagues from the second year.
At 21, I started my first job as a software tester. At 24, I became a manager for the first time. Not because I planned for it, but because someone saw potential in me.
Since then, I’ve led teams across telecom, automotive, consulting, and now as a technology director at Deloitte. Along the way, I learned that leadership isn’t about knowing everything. It isn’t about having all the answers or projecting confidence at all costs.
The realisation that changed me
Years ago, I stumbled upon Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile.
In it, Taleb describes three types of systems:
Fragile things break under stress.
Resilient things resist stress but stay the same.
Antifragile things grow stronger because of stress and uncertainty.
That idea hit me like a hammer.
All my life, I thought resilience was the goal. To endure hardships without breaking. But what if hardships weren’t just something to endure?
What if they were fuel for growth?
Around the same time, I was reading Stoic philosophy: Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus.
The Stoics taught that we can’t control what happens to us, only how we respond. That discomfort and adversity are not enemies to be avoided, but teachers to be welcomed.
That everything that happens can be used to shape us into better, wiser, stronger humans.
In Taleb’s words
“The wind extinguishes a candle but energizes fire.”
Stoicism gave me the mindset. Antifragility gave me the system.
I have been playing around with these concepts for a while now.
But they are scattered around my brain.
So, this week, while on a walk, it hit me: I need to bring the puzzle pieces together.
So, I decided to build a framework.
An “Antifragile Leadership Blueprint”.
Why now?
Because looking back on my career, I’ve seen
Fragile leaders who collapse under pressure, blaming others
Resilient leaders who survive crises but are burned out, drained, and exhausted.
And rare antifragile leaders who use chaos as fuel.
Who emerge stronger, smarter, and more adaptable after each storm.
Those are the leaders I admire.
This is the type of leader I strive to be.
Those are the leaders I want to help create.
Who is this for
This framework is for
✅ Aspiring leaders, who are great at what they do but are overwhelmed by the thought of leading in uncertainty.
✅ New managers trying to make decisions with incomplete information, feeling like they’re always firefighting.
✅ Experienced leaders feeling stuck who want to thrive, not just survive, in complexity.
✅ Anyone who wants to future-proof their career and life in a world where AI, market shifts, and organizational changes rewrite the rules every day.
What will it contain
The Antifragile Leadership Framework is built around five pillars:
Mindset for Antifragility
→ Reframing chaos as opportunity. Embracing discomfort. Developing a Stoic mindset to see what others fear as your edge.Habits for Personal Resilience
→ Daily and weekly practices to build mental, emotional, and physical resilience. Because leadership is an endurance sport.Decision-Making in Complexity
→ Tools and heuristics to make smart decisions with limited information. Optionality thinking. Small bets with asymmetric upside.Building Adaptable Teams
→ Leading teams that don’t just survive change but grow stronger because of it. Psychological safety, autonomy, micro-experiments, and flexible goals.Foresight & Future-Proofing
→ Preparing for futures you can’t predict. Scenario thinking. Directional goals. Strategic optionality for yourself, your team, and your career.
My hope for this framework
I don’t want this to be just another leadership model that sits in a slide deck.
I don’t want it to be another course on “6 leadership principles for better team performance”
I want it to become a living system that integrates both your personal and professional life.
So, the pillars above my change, or I might add more, I don’t know, I’ll see how I feel about it and based on your feedback.
Something you integrate into how you think, decide, and lead every day. Something that changes:
How you see yourself under pressure
How you guide your team through chaos
How you make decisions with confidence
How you build a future that is not threatened by uncertainty but strengthened by it
What’s next
Realistically speaking, this will not be done soon, and I don’t want it to be.
I am only in the concept phase. I have an MBA dissertation I need to get done by the end of the month and a few weeks of vacation in August, to spend time with my family and relax after what has been a hard and long year.
Still, little by little, over the coming weeks, I’ll share insights, tools, and exercises from each of these pillars.
I’m also working on turning this into a workshop and course for those who want to go deeper and integrate these principles into their leadership and life.
I need your help!
👉 Reply to this email (or comment on Substack) and tell me:
What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in your leadership journey right now?
Which of the chapters in my framework resonates most with you?
What would make this framework truly transformative for you?
Your input will shape what I build next.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
I hope that together, we build not just resilient careers, but antifragile ones.
Until next time,
Leo
Recommendations:
I started reading “The 5 Types of Wealth” by Sahil Bloom, and I didn’t know what to think about it at first, as I always considered him to be one of those Twitter gurus who only says platitudes. But the book is nice and actionable; I will probably come up with a more detailed review of it once I finish it. It also has a nice quiz that will make you think a bit about your priorities.
I think I was a bit too harsh on myself if I look through my answers.
I’m curious, what does your chart look like?
The Tour de France just started yesterday, and it’s one of my favorite competitions. If you have any questions about the tour, the rules, and the “naming” (like, what is GC anyway), this video is a good introduction to the race:
I enjoyed Torsten’s article about how to use AI Deep Research more effectively, and I found it quite useful for my day-to-day.
Thank you for reading.
If this resonated, forward it to someone navigating change or wondering how to stay relevant in an age of AI.
Stay antifragile.
Leo
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Hey Leo, my wealth score was 75, but I think I was too kind with myself on some of the answers. Thanks for the quizz!