Quisquous.
A Scottish word meaning hard to deal with, difficult to read, of dubious or perplexing character.
It felt instantly familiar.
We live in an age that prizes certainty. Confident voices. Strong opinions. Clean narratives. Everyone sounds sure — on LinkedIn, in leadership, in tech, in politics — even when the ground is clearly shifting beneath them.
Look a little closer and most things feel… quisquous.
Careers don’t run straight anymore. Institutions don’t command automatic trust. Technology promises clarity and delivers complexity. Leaders perform confidence while privately admitting they’re guessing.
That doesn’t mean things are broken. It means the map was oversold.
What I like about quisquous is its generosity. It doesn’t rush to judgement. It doesn’t accuse. It simply acknowledges that some people, systems and situations aren’t immediately legible. They take time. Context. Conversation.
Very Third Half.
Because the Third Half is where certainty loosens its grip. Where neat stories unravel. Where people admit things are complicated — and that success and doubt often sit side by side.
Leadership could use more of this. Less performative certainty. More thoughtful pause. More comfort with saying, “I don’t fully know yet.”
If parts of your life feel hard to read right now — career, direction, identity — that’s not failure. It’s being human in a complex moment.
You’re not broken.
You’re living in quisquous times.
And sometimes the most honest thing you can say is:
“I’m not sure yet — but I’m paying attention.”
That’s where the real conversation starts.