Executives, Decision-Makers, and Colleagues,
There is a universal law: learning must continue.
We must feed the brain and the mind with new knowledge. The mind integrates, it gets insight and that insight becomes the foundation for every decision, for every adaptation.
That is how great leaders prepare for uncertainty, because uncertainty is permanent.
Uncertainty is not an accident. It is created.
The right question is: How do we catch the signals of uncertainty?
Who creates it? How does it get created? How do we find, connect, and interpret those signals before they hit us?
The seeds of uncertainty are embedded in today’s actions.
Look for them. Your mind can do it. That’s how the Bayesian theory in AI was invented. Our brain is born Bayesian. It collects data, connects probabilities, and predicts. Leaders must learn to do the same.
To thrive amid uncertainty, organizations must develop two capabilities at the same time:
Most companies talk about one or the other. The best leaders build both.
It starts at the top.
If the CEO and top team, say, twelve people can absorb shocks and make adjustments together, the rest of the organization will follow. But that top team must practice it, not just plan it.
Top leaders must ask:
In sports, every team rehearses for the big game.
In geopolitics, nations conduct war games to prepare.
Why not in business?
I have seen it work.
Alan Mulally practiced this art at Boeing and at Ford. He built the 777 without a single major complaint because his team rehearsed every scenario. They were resilient and ready to adjust.
Bill Ford, at General Atlantic, has done it quietly, without headlines, but with equal mastery.
That is what the next generation of leaders must learn, to build teams that can withstand shocks, adjust quickly, and seize new opportunities.
