How to thrive from uncertainty

The world is full of uncertainty at the moment. Understandable most people hate this - its hugely unsettling.

But if the world was so predictable and everybody knew what tomorrow will bring - there would be no new opportunity for growth and renewal from new sources.

It is by see opportunity in the uncertainty that you can gain a competitive advantage. As Warren Buffett says about the path to fortune, 'Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.'

In a time of global uncertainty - now is the time to hunt the right opportunity and put effort into actioning that plan.

'What is important is to try to understand how uncertainties may play out, says Hans Kuipers, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group.

“If you can actually get a better understanding of what the uncertainty is, and the trends and developments playing out, you can build scenarios around what the possible outcomes of that uncertainty could be,” Kuipers says. “Using those scenarios you can definitely get a head-start over others.”

For South African businesses, this is something worth thinking about in the current environment. There is a great deal of political and economic uncertainty in the country, which has led many companies to halt investment entirely.

In some cases, this may be warranted. Policy uncertainty does make it impossible to plan, because if the rules and regulations are going to change in ways that a business can’t anticipate, it cannot commit capital. However, companies can consider how they respond to other forms of uncertainty that are not necessarily fatal.

“A strategic response to uncertainty can be we don’t act while others do act because we want to understand better how things play out,” says Kuipers. “So I don’t think not acting is necessarily a bad response.' - via

Business feels uncertain as to how to act because they are unsure as to where to intervene, this is obviously why you would hire a qualified and registered futurist to assist you in facilitating this analysis.

For inspiration - here's how 20 leading global businesses reinvented themselves thanks to developing better decision making and action in the face of future uncertainty.