Living in a VUCAP World

 

No, it isn’t a typo. We’ve added a ‘P’.

In addition to Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, you don’t have to look too far to see that the world is also increasingly Polarized. As a society, we are increasingly unable to openly and constructively discuss things with each other.

Does knowing how your mind works help? Yes! When you know where your moment-to-moment experience is coming from (inside) and that you can have an insight at any time, it’s possible to be settled, even in a VUCAP World. Here’s what we mean.

Volatility

Volatility is rapid and unpredictable change, especially for the worse. When volatility happens, if you remain grounded and balanced, you’ll retain access to a complete and powerful set of capabilities. You will more easily remember that life is inside-out. Instead of reacting, you might respond thoughtfully. You’ll have a deep perspective (is this a mountain or a molehill?) which makes you less likely to take the situation personally. With this comes the availability of wisdom and insight to see what to do (or not do).

A good example is an event experienced by one of our clients. The stock market regulator mistakenly underreported the ownership position of the largest shareholder. When other investors saw the lower percentage, they wrongly assumed that the major investor was dumping the stock, which caused a run on the share price. Within 30 minutes the stock price dropped over 8%. The VP for Investor Relations immediately told his team, the CFO and the CEO not to react. Instead, they calmly spent 30 minutes investigating, uncovered the problem, and notified the regulator. Within one hour the stock price was back to its normal level. You can imagine the mess had they panicked.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is the state of being uncertain; doubt; hesitancy; unpredictability; indeterminacy; indefiniteness. If you remember how the mind works, you will trust that there is deep intelligence behind life, and just because you don’t know what’s going on does not mean you have to panic or get worried. When you realize there is wisdom behind life, you can trust that things will work out. You can trust that insights and ideas will arrive when they’re needed. For example, COVID was a period of great uncertainty, and we all navigated it one way or another.

Complexity

Complexity is the state or quality of having many interrelated parts or aspects. Things tend to look less complex when our minds quiet down. When we know how to look and listen deeply to what is happening in front of us, we can see things differently. For example, a team at one of our clients was able to resolve a multibillion-dollar asset allocation problem in 3-days. This problem had defied the best brains in the company for over 10 years! The solution was a triple integral differential equation that covered two flip chart sheets. Amusingly for us, as they completed this solution, the team simply smiled and pointed out how obvious it was!

Ambiguity

Ambiguity is the fact or quality of having different possible meanings; capacity for being interpreted in more than one way; lack of specificity or exactness. It is a close cousin of Complexity, the difference being when things are ambiguous, you don’t actually know what the problem is. As with Complexity, Uncertainty and Volatility, staying quiet on the inside and trusting the mind’s ability to see something new helps you de-mystify what seems unclear. Usually, the moment ambiguity lifts, what to do next becomes obvious. Years ago, in my first job, I was on a team tasked with investigating the mass ‘theft’ of 3000 pairs of safety glasses across a large industrial complex. As the team wondered why people would want to steal these boring-looking glasses, the realization emerged that people were taking home extra pairs because they were safety conscious. The ‘problem’ became an opportunity to further encourage a strong safety culture.

Polarization

And finally, we arrive at Polarization, the division into two sharply distinct opposites. When we are polarized, the ego gets attached to feelings and attitudes that are antagonistic to those who see things differently. That attachment to one’s stand or position, and the feeling (intense) that accompanies this position is magnetic and addictive, and groupthink then overwhelms wisdom and reason at a group level. Given the self-sealing nature of thought, it becomes almost impossible to see anything else. What we think looks absolutely true. In the same way that social media has algorithms that decide what you see, our own thought acts like a filter. When you remember that the mind works this way, it becomes easier to ‘step back’ from your thinking and the emotion and look for something new. Unless you take this step, your ability to get curious about the other person’s thinking is relatively low. In addition, remembering that life is inside out allows you to gracefully grant the other person their truth, i.e., not necessarily agree with it, but understand that their thinking looks just as real to them as your thinking looks to you. With this perspective you can dramatically improve your ability to navigate various viewpoints.

We have no idea how many additional letters will need to be added to the acronym(!) over the next few years, but if you can remember how your mind works, we sure you’ll be able to deal with each of them.

Robin Charbit