Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World

Constant disruption is the new reality. What is certain today is uncertainty. What does this mean for the business leaders of tomorrow? What do the next generation of leaders need to know about living with certain uncertainty? 

That’s the question Thinkers50 put to a select group of business thinkers from the Thinkers50 community. This book, Certain Uncertainty, is their response: a collection of fresh ideas from diverse voices addressing the shift in mindset required to deal with ambiguity and volatility.

Published in collaboration with Wiley and with a foreword by Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, author of The Fearless Organization, and Thinkers50 #1 Ranked Thinker, Certain Uncertainty addresses the urgent need for businesses, organizations, and leaders to adapt quickly to the disruptions and transformative changes that are occurring ever more frequently. 

‘Leaders need to let go of their old ways of control and concepts of economic and social certainty and embrace forward-looking humility about what lies around the corner.’ – Des Dearlove, author and co-founder, Thinkers50

An essential resource for anyone who wants to succeed as a leader in today’s unpredictable world, Certain Uncertainty provides an illuminating range of informative and actionable insights from a selection of the brightest minds in management thinking; a pool of ideas, advice and lessons into which leaders can dip to help them navigate through disruption with agility, resilience, and transparency.

The contributors cover a wide range of the most pressing issues and relevant topics concerning leadership today, including sustainability, authenticity, diversity, net positive leadership, future-focused mindsets, navigating paradoxes, listening up, radical empathy, cultivating curiosity, cooperative advantage, young leadership development, the privilege of leadership, and … what organizations can learn from ants.

To accelerate the latest thinking to where it can have most impact, Thinkers50 has joined up with Wiley, one of the world’s largest publishers and a global leader in research and education, in a speed-to-shelf collaborative publishing initiative. 

‘In an increasingly fast-paced world, we wanted a way to get ideas into the hands of practicing managers quickly. “Certain Uncertainty” is the first book in a series that offers an accelerated option for publishing thought-leadership by the world’s most influential business thinkers, and delivers a timely discussion on how to build resilience and react effectively to volatile business landscapes.’ – Des Dearlove

Highlighting the important work of the emerging thinkers on the Thinkers50 Radar lists and the wider Thinkers50 community, Certain Uncertainty features over 30 contributors from more than a dozen different countries and provides an actionable roadmap of practical, hands-on strategies for how to respond adaptively to myriad threats, distractions, and opportunities; a toolkit for leaders to round the next corner.