In 2025 Managing for Change – Separate Risk from Uncertainty

We often think of risk and uncertainty as the same thing. We say “I don’t  know what to do,” concluding doing something (often anything) seems risky.  But that is wrong.  Just because you’re uncertain what to do doesn’t mean it’s risky.  And you can be certain about what you do while taking actions (often doing the status quo) that incur a lot of risk.  It’s important to know the difference so you can manage both uncertainty and risk successfully.

 

This podcast explains how doing nothing in the face of uncertainty is usually the worst thing you can do.  Instead we need to recognize that uncertainty doesn’t mean risk, and work to reduce the uncertainty so you can properly assess risk and make good decisions.  Just because you don’t know what to do doesn’t mean you don’t need to take action.  Success requires we understand how to recognize uncertainty, and manage the uncertainty.  Then accumulate information in order to properly assess the risk.  This podcast explains how you can do that, especially as we face a very challenging and uncertain change in administrations in 2025.

 

Thinking Points:

• Do you often stop, and wait, before making a business decision just because you’re uncertain what to do?
• Have you ever recognized that if you had taken a decision sooner you would have created a better outcome?
• Do you often see the future as risky?  Do you avoid what you perceive as risky?
• Do you try to eliminate uncertainty by avoiding change – even in the face of unavoidable change?