VUCA and the Value of “How to Think” Simulations

It seems that everywhere you turn, business leaders and consultants are talking VUCA. They are referring to their business environment and describing it as Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous.

First coined in the 1990s by the military, the term means that traditional patterns of identifying, engaging, and defeating the enemy may no longer be valid—an indication that it is time to change the mental model of warfare. As the phrase continues to enjoy widespread adoption in the business world, it indicates that a change in business leaders’ mental models around making critical decisions is required.

What can be done to effectively manage in a VUCA environment?

Doing nothing is certainly not an option. What is called for is a new mental model that does not rely on the past, on benchmarking others, nor in believing one knows or should know everything.

“We are moving from a world of problems which demand speed, analysis, and elimination of uncertainty to solve—to a world of dilemmas which demand patience, sense-making, and an engagement with uncertainty.”

— Denise Caron,
President, APSG, Inc.

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