The Perils of Uncertainty
The Perils of Uncertainty
Meet Your Host, Alan Weiss
Alan Weiss is one of those rare people who can say he is a consultant, speaker, and author and mean it.
His consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., has attracted clients such as Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, State Street Corporation, Times Mirror Group, The Federal Reserve, The New York Times Corporation, Toyota, and over 500 other leading organizations. He has served on several boards of directors in various capacities.
His prolific publishing includes over 500 articles and 60 books, including his best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting (from McGraw-Hill) now in its 30th year and sixth edition. His newest is Your Legacy is Now: Life is not about a search for meaning but the creation of meaning (Routledge, 2021). His books have been on the curricula at Villanova, Temple University, and the Wharton School of Business, and have been translated into 15 languages.
Get to know AlanShow Notes
Uncertainty leads to poor choices. People seek certainty at the cost of their well-being. We have been “certain” about such horrors as eugenics and such trivialities as not swimming for an hour after eating.
We've had brutal endings to cults, in Waco, in Jonestown, because conmen had convinced followers that they had certainty. We have polarization today because opposing politics or values cause adherent to be “certain” about their position and hold those who disagree as inferior.
There are people taking invalid behavioral tests to dismiss others as having weak or defective profiles, and they are certain that they are superior to them. I remember when so many people had their feet burned trodding over hot coals that more EMTs had to be called. I guess their motivation wasn't sufficient—they were uncertain.
BOTH science and religion try to create certainty around the mysteries of the universe, as if we could understand the unfathomable. (What do we mean there was “nothing” and then there was “something” which then “exploded”…??)
In this age we need to live with and thrive on uncertainty. Solid companies such as GE suddenly crumble. Upsets in sports abound. We have gone from “global warming” to “climate change” to try to correct prior uncertainties.
Can you be “certain” that your kids aren't using drugs or that your elected officials aren't stealing? I'm not calling for continual cynicism, but I am suggesting we have to live with uncertainty and be resilient and agile enough to deal with the failure of the “certain.”
These two astronauts who went to the space station for a week and nearly stayed for a lifetime are good examples of dealing with uncertainty. Of course, they have “the right stuff.”
Alan Weiss's The Uncomfortable Truth® is a weekly broadcast from “The Rock Star of Consulting,” Alan Weiss, who holds forth with his best (and often most contrarian) ideas about society, culture, business, and personal growth. His 60+ books in 12 languages, and his travels to, and work in, 50 countries contribute to a fascinating and often belief-challenging 20 minutes that might just change your next 20 years.
Introduction to the show recorded by Connie Dieken
