Jun 17, 2011

Dealing With Uncertainty

There is a fine line that needs to be crossed in the making of a leader when he goes from managing the "knowns" to managing the "unknowns". This ability to deal with the uncertainty in every aspect of life is one very important skill that we should strive to exhibit, master and then preach.

As we grow up, we are always asked if we are sure about any decision we are making. We learn to stop taking decisions till we are really sure of the outcome. After sometime, many people lose the ability to deal with the uncertainty since most things are uncertain in life and we are never really sure. This is the difference between administrators, who deal with the sure shot processes and continue to experience life in deterministic ways, and  leaders, who embrace the unknown and take decisions that take them to higher planes of achievement. Entrepreneurship too is impossible without the ability to deal with the unknown.

Our other life decisions, starting from what pre-school to choose, what school to choose, what second-language to choose, what extra-curricular activities to do, which college to choose, what job to choose, which girl to love and which girl to marry - all have inherent uncertainties - but we somehow take these decisions and deal with it.

Uncertainty is certain. We should not fight it. We should embrace it. It will reduce tension in our lives. Once we are calm about this, we can think about mastering uncertainly and make the best use of it in our lives.