The only constant thing in life is change. How do leaders, in business and life, should take control of anxiety about the challenges that lie ahead? To answer this, Dinis Guarda reviews ‘Certain Uncertainty: Leading With Agility And Resilience In An Unpredictable World’ in the latest episode of Booksabc, powered by openbusinesscounciil.org and citiesabc.com and live now on Dinis Guarda YouTube Channel.
From startups to multinational corporations, companies of all sizes face a myriad of challenges and unpredictable situations that can profoundly impact their operations and prospects. In the present times, where the world is recuperating from a pandemic while being challenged by a rapidly evolving technological landscape, uncertain times is now a universal phenomenon.
These ‘certain uncertainties’, as we can conveniently call them, are inherent to businesses and demand a strategic and agile approach to survive and thrive in the face of ever-changing conditions.
“All of us, as humans, go through times of ‘certain uncertainties’: our emotional intelligence, fears, and insecurities. In the present times where there are lots of uncertainties in terms of geo-politics and technology. It is our ability to balance all this and create our spaces that are alive and thriving; and how we can actually stay in the unknown. There are actually a lot of opportunities that exist beyond our challenges“, said Dinis.
To highlight this, Dinis reviews ‘Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World‘. The book is published by Wiley and curated by renowned management theorist, Des Dearlove.
Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World
‘Certain Uncertainty’ is an illuminating narrative of how to build resilience and agility into our lives and businesses. The book collects advice and fresh thinking from Top business leaders by Thinkers50 and presents them in a way that helps managers and executives to navigate contemporary markets.
Some of the experts who have contributed to the book include: Sheree Atcheson, Ori Brafman, Rom Brafman, Paul R. Carlile, Julie Carrier, Kirstin Ferguson, Nathan Furr, Susannah Harmon Furr, Amy Gallo, Matt Gitsham, Ruth Gotian, Mehran Gul, Diane Hamilton, Maja Korica, Marianne W. Lewis, David Liddle, Terence Mauri, Jennifer Moss, Gorick Ng, David Nour, Simone T.A. Phipps, Leon C. Prieto, Ben Pring, Megan Reitz, Wendy K. Smith, Lisa Kay Solomon, Modupe Taylor-Pearce, Tamsen Webster, Ben Whitter, Andrew Winston, and Kai D. Wright
“We have a lot of changes and velocities in our times. The book addresses the paradox where we try to find certainty. How we, as leaders, can control what can’t be controlled and how we can learn to respond efficiently and adapt quickly to the disruptions and transformational changes that are appearing ever more frequently and suddenly“, Dinis highlighted.
The ideas shared in the book encompass some of the thought-provoking topics, like Resilience, net positive leadership, radical empathy, navigating paradox, voices of difference at work, social sustainability, justice at work, and navigating ambivalence.
Dinis referred to the episode of his YouTube podcast, where he interviewed Des Dearlove, and Megan Reitz, one of the contributors to the book. He highlighted the introduction from Des:
“To be able to respond better to unforeseen events, we need to build resilience and agility into our lives, including the way that businesses operate.
Change is now constant; disruption is to be expected and it requires adaptability in response. We can’t go back, we must go forward.
The next generation of leaders need to know about leading with ‘Certain Uncertainty.”
About Des Dearlove
Des Dearlove is a British business journalist, management theorist and a prolific author. He is also the co-founder of Thinkers50, the first global ranking of management thinkers with Stuart Crainer.
A BSc in Politics and Economics from the University of Southampton. Des Dearlove has an extensive background in journalism. He is a former columnist to The (London) Times and contributing editor to Strategy+Business. He was the co-editor (with Stuart Crainer) of the Financial Times Handbook of Management.
As an author, Des Dearlove has recently released a compilation titled ‘Certain Uncertainty: Leading with Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World’ released as a co-branded book series in collaboration with Wiley and Thinkers50. In ‘Certain Uncertainty’, he discusses how to build resilience and agility into our lives and businesses, and he does it through advice and fresh thinking from accomplished business leaders.
He is a prolific author and has co-written several other books including: Generation Entrepreneur (FT.com), Gravy Training: Inside the Business of Business Schools (Jossey-Bass), and The Ultimate Book of Business Thinking (Capstone).
Des Dearlove has also written fiction books under the pen name of D.D. Everest. He has authored Archie Greene, a trilogy for children (published by Faber & Faber). In 2014, Archie Greene and the Magician’s Secret was shortlisted for the National Book Awards.
Des Dearlove has also taught at leading business schools, including IE Business School, and the Saïd Business School at Oxford University, where he is an associate fellow.
About BooksABC
After the success of his youtube podcast series, with more than 12M views, Dinis Guarda presents BooksABC, a new series where he reviews meaningful books that are changing the way we understand technology and society as a whole. More importantly, these are books that he loves. Dinis Guarda is an avid reader and writer and believes books are there to inspire and teach us. The first episode is available now on YouTube.
Throughout his career, Dinis Guarda has published numerous books and articles, and has been interviewed for media outlets such as IrishTechNews, O’Reilly, and Forbes. He is the founder of digital news sites intelligenthq.com, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, openbusinesscouncil.com, cityam, and more.
As an author, Dinis is well known for his book with Rais Hussin, “4IR AI Blockchain, FinTech, IOT – Reinventing a Nation” and “Blockchain, AI + Crypto Economics – The Next Tsunami.” Additionally, he is about to publish a new book, “NFTs Uprising – The citiesabc Ultimate Guide To Non-Fungible Tokens”. With this new series, Dinis tries to give voice to outstanding books, ideas and authors.
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.
