The Uncertainty Mindset 2019-2020

One of the big ones! But also simples. A mindset which insists on treating unknowns as risky (outcomes not known in advance, but all possible outcomes and their probabilities known in advance) and acting as if they are risky.

Risk mindset is inappropriate when applied in situations which are actually uncertain, and can even be incredibly damaging or fatal (as we've seen repeatedly with coronavirus response]]. Risk mindset is ubiquitous because uncertainty is hard to understand, hard to perceive, and emotionally terrifying. Individuals, teams, and organizations are all prone to this kind of self-delusion.

(What's appropriate for uncertainty?: the uncertainty mindset).

See also: adaptability, causality, comfort, forcing function, knowability, negative capability, not-knowing, open-endedness, realistic imagination, self-therapy, strategy, the work of uncertainty, uncertain futures, voluntary uncertainty.