We live in an era of incredible achievements in science and technology. We are more knowledgeable and powerful than ever, but the future feels more uncertain than ever. Success in business today is more challenging than ever. The same technological advancements that have exponentially increased our productivity and have created a huge landscape of possibilities, have made today’s business environment more uncertain than ever in the history of humankind.

It looks like our technology, knowledge and best practices have not been able to guide organisations effectively in this age of rapid change and uncertainty. Then what is it that is missing?

We may be today at our peak of knowledge and understanding but we are at our trough of wisdom. To be successful in the age of uncertainty, organisations must make the right decisions – the margins of error are narrowing. The wisdom of those decisions will determine their future. Wiser decisions are what organisations need to thrive in the age of uncertainty.

This book brings together a set of capabilities that are essential for professionals who want to contribute to the wisdom of their organisations. These capabilities can be applied by any professional to solve any problem. From team members and team leads to managers, department heads, and VPs, to C-level executives.

If you are a sales executive, you can use this wisdom to figure out how to increase growth. If you are marketing executive, you can use it to figure out how to reduce agency engagement. If you are an HR leader, you can use it to figure out how to find the right people and retain talent. If you are a project, program, or portfolio manager, you can use it to mobilise your workforce to achieve the desired outcomes within the desired parameters.

Today we see a rich variety of methods, frameworks, mindsets, and “solutions” intended to enable organisations to thrive in the age of uncertainty. But the hype around them has only created chaos and confusion, leading to situations where many organisations jump from method to method running transformation program after transformation program, only to realise few tangible benefits from their efforts.

Agile, DevOps, Lean, Design Thinking, Business Agility, Customer Centricity, Product Mindset, Customer Journey, Teal Organisation, Growth Hacking, and Digital Transformation are examples of buzzwords propagating the organisational improvement space. Even commonly accepted words such as mindset and culture have taken on a “buzzword” aura.

To be wise, we need to learn how to tell hype from reality. We need to rise above the noise and uncover what really matters. To achieve this, we need to master the following four essential capabilities.

1. Systems thinking: To widen our perspective and look at the world more holistically.

2. Emotional intelligence: To work more effectively with people. To take control of our own emotions and influence those of others.

3. Leadership: To set superior visions and create an environment where people can be at their best, moving the organisation towards that vision.

4. Organisational transformation: To create environments that promote creativity, collaboration, teamwork, proactivity, innovation, and commitment.

In this book, we will be going through a diversity of concepts, subjects, and disciplines to create a richer view of what it takes to build wisdom. We will weave together ideas from process engineering, modelling, management and leadership theories, product development, business, economics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, philosophy, mysticism, and spirituality.

This is not a theoretical book. This book is littered with practical examples and hands-on practices. As you are reading this book you will learn skills that can be used the next day in the office and make a difference in your organisation.