Emerging markets 2: Ability to deal with ambiguity

(written in 2011)

Following up on my previous article about the emerging world, I am now going to comment on my second main observation, one that I am personally very passionate about. I call it ability to deal with ambiguity. In a nutshell, it is an exciting mixture of carelessness about the future combined with a healthy portion of hubris that things will end up well.

India can be a great example. People here often give the impression that they are unorganised. That they do not seem to give much attention to planning and preparation about what lies ahead. Yet most of the times, when under pressure to deliver, they somehow manage to do what they promised.

I admire this quality of theirs. It is something so many people in the West miss. I do not mean now that people should stop caring about the future, no. One should always have a plan about what to do next. But sometimes, you cannot do your research as extensively as you would like to and you cannot wait for all the information to come in. Sometimes you have to act now otherwise the opportunity is gone. In such moments we have so much to learn from the emerging world.

So next time, when faced with an ambiguous situation and no more time to spare, throw a bit of hubris into the decision making process and trust yourselves that things will end up well. If you believe so, they usually will.

PS: On retrospective, I find this article advocating the idea in a little too careless way. Please article called Trust the Process for more thoughts on the topic.