10 takeaways from the book Uncharted

The pandemic has accelerated e exacerbated the uncertainty experience. A year has gone now and still, nobody knows how long this pandemic will last. There has been a lot of reference to the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world for a long time. However, it felt that this pandemic was much more intense.

Throughout this period, I have dedicated a lot of my time to reading books. The books are an open gate to a new world of thoughts and ideas because the current present we are living in is quite tough. At the end of 2020, I came across, the book: Uncharted by Margaret Heffernan. Although, the cover of the book refers to how to map the future together. Initially, I was very skeptical and later I found that this book could not be more relevant to this pandemic period.

These are the takeaway from this book. It has challenged the way I think not only about the future but the way how I live my present life.

· Forget the big companies’ trends none of them can accurately predict the future. Instead, focus on your own experience and learn from the mistakes this will enrich your personal journey.

· We cannot use history to predict the future and cannot rely on previous experience to shape the future. Instead, use the past to build a library of events and use it to access new possibilities to craft new values of what we wish to happen.

· We cannot let data dictate who we are either via a DNA test, personality profile, or any other data report that placed us in the standard framework. There is beauty in not belonging or being obnoxiousness and this is exactly what makes us move as human beings.

· It is important to share the failure of our experiments these disappointments encounters are to teach us valuable lessons.

· You are encouraged to draft scenario planning. This exercise makes people seen different perspective beyond your own understanding. But this exercise just illuminates ideas and cannot forecast the future, because the future is ambiguous and complex.

· You are stimulated to think like an artist and connect with yourself, artists easily demonstrated the ability to associate humans with ambiguity and create work that will be relevant for generations.

· Teams grow strong over time, only deep bonds of trust will supply power to endure humiliation, frustration, and anger.

· The older you get the wiser you will be. Older people tend to be more selective in what they will become. In addition, older people have a collection of stories and experiences and they tend to reflect more on these experiences and see a positive outcome of that.

· Death is a frightening subject not talked about. But we need to live through it because all of us will die one day. Remember the loved ones are an extension of ourselves.

· Collaborative work will always enrich the discussion and will positively influence the preparedness for the future. One alone cannot deal with uncertainties by itself. The uncertainty will always exist. A leader with the capacity to facilitate and encourage collectiveness will thrive in uncertain futures.

In every chapter of this book, you can draw several takeaways applicable to personal life and business. You can now try yourself and see what takeaway your experience will take you to write.