This book offers a radically different approach from the clever, but overly simplistic and frequently misleading formulas for success offered by most self-help business literature. The authors believe that in today’s turbulent competitive environment it is necessary to embrace uncertainty and set more realistic expectations, while creating greater flexibility to adapt to ever-changing situations.

Phillip G. Clampitt and Robert DeKoch develop three important themes throughout the book: (1) Creating the illusion of certainty or “acting as if you know when you don’t” is both unwise and counterproductive; (2) Embracing uncertainty is the key to effective leadership; (3) Leaders and organizations need to develop specific competencies to enable them to embrace uncertainty. The book shows how to develop these skills using examples drawn from the authors’ experience in both the classroom and the real world.