Main Content
L1: Course Overview and Introduction
The Environmental Context: The VUCA World
VUCA
The term VUCA is an acronym for the words volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (see Steihm & Nicholas, 2002). It comes from Bennis and Nanus's 1987 book Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge and refers to certain types of conditions leaders may face today. These conditions can be further described as follows:
- Volatility: where the pace of change is rapid, and impacts are possibly pervasive.
- Uncertainty: where it is unclear how to predict the future from information provided with accuracy.
- Complexity: the interdependence of multiple factors, which can make the relationship between the factors difficult to understand and analyze.
- Ambiguity: where relevant information is available; however, there is a lack of clarity about how to interpret events.
These conditions can be used to describe the world in which we live today and the context in which leadership occurs. Many leaders find themselves adapting to a variety of challenges. Gigliotti provides his perspective about the current challenges of leadership:
A global pandemic, growing economic upheaval, sweeping racial unrest, heightened partisan polarization, and the ongoing impact of climate change, among others—threaten our way of being in both the short term and the long term. These crises pose significant challenges to those engaged in leadership across settings and sectors, and the very survival of many organizations remains uncertain.
Questions to Consider
- Can you relate to the conditions of the VUCA world?
- Do these conditions impact your work and leadership?
