Decision Making In Uncertain Times: How can we become more aware of the consequences of our actions on tomorrow?

What sets this book apart is its fresh and insightful take on handling uncertainty and making decisions. It's not your typical self-help manual; it's more like a friend who nudges you to reevaluate your decision-making process in a thought-provoking and enriching way. The author has packed it with resources that will make you pause and reconsider your decision-making approach. It's not a one-sitting kind of book – more like a toolkit you can dip into whenever you need clarity. I love that it encourages you to reflect and then take action. It's that perfect balance between theory and practical application. What I find truly unique about this book is the richness of the thinking. It's not afraid to delve into the complexities of decision-making and doesn't shy away from the uncertainties we all face. The author's perspective is one of a kind – refreshing, relatable, and thoroughly engaging.

If you're an EXECUTIVE and want to go beyond the traditional narratives of decision-making — read this book! Forget the '5-steps' straight line. >>Fish moves you to a THINKING SPIRAL FRAMEWORK, challenging you to think & rethink your decision-making in today's business uncertainty! -- Data: Objective or Subjective? -- Let's start with the 'data experts' that claim, you know... ...'data is the new oil' to solve business uncertainty. The reasoning is that words are subjective, but data is objective. Right? Think again! >>'Data' is framed through MODELS & FRAMEWORKS, and yet no model is complete! Therefore, data is INHERENTLY subjective — interpreted differently by the model used to make sense of it. ~ In fact, to Fish, "data is closer to the discovery of a NEW CORE ELEMENT for the periodic table." He argues a new LEXICON is required to describe what 'data' is to avoid possible breakdown of its understanding. (...this echoes David Bohm's call for a new grammar to capture the 'wholeness of things' to avoid the 'fragmentation thinking crisis'!) -- Data Ontology -- All data has a structure — an 'ontology' through which we interpret it. So, if your goal is to make better decisions 'based on data'... ...be aware that you can easily ask the WRONG QUESTIONS about your data. >>Pick a different structure, and you get a different answer; the ONTOLOGY creates the conclusion! (...easily influenced by 'confirmation bias' in a need to find 'evidence' to self-justify 'business is running fine') ~ According to Fish, business leaders should start asking their Chief Data Officers: 3/ Do we know the ontologies of data throughout our ecosystem? 2/ What is the ontology of our data for each silo? 1/ Is there a single top-level ontology? -- Quantum Risk -- Then... what are the RISKS when different 'data ontologies' intertwine or merge? Tony Fish introduces the concept of 'Quantum Risk'! >>A new type of risk not seen before, EMERGING when different data ontologies 'collide'. 'Quantum Risk' is everywhere yet INVISIBLE, creating a 'rainbow' of 'data categories' not there before. "Quantum risk emerges at the boundaries of (inter) dependencies that are created as we create sustainable ecosystems to enable shared data". ~ 'Quantum Risk' is a 'data risk' in which: 3/ It requires to dig into the DARK WORD of data ontologies 2/ You have neither CONTROL of nor access to the data 1/ Yet, this data is CRITICAL to your decision-making ~ If this sounds like a 'different reality', well... ...it's because 'IT IS a different reality'! A reality that requires business leaders to go through a paradigm shift. And that may well start with Fish's proposals. (...that resonates a lot): "To support better governance (...) request that companies publish the questions asked in their board meetings. NOT the answers, but DEFINITELY the questions."

I really enjoyed reading this book by Tony Fish, who is business leader with a lot of experience and insights. His focus is on how to make better decisions in uncertain times, using data, models, frameworks, and questions. He challenges the readers to think differently and question our assumptions and habits. The book is very well-written and easy to follow. It has a lot of examples and graphics that make the concepts clear and practical. Fish introduces some new and interesting frameworks, such as Quantum Risk and Peak Paradox, that gives fresh insights into how to understand and manage the risks and opportunities that come from the complexity and uncertainty of the modern world. The book is also engaging and humorous. Fish has a sharp and witty style. Highly recommended.

This is not your average book - there is a richness of thought and insight here that is rare. This is not a 'one idea, padded out well beyond the length it can sustain' book. It is clearly the result of a quite extraordinary depth of thinking and will repay returning to again and again - there are many "tools for the head and indeed heart too" contained here. There is a compassion for messiness, a realism and a passion for really thinking, always questioning, for the ethical governance of emergence in complex adaptive systems. It is the antithesis of management theory which gives "five ways for this" "eight fields for that," the kind that sustain the myth that you can make uncertainty go away if you only try hard enough. It is about the energy to be found in engaging with uncertainty, with being ok with the unknowable and finding a kind of fierce joy in all that you cannot know. It is also about casting a much more sophisticated sense making net for Boards and Senior Teams - about how to question the framing of questions (who gets to do the framing?") about data as living and fissile. It will repay the time you give it many times over in the years to come, I suspect!

Tony has done an excellent job here. Absolutely packed full of insight, content and directly applicable thinking and pure pragmatism that we know and trust from Tony. The only thing we know today and in the future is that the future is definitely uncertain, so a must read if you want to build your understanding of how to make those high stakes decisions.

This book is a must read. Each chapter poses new questions surrounding data and decisions and proposes bitesize solutions. For example, the differences between company cultures in start-ups that lead to more powerful innovation, or understanding the human forces that unconsciously shape the decisions we make - for better or for worse. Strongly recommended for anyone making those high stake decisions, or anyone (like me) who wants to make them in the future.

The thought-provoking, very comprehensive structures of decision-making make this book a must-read for senior leaders , Board members, NEDs. The book covers the complexity of decision-making, the interconnections in each step of the process and how you look at data in the world we live. Tony Fish writes in a way that challenges you to reassess the way of thinking when making decisions under a framework that questions “data”. Very insightful

Currently in business, or even everyday, life it seems frustratingly hard to make tangable progress. There are obvious factors such as the high rate of changes but somehow there seem to be deeper less obvious factors affecting the quality of our decisions. Tony Fish sets out to examine the very fabric of decision making by systematically identifying all of the influences in play. The text may explain but it’s the copious diagrams that really hit home and bring enlightenment. Fish convinces that there are more unrecognised forces in play and how to recognise and channel them for success. A book that deserves a careful read

The book touches upon key aspects of human decision making facing fundamental uncertainty, which is the structure of financial markets. Therefore, reading this book also allows investigating the core relationship between humans and the "financial unknowns" to better understand how banking relationships currently works, and how financial services can be innovated to generate more value for clients.

This book makes a strong contribution to a complex and often confused field. Through his personal neuro-divergent lens he adds rigor and a novel perspectives. Always insightful. Often orthogonal. Challenging and fun !

i devoured Tony Fish new book "decision making in uncertain times." this is a magnificent business thinking book in a sea of sameness business books. full disclosure. i know Tony and i have always shared a common belief that words and thoughts should be treated with reverence, and Tony does this chapter after chapter - dismantling lazy existing thinking and phraseology and then reassembling words into new thoughts that force you to think just a bit more (or sometimes a lot). it weaves its way through the tools for decisionmaking (data) and wisdom and judgement and, well, it confirms few decisions are simple and almost none are without unseen consequences. and just when i thought he may be losing a little steam in the book, he drops the idea of being "antifinite" (like antifragile) as well as 'quantum risk.' chapters, alone, worth the price of the book.

Tony Fish’s Decision Making in Uncertain Times is a wonderful book written for anyone who finds themselves in a stewardship position. That speaks to anyone in a board role (for profit or not), anyone in public policy, or who intends to leave a legacy, wherever they are. Think of this book as 10 mind exercises to enable you to lift your gaze from the short term to the long run and prepare you to make the decisions that are messy and complex and only get more so the longer your time horizon and bolder your purpose. Pointedly, for those of us working around corporations, Tony identifies the dilemma that success through the ranks does not train us to make decisions with a view towards forever. Because, yes, corporations - like states - can potentially live forever. That does suggest that business people require these exercises more than most – because we are not trained to think in anti-fragile ways. And, refreshingly, Tony NEVER suggests his way is the only way. Rather, he is setting his reader up for a sequence of challenges to sharpen their decision making. I certainly have. I feel more prepared to choose my purpose, adjust my line of sight and choose my tools to support the very best decision making given my intention. Then of course, like all humans I still have to get out of my own way. I am the author of a book called Decisions not Data – written to unpick the obvious (but often missed) point that data is not of itself useful unless it supports a better decision. As a result, I know how hard it is to take the time to coherently document and share the knowledge you are gaining while you are still on the field! Tony unpicks what a better decision looks like. And, what the governance approaches are needed to make them. So thank you Tony for paying it forward with a book that helps those shaping the future we are living in to.

The book is a treasure trove of practical tools for leaders and directors who are tasked with making critical business choices. Fish's deep dive into the omnipresence of uncertainty, whether in simple operational decisions or intricate strategic maneuvers, is both thought-provoking and enlightening. He adeptly demonstrates how data can be a powerful ally in the decision-making process, providing clarity and guiding us toward more informed and better outcomes.