And so I wanted to know, well, how did they get better at that? Because I need to get better at that. And I really was curious because I noticed that to do anything new, they had to go through uncertainty. I’ve been interviewing entrepreneurs, innovators for decades. And also the wisdom of someone who does it well. And so this is kind of a marriage also of kind of studying and researching something you struggle with. And I think Susannah is somebody who’s good at it. So my advisor at Stanford when I was doing my PhD, always used to say, “You study what you wrestle with.” And I’m curious about uncertainty because I struggle with it. Do either of you suffer from the fear of the unknown more than the other? If people wonder about the names you are a married couple, one of you studies entrepreneurship.

SUSANNA HARMON FURR: Thanks for having us.ĬURT NICKISCH: Just to clarify from the get go. Susanna and Nathan, so nice to speak with you. Together they wrote the new book, The Upside of Uncertainty. Nathan Furr is a Professor of Strategy and Innovation at INSEAD and Susanna Harmon Furr is an entrepreneur. And from those interviews, they’ve learned strategies to embrace uncertainty and to change your thinking so you go after the possibilities hidden in the unknown. Today’s guests spoke to hundreds of entrepreneurs and innovators and leaders. Still fear of uncertainty can also block us from opportunity, from changing careers, from starting that business, from pitching that project, from acting on that dream. He founded several successful companies there in Silicon Valley, but our guests today have sympathy for his coworker. What was the worst that could happen? For his coworker, it was just too risky to give up your job without a new one in hand. His colleague on the trip was shocked and flew home without him. Right then and there, he decided to quit his job and move there.

He opened the local newspaper to find page after page of job listings. In 1978, Steve Blank was a young engineer sent to San Jose, California on a work assignment. They wrote the new book The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown and the HBR article “ How to Overcome Your Fear of the Unknown.”ĬURT NICKISCH: Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review.

They reviewed research and interviewed innovators and changemakers to share best practices of stepping proactively into the unknown. By learning to welcome and cope with the gray area, an individual can reach better outcomes. INSEAD professor Nathan Furr and entrepreneur Susannah Harmon Furr argue that uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin. However, many of our best achievements and meaningful experiences come from a trying time of ambiguity.

For many of us, uncertainty is nerve-wracking.

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