Embracing the unexpected
19 Jan 09
When everything around you seems uncertain, maybe the best course of action is to welcome an age of unpredictability
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reading The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb, a book which explores the impacts of highly unexpected, severe events upon financial markets and everyday life. The concept of embracing the prospect of the improbable occurring in the future is an interesting one considering the current turmoil occurring in the UK economy. As a counterpoint, the unexpected event may also be a positive one – for example, Newcastle picking up three points in a league game before the end of the season – an outcome which never looked likely during the match against Blackburn this weekend.
I’ve also had a bit of a Black Swan this week with month end and year end demands, my half-year appraisal, and the breaking news that my boss has decided we need to completely revise our reporting and analysis process for 2009 – starting with the January month-end. Nice!
The next couple of weeks are looking to be exceedingly busy, with the year-end group submission due by the end of the week and my boss’s new reports to create. Nassim’s suggestion is to embrace unexpected events rather than dismiss them or allow them to overwhelm. The next couple of weeks will involve a few late nights and a lost weekend or two, but ultimately the intention is to make life easier over the remainder of 2009. It is this mindset that I’m intending to carry forward into February. How successful I am in that endeavour will no doubt become apparent over the following blogs.
Until next time