Authors: Isabelle Hoebrechts and Ann Caroline Roymans
VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. The authors assert that the world is VUCA and is changing ever more rapidly. This is the Risk Management aspect. In this VUCA world, sometimes things happen suddenly where you have to make a decision and take action. That is a crisis management aspect.
In the first part, they explain to the reader what the four main characters in your brain are: the Crocodile, the Ant, the Owl, and the Benjamin. You need all four.
The Crocodile, also known as the reptilian brain, instinctively chooses fight, flight, or freeze. It takes over automatically when you are in a life-threatening situation.
The Ant ensures that you automatically fit well in a group: it decides whether you are dominant or submissive, and whether you are distrustful or trusting.
The Owl is a problem solver for known problems: it relies on positive experiences. If you have solved the problem before, the Owl knows it.
The Benjamin is the youngest of the four: also known as the prefrontal cortex, it is highly suitable for solving original, new problems by examining them from all sides. The authors sometimes call it your blue capital.
For crisis management, it is important that each team member of the crisis management team is aware of their four main characters and can handle them appropriately.
Additionally, the authors describe stress as the awakening of your internal Buddha, which you should listen to.
In the second part of the book, the authors introduce you to two personalities: your innate personality and your learned personality.
With these ingredients, the authors explain your decision-making world. How you make decisions, and advise on how to make decisions better and more stable. To do this, you can transition from “That’s it!” to “Is that so?”
The book also includes some small exercises to help you adjust your decision-making process. Practice makes perfect.