We live in an ‘age of uncertainty’. Many organizations work in unstable, volatile and insecure environments. And many are troubled by unforeseen or unthinkable events with potentially devastating effects. Decision–makers are under pressure to come up with responses. In addition, there are legal duty of care obligations to ensure a reasonable degree of protection of staff.

ANTHROPOS sees such environments as characterized by the trilogy of complexity, uncertainty and non–linearity. We argue that traditional risk management tools are ill–adapted. Past events and big data do not announce sudden changes or surprises. They do not provide meaning or signal the relevance of weak signals and outlier events.

Navigating in such a risk environment requires a focus on adaptability, flexibility and decentralized decision–making. Bureaucratic responses are no longer appropriate. Adaptability and flexibility call for critical thinking and – sometimes uncomfortable – questioning of assumptions. Decentralized decision–making requires a ‘culture of trust’ within an organization, to have confidence in the competence and judgement of those closest to events.