The Reframe

A creative leadership practice from IDEO U

Oh no → Oh, interesting

We're built to treat uncertainty as a threat. To get rid of it as fast as we can. Yet the conditions that make us anxious are also where new things take shape. The work isn't silencing the "oh no” reaction. It's trusting that "oh, interesting" is often waiting right behind it.

"Too often we only perceive uncertainty as a threat without thinking about the other side. Uncertainty is also the birthplace of possibility.”

The Tension

Move fast + Think for yourself

"I use [AI] as a second brain, but I'm worried it's making me dumber."

— IDEO U community member, sharing in a recent live event chat

AI offers an instant, confident answer. But it can quietly erode the muscle we build by wrestling a hard question ourselves. The easier it becomes to find a false sense of certainty, the more deliberately we have to choose the productive discomfort of not knowing.

What tension are you holding right now? Hit reply. Your reflections help shape future conversations inside this community.

Try This Now

Do the Q Test

A 2-second experiment:

• Put your finger on your forehead.
• Draw a capital letter Q.
• Which way did the tail point?

If you drew it so someone facing you could read it (tail toward your left), your instinct was to take the other person's vantage point. If you drew it to read for yourself (tail toward your right), you started from your own. Neither is better. The point is it was an unconscious choice.

That's the same place your uncertainty tolerance lives. Which is why we can't simply think our way through the unknown: how we react when something surprises us is more reflex than logic.

From Sam Conniff, on building uncertainty tolerance.

Listen to the full conversation →

Toolbox

The Three Certainty Traps

When we crave certainty, it usually shows up in one of three disguises. Simone Stolzoff calls them the certainty traps.

Simone shares how to counter these traps →

Resources

Fuel your creativity

Morning coffee grooves, by LIKA — “A great vibe for heads down work…and a delightfully unhinged comments section.”

From Tara Safaie, IDEO executive director

Brian Eno — “He tries to bring net-new things to the world. That philosophy is really inspiring to me.”

From Simone Stolzoff, author of How to Not Know

Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. Le Guin — A "future ethnography" of a people thriving in a post-apocalyptic world.

From Angela Kochoska, IDEO data scientist

The Medical Matchmaking Machine, Radiolab — How one person used AI to surface cures for untreatable diseases that were hidden in plain sight.

From a member of the IDEO U community

From IDEO U

The Decisiveness Crisis: Why Senior Leadership Teams Are Most Likely to Get Uncertainty Wrong — Article | Podcast

How to Stop Fighting Uncertainty & Start Working With It — Article | Podcast

AI Tools for Researchers, Patterns vs. Insights, and When to Trust AI Output: Q&A with IDEO Data Scientist Angela Kochoska — Article | Podcast

IDEO's Framework for Using AI in Research: 4 Applications That Go Beyond the Obvious — Article | Podcast

What's Next

Upcoming learning opportunities

Live conversation with Seth Godin — June 25th

Hear about his upcoming book, The Knot, and how to figure out which problems are the right ones to solve.

NEW Human-Centered Research with AI

If you missed your chance to take the course in May, it’s running again in July.

Applied Futuring Workshop

Live two-day workshop starting July 8 taught by IDEO's Futurist-in-Residence, Jennifer Lo. De-risk your strategy. Sharpen your decisions. 

All-Access Pass — On-Demand Courses

Get access to seven IDEO U leadership, innovation and AI courses through the end of the year.