Where does VUCA come from?

The concept of VUCA originated in 1985 by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, two strategists and university professors. The term was later popularized through practice by the US Army War College in 1987.

In 1991, Herbert Barber further solidified the concept in an article, stating that war college had decided to use VUCA to help their students understand and navigate during times of unpredictability that they would face towards their progression into strategic leadership positions.

Later, the concept of VUCA was no longer confined to military contexts alone. This is because the civilian community recognized the broader applicability of VUCA, especially in understanding the market fluctuations and conditions that any business would encounter. Hence, the concept was slowly translated from its military origins to a valuable framework that is also heavily applicable to civilian organizations when navigating the complexities of an unpredictable world.

On top of that, the adoption of VUCA was able to expand into boardroom discussions, playing a vital role in decision-making processes. In the corporate context, VUCA served as a method for understanding and navigating unpredictability, which resulted in a great contribution to improving business performance.

Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus

Why should I care?

Other than applying VUCA in military and corporation contexts, understanding the essence of VUCA would provide individuals with a great foundation to grasp the complexity and unpredictability of the challenges they must face. Recognizing we are living in a VUCA world is inevitable, we should cultivate an understanding that being able to navigate in this complexity is vital to achieving long-term success.

As stated above, the influence of VUCA also extends into the organizations, significantly impacting decision-making processes, strategic planning, risk management, and often even having to reevaluate traditional approaches. Constant reliance on traditional methods for forecasting and planning methods might not always be the best option, hence there will be a need to adopt methods and approaches to address issues in new and creative ways.

In this context, success in the VUCA world depends on an individual or organization’s ability to be agile and adaptable. Recognize that the journey towards achieving goals is not a linear path.

To thrive in the VUCA world, it is important for us as individuals and organizations to break away from constraining ourselves with traditional methods for an expected outcome. Rather, we should embrace uncertainty in this world. This would involve a process of learning continuously and be open to the idea of exploring new methods and approaches. This would help us as individuals and organizations to navigate the complexities of the VUCA world and to be successful in the face of evolving upcoming challenges.