Matt Watkinson - Mastering Uncertainty: How Great Founders, Entrepreneurs, and Business Leaders Thrive in an Unpredictable World

Contents

Praise for Mastering Uncertainty

Mastering Uncertainty is mandatory reading. Not just for company founders and leaders, but for anyone wanting to succeed in our ever-changing world.

Keith Ferrazzi, New York Times #1 Bestselling Author & Founder/Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight

Mastering Uncertainty is a great book. It will teach you to stop searching for definitive answers that dont exist, and embrace a world of possibilities and probabilities. Along the way youll discover opportunities that you were blind to before, and how to turn more of them into positive outcomes.

Jim OShaughnessy, New York Times Bestselling Author of Invest Like the Best, What Works on Wall Street, and Predicting the Markets of Tomorrow and Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of OShaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM)

Every chapter of Mastering Uncertainty is packed with practical advice for how to succeed in our unpredictable world.

Steven Drobny, CEO of Clocktower Group, Author of Inside The House of Money and The Invisible Hands

Finally, a business book that explains how to succeed out there in the messy, real world. Mastering Uncertainty is essential reading.

Charlene Li, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Disruption Mindset and Founder of Altimeter

Mastering Uncertainty replaces fear of the unknown, the unpredictable, and the uncontrollable with a feeling of empowerment, and a sense of greater opportunity. It makes you think about taking uncertainty into account, but not letting it keep you from acting. A masterpiece.

Howard Morgan, Chairman, B Capital Group

Compelling, entertaining, and actionable, Mastering Uncertainty is an incredible distillation of methods and mentalities to help you succeed whatever the future brings.

Jeremy M. Isaacs CBE, Founding Partner at JRJ Group, former CEO, Lehman Brothers

In a thought-provoking collaboration that is a delight to explore, Konkoly and Watkinson provide a practical roadmap to embracing chance and serendipity as a real superpower to thrive in a future where uncertainty is sure to be a feature not to be feared.

Paul Bricault, Managing Partner, Amplify, and Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Cinema Arts at USC

With verve and wit, Mastering Uncertainty explores the psychological and practical aspects of confronting and ultimately prevailing over the unpredictable forces that shape the business landscape.

Geoff Lewis, Founder and Managing Partner, Bedrock Capital

Embracing uncertainty is at the core of the entrepreneurial spirit. This vital book explains how to adopt such a mindset and successfully apply it to a vast range of personal and professional scenarios. A wonderful read.

Steve Tidball, CEO and Founder, Vollebak

Managing uncertainty is the key leadership skill. Thriving in an unpredictable world is possible, and it is the vital lessons from Mastering Uncertainty that can help you succeed.

Joanna Maryewska, General Manager and Founder, SAP.iO Venture Studio

Beautifully written and eminently practical, Mastering Uncertainty is a treasure trove of valuable life and business advice.

Peter Bauer, CEO, Mimecast

Mastering Uncertainty is a practical guide to probabilistic decision-making in business as well as life. It will help you understand the differences between successful entrepreneurs and ineffective traditional managers, and why it is critical to think in terms of acceptable loss, not probable gain.

Jack Schwager, Author of the Market Wizards series, Chief Research Officer at FundSeeder Technologies

Mastering Uncertainty is the red pill of business books. It will fundamentally change your understanding of how the world works, and radically improve your odds of success in the process.

Sam Englebardt, General Partner at Galaxy Interactive

Mastering Uncertainty is everything you could want in a business book. Its concise, easy to read, and brimming with practical advice that can elevate your performance.

Matthew D. Lieberman, PhD, Director, UCLA Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, and founder of Resonance Inc.

Concise, easy to read, and full of advantageous advice, Mastering Uncertainty delivers in spades.

Tal Barnoach, General Partner at Disruptive VC and Disruptive AI Venture Capital

Mastering Uncertainty offers a direct shortcut to essential business and life lessons that most take years to learn the hard way.

Michael Yanover, Head of Business Development, CAA

Mastering Uncertainty carries a profoundly important message about the role of chance events in our successes and failures. A remarkable book.

Isabel Fox, General Partner, Outsized VC

If fear of failure, analysis paralysis, or perfectionism are holding you back, Mastering Uncertainty is the book youve been waiting for. Stop what youre doing and read it immediately.

Chris Webb, CEO at ChowNow

Without uncertainty, there wouldnt be opportunity. The best entrepreneurs use uncertainty to their advantage. If you want to learn how, then you can start by reading this book. You may be pleasantly surprised how a simple shift in mindset can be transformative.

B. Paul Santos, Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners

If youre starting out on your entrepreneurial journey, put Mastering Uncertainty to the top of your reading list.

Mark Lynn, CEO, Amass

Matt and Csaba have written a remarkably thoughtful and highly personal book. Their insights provide a framework for balancing and, more importantly, taking ownership of the uncertainty that we all live with in our professional and personal lives. I highly recommend it.

Eric N. Vincent, President, Sarissa Capital, former Chairman, Managed Funds Association

With evocative storytelling, Mastering Uncertainty provides tools for embracing uncertainty and failure, and multiplying and harnessing moments of leverage.

Benjamin Katz, serial entrepreneur, Founder of Card.com and current CEO of HappyHead.com

If you want to create more opportunities for yourself, and convert more of them into outcomes, start by reading Mastering Uncertainty.

Yida Gao, General Partner, Shima Capital, Forbes 30 under 30

Reading Mastering Uncertainty will give you an immediate advantage over the competition. I highly recommend it!

Sam Shaffer, former Director of Business Development at Afterpay and eBay

Mastering Uncertainty

Mastering Uncertainty

How Great Founders, Entrepreneurs, and Business Leaders Thrive in an Unpredictable World

Matt Watkinson and Csaba Konkoly

Matt Holt Books

An Imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.

Dallas, TX

Mastering Uncertainty copyright Matt Watkinson and Csaba Konkoly, 2023

First published in the UK by Cornerstone Press in 2022

Matt Watkinson and Csaba Konkoly have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this Work in accordance with the Copyright Act 1976.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.