Readings & Musings

Readings and Musings contain posted information, as “blog” posts.

Readings are primarily references to other published material, mostly non-fiction, but might include references to fictional works. If so, the distinction between fiction and non-fiction will be clearly indicated to avoid any confusion. Readings’ content pertains to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity topics, and other topics of interest that shed light on these four areas. Readings provide summaries of useful references, and pointers to references that might be of interest of visitors to the Vucanites Institute.

Musings content is the creation of the characters associated with the Vucanites Institute. While content is fictional, real events may stimulate creative writing and commentary, by “characters” of the Vucanites Institute. Readers should view Musings as a work of fiction.

VUCANITES – who exactly are they, where did they come from, and what do they do?


VUCANITES, derived from the term VUCA as modified by the suffix “-ites” are people who are adept at the practice of VUCA. VUCANITES possess an unusual combination of intuitive and prescient skills, come from all walks of life, and are generally well educated and grounded. Although there is no course of study to prepare people to be VUCANITES. It is done mostly through self-study, reflection, the study of history, and the desire to apply the VUCA lens to past, current, and potentially future events.

Background information on VUCA can be readily found via an internet search, e.g., see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity. This Wikipedia entry provides much of the following content, readers are encouraged to research VUCA to gain a better understanding.

VUCA is an acronym for the terms, Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. VUCA – reportedly first used in 1987 by the US Army War College – but evidently related to the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, in particular, their book, Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge, published in 1985.

VUCA describes or examines the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of general conditions and situations. The U.S. Army War College introduced the concept of VUCA to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous multilateral world perceived as resulting from the end of the Cold War.

VUCA has been defined as:
V = Volatility – nature and dynamics of change, and the nature and speed of change forces and change catalysts;
U = Uncertainty – like future risk, lack of predictability, prospects for surprise, and sense of awareness and understanding of issues and events.
C = Complexity – multiplex of forces, confounding of issues, no cause-and-effect chain and confusion that surrounds a situation.
A = Ambiguity – haziness of reality, potential for misreads, mis-, mal-, and dis-information presence, mixed meanings of conditions; and cause-and-effect confusion.

Until next post……
– Maria A., Executive Director, Vucanites Institute, 26 August 2022

Quick Contact Form

Footer Contact