Economic uncertainty calls for strategic action, not just contraction measures. Dev Patnaik explains in Forbes how senior leaders can keep their organizations future-focused and invested in the right growth initiatives.

In uncertain times, business leaders must articulate a clear and concise plan that cuts through the noise. Dev Patnaik explains in Forbes the two questions every CEO should answer right now to establish certainty, meaning and direction for their business and team.

While large companies are phenomenal at managing complexity, they’re actually quite bad at tackling ambiguity. So how do we face issues like healthcare, immigration, education, defense and economic growth in an increasingly ambiguous world?

The nationally ranked Stanford Children’s, is one of the only hospitals exclusively dedicated to pediatric and obstetric care. But their award-winning standard of care wasn’t always a given. By taking a future focused approach, they reinvented the complex care delivery model, changing lives while shaping the future of healthcare.

Why is it so difficult to focus on the future? Or at the very least, avoid getting blindsided by it? For disrupted companies like Kodak or Blackberry, the problem was clearly not a lack of effort or ability to innovate. As it turns out the problem lies in how we’re all hard-wired to think.

Universal Music Group is the world leader in music-based entertainment. But it wasn’t a straight line to the top. After a near-death experience, UMG navigated massive market and technological changes. Through a series of bold, future focused initiatives, they succeeded in finding a path to growth, and in reinventing the role of a music label in the twenty-first century.