Panel discussion at BledCom Symposium 7 July 2018 J.J. Ruijgers - In VUCA we fear, in data we trust

“What is the future of measurement and evaluation in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world?
With fake news being the word of the year in 2017 and Bell Pottinger the first PR firm in history (potentially) whose business succumbed due to “acute embarrassment”, an acronym reflected more than ever all the concerns and hopes of communicators: VUCA.
It is essentially a post-Cold-War term depicting the world as it was then perceived: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. But with disruption and transformation, digitalsation and globalisation, one could argue that today’s version of VUCA is even more nuanced and complicated than the post-Cold War one.
For once, everything can be thought of in terms of positives and negatives and their consequences – positive complexity (i.e. a product going viral and becoming an internet sensation) being seen in products and people gaining fame through virality, and negative complexity (such as how the Arab Spring indirectly contributed to Brexit) leading potentially to new political constellations or also to new public diplomacy pressures.”

(Citaat: Adi, A. – Panel discussion at BledCom Symposium 7 July 2018 J.J. Ruijgers – In VUCA we fear, in data we trust – Communication Director (2018)4, p.34-35)