News Broadcasting
Guest column: Embracing uncertainty is the next normal
New Delhi: For the last decade or so, we have often seen many business managers and leaders speak about how we are operating in and living through what we believed are uncertain times. Economic downturn. Inflation. Recovery. Recession again, followed by revival, of a period of sustained growth.
It’s a new world order where economic uncertainty has seemingly become the new normal. Many of us even started referring to this and connecting it with the acronym ‘VUCA’ to describe the more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. Digitisation, technology transformation, changing geopolitics, evolving business models, and a changing consensus on globalisation and trade have further accentuated the theory of uncertainty.
But the Covid2019 pandemic has changed–our collective calculus of uncertainty. There has never been a time, the human world may have faced such a complex situation. There have been flu pandemics. There was the 2008 financial crisis. And there have been threats and disasters with local and/or national implications: Chernobyl, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina. The Covid2019 pandemic turned out to be more global in scope, frightfully impactful on the economy and society, and more complex than any other crisis that today’s decision-makers have experienced or contemplated.
Embracing uncertainty and complexity has today assumed never-before-seen critical importance in our decision-making process.
Consumers too have started reacting to uncertainties with different coping strategies, and we as marketers will need to respond to this, and more importantly, keep this as an essential influential factor in chalking our future business strategies. The unprecedented rate at which consumer behaviour shifts is weakening the predictive power of historical data. This means predictive models built on legacy data must also be supplemented by near-real-time alternatives, acknowledging shifts and adapting to them as they happen.
Today, the power of scenario-thinking and building sensing capabilities in embracing uncertainties is the key.
There is a fine balance between the opportunities created by uncertainty and the comforts provided by certainty. Leaders who achieve the balance will unravel growth. Uncertainty can ultimately enrich our lives, or diminish them. Instead of getting intimidated by it, embrace it.
(The author is COO – TV9 Studio (digital & broadcasting), TV9 Network. The views expressed here are his own and indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)
News Broadcasting
Kamlesh Singh receives Haldi Ghati Award from MMCF
India Today Group editor honoured for three decades of journalism at Udaipur ceremony.
MUMBAI- Kamlesh Singh just turned a lifetime of sharp words into a shiny shield because when journalism wakes up a society, even the Maharana of Mewar wants to pin a medal on it.
The Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation (MMCF) conferred its prestigious Haldi Ghati Award on Kamlesh Singh, a senior editor at the India Today Group, during a ceremony in Udaipur on 15 March 2026. The national award, instituted in 1981-82, recognises “work of permanent value that initiates an awakening in society through the medium of journalism.”
Singh, who leads several editorial initiatives including Aaj Tak Radio, the Teen Taal community and The Lallantop, was presented the honour by Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Managing Trustee of MMCF. The citation highlighted his three decades of contributions to Indian media, innovations in digital journalism, mentoring young reporters, and his popular podcast persona “Tau” on Teen Taal, which fosters thoughtful public discourse.
The Haldi Ghati Award, named after the historic Battle of Haldighati symbolising valour and resilience, is one of four national awards given annually by MMCF. Past recipients include Tavleen Singh, Piyush Pandey and Raj Chengappa.
Other honourees this year included Padma Vibhushan Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Vedamurti Devvrat Rekhe, Treeman of India Marimuthu Yoganathan, Vir Chakra Capt Rizwan Malik, and US-based researcher Molly Emma Aitken, who received the Colonel James Tod Award for contributions to understanding Mewar’s spirit and values.
In an era where headlines often shout louder than substance, the MMCF quietly reminded everyone that real journalism isn’t about noise, it’s about the quiet, persistent work that stirs society awake, one thoughtful story at a time.
