To help you develop your own volatility advantage, here's a practical framework for assessment and action:
Step 1: Current State Analysis - What rigid structures exist in your industry/career? - Where do incumbents have strongest advantages? - What assumptions does everyone take for granted? - What would happen if these assumptions broke?
Step 2: Volatility Indicators - What forces could disrupt current structures? - What early signals would indicate change beginning? - Who would be affected first and most severely? - What new needs would immediately emerge?
Step 3: Capability Inventory - What skills do you have that could address emerging needs? - What connections could help you move quickly? - What resources could you rapidly redeploy? - What experiments could you run with minimal risk?
Step 4: Option Creation - How can you build sensing networks across domains? - What small experiments can you start immediately? - Which rigid commitments can you make more flexible? - How can you practice rapid decision-making?
Step 5: Action Planning - Identify three volatility scenarios for your domain - Design responses for each scenario - Build trigger mechanisms to initiate responses - Create feedback loops for rapid learning
Remember: the goal isn't to predict specific disruptions but to build capabilities that work across many possible futures.