Website: actioninthemoment.com Action in the Moment challenges the idea of uncertainty as the basis of reality. Treating uncertainty as the basis of reality is very wrong when we actually live in an ambiguous world. If reality was based on uncertainty, a machine could replace us and there would be no reason for our existence. Additionally, ambiguity provides us with free will because we can then use our own internal rules in making decisions. We do not have to use the external rules designed into a machine that makes decisions based on probabilities and utility. Action in the Moment presents self-awareness and intuition as key concepts in improving our understanding of individual and organization behavior in ambiguous times. The thesis presented is that we must admit that ambiguity is the basis of reality, and, rely on self-awareness and intuition as fundamental to decision making and our reason for our existence. We clearly have much to do in responding to the apparent chaos presented by ambiguity. We have reached a point where we are like a deer frozen in the headlights of an oncoming car. Decision-making paralysis has resulted from us avoiding ambiguity as the basis for reality. This book describes a simple process for eliminating this paralysis by developing our self-awareness and intuition. The process presented will improve your leadership ability, the integrity of decision-making, and almost every aspect of organization behavior.

1. Action in the Moment
Self-Awareness and Intuition
for
Leaders in Ambiguous Times
By
Thomas G. Swenson, Ph.D.
2015

2. ACTION IN THE MOMENT
Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind
on the present moment.
-Buddha-

3. Goals of Seminar
 Describe why ambiguity and not
uncertainty should be the basis of
reality.
 Discuss the importance of self-awareness to
individuals and organizations.
 Describe a process to improve self-
awareness.
 Discuss relationship between self-awareness,
communication effectiveness, team
effectiveness, emotional quotient, learning,
creativity, intuition, leadership, culture and
organization effectiveness.
 Discuss the importance of intuition to
leadership and decision making.

4. Why ambiguity and not
uncertainty should be the
basis of reality.

5. REALITY IS A PUZZLE

6. REALITY IS A
BALANCING ACT

7. • If we wish to grow and
develop we will continually
struggle with choice and
action in the unknown as we
continue to define our
reality.
• How can we know what to do
when anomalies seem to be
ubiquitous?
• Reality is not uncertain it is
ambiguous.
The Unknown is Always
Ambiguous and “Now” is
Always Moving into the
Future and the Unknown.

8. All the effort to improve our
understanding of individual and
organization behavior has
resulted in explaining 20% of
the variability in behavior.

9. Today, neither
organizations, nor the
managers are afforded the
luxury of the time to
leisurely study a situation,
develop a plan, and
implement the plan.
We do no have time. We
have to know what to do
when each new reality
presents itself.

10. How can we assign
relative value for
choosing among
alternative actions
when we are taking
action in a reality that
has never been
experienced?

11. Uncertainty as a
basis for reality,
has failed us in
selecting among
alternative
actions.

12. We Need To Begin By Questioning
Our Basic Assumption Of Reality And
The Reason For Our Existence.
Is Reality Based Upon
UNCERTAINTY
or
AMBIGUITY?

13. UNCERTAINTY
Under conditions of
uncertainty the outcomes of
interest are:
1) Known (can be defined),
2) Measurable (reliable),
3) Understood,
4) Explainable, and
5) Controllable.

14. Inadequacy of
Measurement

15. Uncertainty, per se, is
not actually the problem.
It is more a problem of
measurement. Do we
really know what we are
measuring.

16. AMBIGUITY :
Any situation where any of the
following is true.
The outcomes of interest
can not:
Be defined,
and/or measured.

17. IT IS CLEAR THAT REALITY IS
NOT BASED ON UNCERTAINTY.
The outcomes of interest
are:
 1) Not known,
 2) Can’t be measurable (reliable),
 3) Are certainly not understood,
 4) Can’t be explained, and
 5) Aren’t controllable.

18. Clearly, we must accept
ambiguity as the basis for our
existence.

19. If reality was based on
uncertainty a machine could
replace us and there would
then be no reason for our
existence because we simply
would not be needed. We
must have some role.

20. I Am Not A Machine!!
With ambiguity we have free
will.

21. What is Ambiguity?
 The Merriam-Webster (m-w.com)
defines ambiguity as follows:
 1) The quality or state of
being ambiguous, especially in
meaning.
 2) A word or expression that
can be understood in two or
more possible ways: an
ambiguous word or expression
Note: This is not a joke. These are the
actual definitions of ambiguity.

22. Ambiguity Defined
1) Outcomes even if known,
cannot be observed or measured
with any certainty,
2) The outcomes can have two
or more possible meanings as
Illustrated by the status of an
outcome that can be viewed as
good or bad simultaneously, or
change as the context may
dictate on a dynamic basis over
time. (i.e. It all depends).

23. Examples of
Ambiguity
Newspaper headlines provide excellent
examples of ambiguity in our daily news.
Headlines also demonstrate how useful
ambiguity is in humor. Just a few
examples of ambiguity in newspaper
headlines follow:

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting
Defendant
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
Typhoon Hits Cemetery; Hundreds
Dead
Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery
Charge
Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test
Group
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in
Spacecraft
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

24. Examples of
Ambiguity
The second amendment of the
U.S. Constitution is loaded with
ambiguity.
“A well-regulated militia, being
necessary to the security of a
free state, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms, shall not
be infringed. “
There are different types of the
ambiguity presented in this
amendment:
 1) Grouping: right of the people: is it
a collective right or an individual right?
 2) Semantic: keep and bear: does
this include, bringing a pistol to this class?
 3) Semantic: arms: does this include,
say, surface to air missiles or RPG’s?
 4) Vagueness: infringed: does
licensing count as infringement?
Is there any wonder that it has
become almost impossible to reform
gun laws?

25. Examples of Ambiguity
Do we know what
organization effectiveness
is?
Are we able to measure
effectiveness of human
performance or team
performance?
Do we know how to evaluate
health care?
What is death with dignity?,
Do we know what
communication effectiveness
is?
Is the use of drones in
warfare good?
Is gun control good or bad?
How much is a life worth?
Is immigration good or bad?
Is increasing profitability,
good or bad?
Can we agree when life
begins?

26. If we are honest with
ourselves, none of these types
of questions have been or
could be answered using our
current scientific methods of
problem solving?
If we can’t measure an
outcome of interest, what is it
that we are predicting and
does it help our
understanding?
Or, have we created a façade
to hide the inadequacies in
our reasoning.

27. Liars, Spin Doctors,
Bureaucrats And
Ideologues
Some professions have
found ambiguity quite
useful.
Politicians, advertisers,
sales persons, and even
ministers among many
others, have become
experts in the use of
ambiguity in persuading
others, intentionally or
unintentionally for their
personal benefit.

28. If ambiguity enables free
will? Then what is it
that forms the basis for
exercising free will in
our decision making?
How can we evaluate the
alternatives in our
decision making.

29. The meaning of various
outcomes are best
defined by the values
that define them.

30. How do we identify the values
that give personal meaning to
our life?

31. Where Can We Find Our Values That Define
Who We Are?
Our Memories contain the values.
We Remember Things Because They
Are Important.
Write Down These Values.
What Are The Values That Define
The Importance Of The Memories?

32. Examples of My Unforgettable
Memories
Grandparents Kitchen
Pantry
U.S. Marine At Attention
Trip To A Village In
Vietnam
A Young Man Sheltering A
Dying Dog From The Rain

33. The Values Aren’t
Always Apparent In
The Memories
Grandparents Kitchen Pantry
 Exploration, Confidence, Risk,
Learning, Trust and Respect

34. The Values Aren’t Always
Apparent In The Memories
U.S. Marine At Attention
 Integrity, Risk, Learning, Trust and
Respect and Forgiveness.

35. The Values Aren’t Always
Apparent In The Memories
Trip To A Village In Vietnam.
 Relationship, Trust and Respect,
Human Dignity

36. The Values Aren’t Always
Apparent In The Memories
A Young Man Sheltering A Dying
Dog From The Rain.
 Compassion For All Living
Things
 Dignity Of All Living Things
 Respect
 Selfless Living

37. EFFECTS OF
SELF-AWARENESS

38. EFFECTS OF SELF-AWARENESS
No More Struggling To Explain Why
You Made A Decision
Confidence and Courage to Act
Integrity
 Habitually Acting On Your
Values
Communication Effectiveness
Team Effectiveness
Emotional Intelligence
Inspirational Leadership
Passion for Vision
Strong Culture
Improved Decision-Making
Continual Improvement
Organization Sustainability and
Effectiveness

39. Communication Effectiveness

40. Team Effectiveness

41. SELF-AWARENESS – COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS
TEAM EFFECTIVENESS – STRONG CULTURE

42. EFFECTS OF SELF-AWARENESS

43. Decision Making And
The Role Of Intuition
The Truly Effective Leader
Use Their Own Rules For
Thinking And Acting Rather
Than Relying Upon The Rules
That Others Would Like Us
To Follow.
It Is Now, Not Just, Okay
To Rely On Our Intuition, It
Has Become A Necessity To
Exercise Our Free Will As We
Work Our Way Out Of The
Box.
Our Values Are Used As The
Eyes To See The Patterns In
The Chaos.
 Our Values Enable The
Seeing And Understanding Of

44. Decision Methods Typically
Used Under Various
Situational Conditions
Experience
d Based
Templates
Expert
Based
Templates
Standard
Research
Methodology
Intuitive
Insight,
Pattern
Recognition,
Metaphors
and
Improvisation

45. How Can We Apply Quantitative
Techniques In Making Decisions?
Provide a starting point through
available templates for making
observations.

46. Can We Tell If A Decision Is Good Or Bad?
The Decisions Which Led To The
Production Of The Edsel May Have
Been The Correct Decision.
But Organizational Politics Changed
Which Lead To The Edsel’s Failure.
And Finally, Vintage Car Collectors
May Argue That The Edsel Is Finally A
Success.

47. THE ADMIRAL’S SPOKE, BUT THE
ECONOMISTS WON IN THE END
Economists Produced Their Models
Which Indicated Something Like 10%
To 20% Improvement In The Supply
Of High Mental Category Recruits As
Compensation Was Increased.
The Admirals Who Were Presented
With These Results Responded By
Saying They "Didn't Want To Turn
The Military Into "Just" Another Job
Where Money Was The Primary
Factor Inducing Enlistment With No
Patriotic Serving Of The Public Good.

48. • Intuition Is The Internal Rule
Maker In Your Life.
• Externally Confirmed Rules No
Longer Have Much Meaning For
Who We Are. Research On Video
Games Have Actually Confirmed
That 1) When Games Are Based
On Internally Confirmed Rules,
The Game Requires Greater
Attention, And Results In Greater
Learning And Greater
Satisfaction With The Game Than
When The Rules Are Externally
Supported.
• Remember Experiences Most Of
Us Had Of Pure Play When A
We Simply Got Together And
Made Up The Rules Of The Game
As We Played.
• Part Of The Fun/Passion Is
Derived By Applying The Rules
Of The Game That Are Internally
Derived By The Participants.
What is Intuition?

49. • Intuition Is Not Seeing The
Future.
• It Is Making The Future That
Can Happen And Not The
Future That Fate Will
Inevitably Determine.

50. Infinite Potential

51.  A decision based on intuition
tends to maximize contingency
plans.
 Considers all the possible
outcomes of a decision and
subsequent options which are
available if or when each
alternative outcome results.

52.  If It Is Not Necessary That You
Make A Decision, It Is Necessary
That You Do Not Make A Decision.
 Sometimes You Must Realize That
You Are Not And Cannot Be The
“Wizard” And Control Everything.

53.  If Life Knocks You Down, Self-
awareness And The Consequent
Integrity Help You Get Back
Up And Regain Your Balance.
 Your Intuitive Abilities Provide
The Simultaneous Foresight
And Confidence Needed To
Enact Your Vision.
 The Success In Using Your
Intuition Includes Your Ability
To Manipulate The External
Environment To Insure That
The Results Will Be Positive.

54.  Others Are On The Same Page, They Too Act
To Ensure That The Results Are Positive.
 Outcomes Of A Decision May Not Be
Directly Attributed To An Abstract Concept
Of Intuition, Per Se, But Indirectly To Your
Own And Others Inspiration And The
Manipulation Of The Environment, Moment
By Moment, To Insure Success.
 Intuition Includes As Much The “Willing” Of
A Future And Inspiring Others To Pursue
The Vision Of The Leader.
 We Have All Heard It Stated That If You Can
See It, You Can Make It Happen.

55. EXAMPLES
Basketball
Fastbreak
Heroic Action In
Warfare

56. • It Might Be Said That Improvisation Is Intuition In
Action.
• Progressive Educators Are Now Developing
Improvisation Games And Exercises In Grade School
So That Children Will Begin Developing The Skills
Needed To Deal With Ambiguity In Life By
Developing Intuitive Capabilities.

58.  When Uncertainty Is The Assumed Reality Of Today’s
Mega Corporation, The Organization Tends To Move
Toward The Development Of The Organization Along The
Lines Of A Machine.
 This Mechanistic Characteristic Of The Typical Big
Business Enterprise Fails To Anticipate Peoples' Problems
And Human Reactions To Crises.
 Often The Typical Large Mechanistic Organization Will
Make Errors That Are The Result Of Unethical Decisions.
 The Machine Does Not Recognize That The Unknown
Never Before Encountered Problems Do Not Fit Nicely
Within The Machine’s Coded Parameters.
 This Inevitably Results In Various Forms Of Dysfunctional
Behavior And The Employees Become Disconnected From
The Organization Objectives And A Toxic Culture Results.

59.  The Mechanistic Organization
That Tries To Respond To The
Ambiguous Unknown Will
Ultimately Become Paranoid And
Corrupt.

Corporate Board Members Need
To Get Real And Confront
Ambiguity. It Really Is A Matter
Of Knowing What To Do When
The Next Moment Happens.

60. Business Executives Push Back
There are many aspects of what I have
presented that could be challenged
and certainly will be and perhaps even
should be. Over the years, I have
shared the views presented here with
various business executives and
government officials. All of them
agreed with me and felt that
something was wrong with the way
we think and make decisions.

61. Generally, they would nod their agreement, smile,
and tell me something like, “If I presented your
position to my superiors, they would probably at
the very least, laugh me out of the room or worse,
they would dismiss me, even, for bringing up
such an absurd idea”.

62. When I asked them why? They would offer the
following types of arguments in opposition to my
position. The following represents the kinds of
arguments they would typically pose:
1. “The job of business is business, and everything
else is a distraction from the primary goal of
maximizing profit.”
2. Using business resources (capital or labor) for
other purposes lessens the amount available for the
business's economic mission and is thus an act of
irresponsibility to society and be claimed as
unethical.
3. Business managers who divert business
resources from profit maximization are stealing
from owners and not fulfilling their duty to them.
(They were actually, with a straight face, saying
that it is unethical to be ethical.)
4. Business managers lack the inclination, training,
and skills to understand and offer answers to
ethical problems.
5. If the vast resources and power of businesses
were used to implement business solutions to
social problems, it would represent a major threat
to democracy.
6. Global and industrial competition makes ethical
problems luxuries that businesses can no longer
afford.

63. When they would finish, I
would generally say something
like do you mean to say values
such as human dignity,
compassion, trust, respect,
forgiveness, tolerance,
equality, justice and humanity
are antithetical to business
because they have costs in a
capitalistic society and are a
distraction from the profit
motive?

64.  My Position Is That We Must Admit
That Ambiguity Is Fundamental To
Our Existence, Become More Self-
aware, Celebrate Risk Taking,
Fearlessly Enter The Unknown, And
Develop Intuitive Leadership
Potential.
 We Don’t Have The Time To Take
The Easy Way Out By Thinking Of
Building Reality Based On
Uncertainty And Allowing
Probabilities To Fatalistically And
Materialistically Run/Ruin Our
Lives.

65.  We clearly have much to do. It
certainly is time for the next
paradigm shift. We need to
develop an understanding of how
to find patterns in the chaos and
take “Action in the Moment”.
 At Least We Need To Recognize
That We Really Cannot Know
Much About Our Own Behavior
Until We Understand The
Reason We Exist. Just Think
About It Because The Reason For
Our Existence Is The Key That
Unlocks The Door To Our
Future. Do We Want What Is In
The Box or The Curtain?
 The Greed And Corruption Must
Be Replaced With More
Humanitarian Values That
Reflect Who We Are And Move
Us Toward A More Sustainable

66. The Root Of All Evil That Results
From Wealth Being The Purpose
We Exist Is Greed And
Corruption.
I Hope This Workshop Paired
With My Book Will Encourage A
Conversation About The
Assumptions We Make About
Reality, And Also Nudge Us To
Give Greater Importance To How
Important Self-awareness And
Intuition In Responding To The
Apparent Chaos Presented By
Ambiguity.

68. Action in the Moment
Self-Awareness and
Intuition
for
Leaders in Ambiguous
Times
By
Thomas G. Swenson, Ph.D.
2015