How to Stop Fighting Uncertainty & Start Working With It: Simone Stolzoff

We have more information than any generation in history. And we're more anxious about the future than ever. So what's going wrong? In this episode, Mina Seetharaman talks with Simone Stolzoff, journalist, author, TED speaker, and former IDEO Design Lead, about why certainty is so seductive, how our hunger for it quietly gets us into trouble, and what it actually looks like to build uncertainty tolerance as a skill. Simone's new book, How to Not Know, draws on years of reporting to examine the three certainty traps that hold leaders back—comfort, hubris, and control—and offers practical tools for anyone navigating hard decisions, unclear direction, or rapid change. Together, Mina and Simone explore why the most resilient leaders are the ones willing to say "I don't know," how to make decisions when the path isn't clear, and a concept called ghost ships that reframes what it means to choose. This is one of several conversations on uncertainty coming to the Creative Confidence Podcast this year. Subscribe to catch them all. Related Resources How to Not Know, by Simone Stolzoff — https://simonestolzoff.com/how-to-not-know Simone Stolzoff on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/simone-stolzoff-5a16b648/ Simone’s Harvard Business Review article: Leaders, It’s Time to Build Your Tolerance for Uncertainty — https://hbr.org/2026/01/leaders-its-time-to-build-your-tolerance-for-uncertainty Read the blog recap — key ideas from this episode, plus five things to put into practice. ideou.com/blogs/inspiration IDEO U All-Access Pass — unlimited access to IDEO U’s on-demand courses. https://www.ideou.com/products/human-ai-leadership-self-paced-course Subscribe to the Creative Confidence Podcast — new episodes on creativity, leadership, and innovation every other week. ideou.com/pages/creative-confidence-podcast