The Case for Making Bold Bets in Uncertain Times

Many leaders say it’s wise to hold back from making new investments or acquisitions during tumultuous times. They posit that significant risk-taking works only if you go into an uncertain period with momentum or with a healthy fallback cushion. A new analysis of data on 6,000 companies that experienced high-uncertainty events reveals that these common beliefs don’t align with actual outcomes. Learn three myths about risk-taking and how to make bold but well-informed business bets.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
MIT Sloan Management Review
Published
2026-02-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.63383/eybh1545
Primary Topic
Leadership, Behavior, and Decision-Making Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

The Case for Making Bold Bets in Uncertain Times

Ulrich Pidun, Valentín Szekasy, Adam Job
MIT Sloan Management Review
Leadership, Behavior, and Decision-Making Studies
article

The Case for Making Bold Bets in Uncertain Times

Ulrich Pidun, Valentín Szekasy, Adam Job
article en

Abstract

Many leaders say it’s wise to hold back from making new investments or acquisitions during tumultuous times. They posit that significant risk-taking works only if you go into an uncertain period with momentum or with a healthy fallback cushion. A new analysis of data on 6,000 companies that experienced high-uncertainty events reveals that these common beliefs don’t align with actual outcomes. Learn three myths about risk-taking and how to make bold but well-informed business bets.

MIT Sloan Management Review
Openalex Percentile: Top 59%
Leadership, Behavior, and Decision-Making Studies
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The Case for Making Bold Bets in Uncertain Times — Ulrich Pidun, Valentín Szekasy, et al. · MIT Sloan Management Review (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS