Thriving in VUCA: The Entrepreneurial Mindset for an Uncertain World | Gali Bloch Liran (The Human Founder)
Host: Eyal David · Guest: Gali Bloch Liran
In this episode
- VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) is the bread and butter of entrepreneurs — and the entrepreneurial mindset is the most effective tool for dealing with uncertainty and seeing it as opportunity, not just threat.
- You can't succeed with only the business circle (funding, team, go-to-market) or only the mental circle (why, values, resilience) — real growth only happens where the two circles overlap.
- Your inner "why" is an asset you need to distill and keep returning to — it's what fuels you and reminds you why you're doing what you're doing, especially on hard days.
- Reflection is a practical, not abstract, tool: reflection on time management ("opening and closing the day"), on energy management ("did this interaction fill me with energy?"), and on relationships.
- To deal with failure, you can draw a matrix: internal/external and one-time/ongoing — an internal, ongoing failure needs real work; a one-time failure, internal or external, you can simply move on from. The interesting question isn't what the failure is, but what you do with it.
Listen to this episode
Episode Description
Gali Bloch Liran — founder and CEO of The Human Founder, and author of the book by the same name — explains how the entrepreneurial mindset helps you survive, and even grow, inside VUCA: a fundamentally uncertain world. The conversation moves through her two-circles model (business and mental), the inner "why" that fuels founders through hard days (including Gali's own story about her father), practical reflection tools, and a matrix for working through failure (internal/external, one-time/ongoing) — and what actually determines how entrepreneurs grow from it.
Full transcript with speakers and timestamps
Selected quotes
“For me, there's no such thing as failure — there's only growth and learning.”
“To me, the more interesting question isn't what the failure is, but what we do with it — how we turn it into our growth engine.”
“It's not enough to be only business, and it's not enough to be only mental — real growth and success only happen where the two overlap, like an infinity symbol.”
Questions & answers
What is VUCA and how does it connect to entrepreneurship?
VUCA stands for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous — a term coined by the US Army that moved into the business world. Gali Bloch Liran sees it as describing the uncertainty that's the bread and butter of entrepreneurs, and believes the entrepreneurial mindset is the most effective tool for dealing with it and even thriving inside it.
What is Gali Bloch Liran's two-circles model?
A model from her book "The Human Founder": a business circle (funding, team, go-to-market, business plan) and a mental circle (why, values, vision, resilience, relationships). According to Gali, only when the two circles overlap — like an infinity symbol — do you reach growth and success.
How do you tell if a failure is internal or external, one-time or ongoing?
Gali suggests a matrix: an internal failure is one where the responsibility is fully ours (e.g., not coming prepared); an external failure comes from a factor outside our direct control. A one-time failure just requires moving forward; an ongoing one — especially internal-ongoing — requires real work.
What reflection tools does Gali Bloch Liran recommend?
A few practical tools: "opening and closing the day" for time management, asking "did this interaction fill me with energy?" for energy management, and asking at the end of a meaningful interaction what each person is taking from it — to grow, not just to criticize.
What is a "portfolio of doing" according to Gali Bloch Liran?
An approach where a person doesn't manage a single career but several areas of doing that feed each other (consulting, teaching, a podcast, a book, talks) — a portfolio career that provides both stability and room to grow different passions.
People & resources mentioned
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