Playing the Long Game: Agentic Luck in an Unpredictable World

Marco Balzano ()
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Marco Balzano: University of Trieste, Department of Economics, Management, Mathematics and Statistics

Chapter 8 in The Unexpected Game, 2026, pp 115-125 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This closing chapter reflects on serendipity as a generative form of non-linear advantage in environments marked by unpredictability. Drawing from the preceding exploration of serendipity, zemblanity, and bahramdipity, it reframes the management of uncertainty not as a search for control but as a practice of adaptive positioning. In doing so, the chapter contrasts the generative openness that enables serendipitous inflections with the temporal collapse of zemblanity and the anticipatory closure of bahramdipity, highlighting how organizations can inadvertently narrow or extinguish the very conditions through which unexpected value becomes possible. The chapter offers insights on how organizations can cultivate readiness for uncertainty by playing the Unexpected Game. Then, I articulate a number of future research opportunities. The chapter thus situates serendipity, zemblanity, and bahramdipity as three distinct dispositions toward the unexpected, each pointing to different mechanisms through which uncertainty can become advantage, constraint, or foreclosure. The chapter closes with reflections on the thin balance between determinism and chance in management, and on the potential implications of treating uncertainty as a space for latent value and possibilities, advocating a more deliberate approach to engaging with the goddess of fortune in business environments.

Keywords: Non-linearity; Serendipity; Luck; Uncertainty; Organizational readiness; Agentic luck (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-17576-2_8

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