“In general, oblique approaches recognize that complex objectives tend to be imprecisely defined and contain many elements that are not necessarily or obviously compatible with each other, and that we learn about the nature of the objectives and the means…
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Book Report: Obliquity
Tagged with: Andrew Carnegie, Benjamin Franklin, David Beckham, eudaimonia, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin's Gambit, Goodhart's Law, hindsight bias, Homo economicus, John Kay, metrics, objectives, Obliquity, Robert McNamara, shareholder value, strategy, Winston Churchill
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership, Management
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership, Management
Incompleteness and problem solving
“Almost all real problems are incompletely and imperfectly specified.” – John Kay Did you ever notice that to solve most real-world problems of any complexity, we have to find ways to simplify the situation? Well, economist John Kay noticed, and…
Tagged with: closure, incompleteness, John Kay, Obliquity, prediction, problem solving, problems
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership
Posted in Books, Everything, Leadership
Lessons from three stonemasons
In Obliquity, John Kay says: “An old story tells of a visitor who encounters three stonemasons working on a medieval cathedral, and asks each what he is doing. ‘I am cutting this stone to shape,’ says the first, describing his basic…
Tagged with: Alastair Campbell, autonomy, Daniel H Pink, Drive, Gavin Esler, Jack Welch, John Kay, Lessons from the Top, mastery, motivation, Obliquity, purpose, stonecutters
Posted in Books, Leadership, Management
Posted in Books, Leadership, Management
The pursuit of eudaimonia
“Eudaimonia is a high-level concept, a measure of quality of life, of flourishing, of fulfilling one’s potential.” – John Kay Sit down and strap yourselves in, ’cause I’m getting all philosophical up in here. The subtitle of John Kay’s book Obliquity…
Tagged with: Aristotle, Croesus, Daniel Nettle, eudaimonia, John Kay, Obliquity, philosophy, Plutarch, Reinhold Messner, satisfaction, Solon, Tellus
Posted in Books, Everything, Soccer
Posted in Books, Everything, Soccer
Justifying our actions with Franklin’s Gambit
“So convenient a thing is it to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one had a mind to do.” – Benjamin Franklin I came upon that quote from the preface…
Tagged with: Benjamin Franklin, consulting, decision-making, duplicity, Franklin's Gambit, hindsight, John Kay, justification, Obliquity, Office Space, rationalization
Posted in Leadership, Management
Posted in Leadership, Management
The Curse of Knowledge
“Don’t let what you know get in the way of what you don’t.” – Lee Brooks (me!) Knowledge is definitely a good thing, but it can sometimes lead us astray. For instance, there are two ways I can think of,…
Tagged with: curse of knowledge, Elizabeth Newton, HBR, John Kay, junk DNA, K'naan, Leo Tolstoy, Obliquity, rtfm
Posted in Careers, Leadership, Marketing
Posted in Careers, Leadership, Marketing
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