Leadership through history, human behaviour, and hard miles
Among the early giants we absorbed in management thinking, Drucker stood apart. There were Alfred Chandler, Michael Porter, Alfred P. Sloan, and Philip Kotler—but Drucker operated in a league of his own. I admired him not just as a thinker, but as a polymath; he evoked my respect even more. Early 20th-century Vienna was a
How does a leader commit resources to decisions whose outcomes will play out over years, not months? It’s one of the hardest parts of leadership. And oddly, there’s very little written about it—probably because the thinking behind such decisions is rarely made public. But some patterns do stand out. In large companies, the board plays
Geopolitics is endlessly fascinating. Some countries have flourished for a long time, while others have faltered. Some have enjoyed periods of growth only to later decline. Many have tried to explain these patterns through geography, history, culture, education, or access to resources. Economists Daron Acemoglu of MIT and James Robinson of Harvard explored these questions
Darwin’s theories reshaped our understanding of life, explaining how species evolve, inherit traits, and adapt to their environments. These principles of nature—adaptation, competition, and survival—are enduring principles for leadership too. Natural selection teaches that variation exists within any group, and those traits best suited to their environment are the ones that get passed on. In