6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers | Inc.com

Conversation starter for the b-school crowd:

If you find yourself resisting “being strategic,” because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you’re not alone. Every leader’s temptation is to deal with what’s directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you’ll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you’re on is leading off a cliff.

via 6 Habits of True Strategic Thinkers | Inc.com.

Introducing … public speaking.

I think I just found the new intro for next fall’s lecture.

Ask the Esquire Guy’s Unconventional Guide to Public Speaking

Booklist | ‘Passage of Power,’ 4th Book of Caro’s Johnson Portrait – NYTimes.com

The series of LBJ’s remarkable life as political force of nature–part Darth Vader, part Mr. Smith–is a compelling study in leadership for anyone with the time to wade through them all.  Michiko Kakutani reviews the latest volume:

He was a man driven by a colossal ego and a genuine sense of compassion for the powerless and the poor: a man who, in the weeks and months after the assassination, was able, in Mr. Caro’s opinion, to overcome his own weaknesses and baser instincts — not for long but “long enough” — to act in a fashion that was “a triumph not only of genius but of will.”

As he did in the third volume, “Master of the Senate,” Mr. Caro finds much to admire in the legislative ends to which Johnson used power, and he employs his insights into Johnson’s personality — his insecurities, his fear of failure, his need to ingratiate himself with those above him and dominate those below — to examine the role that character plays in politics and policy making and hence in histor

via ‘Passage of Power,’ 4th Book of Caro’s Johnson Portrait – NYTimes.com.

The Other Gentlemen’s Agreement « NYU Development Research Institute

Voting patterns compared between the World Bank and the Vatican in electing a leader look similar – via William Easterly at The Other Gentlemen’s Agreement « NYU Development Research Institute.

Booklist | Ethics, Conscience, and the Messiness of Doing the Right Thing -‘Beautiful Souls,’ by Eyal Press – NYTimes.com

The question? Why do certain people do the right thing even amidst difficulty?  This book takes a broad range of disciplines and tries shine a light on how to explain them, offering “rich, provocative narratives of moral choice” according to Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University.  (Also, reviewed on NPR).

Press examines his subjects carefully, alert to the different personalities and circumstances of each individual. He weighs the role of prejudice, idealism and community. He explores the “element of reciprocity” in one case and the “anxiety of responsibility” in another, sees the importance of “mutual support” and discusses the frustrations of being ignored. He reads about oxytocin receptors; he studies David Hume. He makes modest conclusions. I don’t mean that as criticism. If Press made more comprehensive claims, I wouldn’t trust him. It’s no more possible to explain an act of conscience than it is to dissect a dream.

We often use the word “conscience” when we don’t know what other word to use. When Grüninger said he “could do nothing else,” he may have been deflecting judgment, or he may not have been able to describe his sense of compulsion any better, his feeling that he didn’t have a choice when he clearly did. “Conscience” is indefinable. It can be indefensible, too: An act of conscience describes an action motivated by loyalty to a conviction, but it usually requires the defiance of other loyalties. It can mean turning away from your family, or your country, or your job, or even your sense of self. Press’s real achievement in this short book is not in his research or analysis, but in his refusal to flinch from that disquieting fact.

via ‘Beautiful Souls,’ by Eyal Press – NYTimes.com.

The New GE Way: Go Deep, Not Wide – WSJ.com

Expertise, not generalists.  What’s next–foreign service officers who are left in country to ‘go native’?

General Electric Co. is opening a new chapter in management philosophy. The conglomerate that once groomed jack-of-all-trades generalists is now betting on deep industry experts instead.

The shift is a change in philosophy at a corporation that for decades had made a rigorously applied but generic management tool kit central to its identity. Like all companies, GE wants some of both traits in its leaders, but the balance has tipped toward expertise.

via The New GE Way: Go Deep, Not Wide – WSJ.com.

Leadership Study | Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO

Interesting that Sheryl Sandberg is a trending meme on women, leadership, and high tech, at least according to a NYT Business Day story last week. She is making the case for gender equality even as she is poised to become a billionaire at Facebook where she was hired after meeting Mark Zuckerberg in 2007 at a Christmas party.

She makes her case at TED Women in a presentation titled Why we have too few women leaders, but even more useful is this short on “authentic communication.” (Her style helps explain why she has become such a star.)

In case you wondered about her bio?  Harvard and HBS, McKinsey, economist at the World Bank and later chief of staff for Lawrence H. Summers, where she proved herself.

 

 

Making Davos Work

If you wonder what alternatives exist to the traditional diplomatic forms of summitry and multilateralism, consider Davos.  This annual global opinion-leader event mixes business, government, non-profit with thought leaders sprinkled liberally throughout in a unique, break-even model:

For government officials, Davos has the same allure that it does for business: a series of quick-hit meetings with their counterparts. It gives executives the chance to jockey for position on the other side of the table with a government leader who could have an infrastructure project that needs financing, deals that can be worth millions if not billions of dollars. Or executives will spend weeks before arriving trying to get a 15-minute meeting with Mrs. Merkel or Ms. Lagarde in the hope of influencing the dialogue over the euro.

That may help explain why the World Economic Forum brought in $157 million in revenue last year from its members and strategic corporate partners.

In case you’re curious, it spent virtually all of it: $156 million. How was it spent? The organization employs 337 full-time employees and 369 “full-time equivalents” annually that it says cost a total of about $69 million. The conferences it convenes — besides the meeting in Davos, it organizes another big event in China and four other regional events — cost about $60 million more for space, elaborate signs and furniture, meals, event planning and security. (The security costs in Davos alone are estimated to be about $8 million, which are borne by the World Economic Forum and the Swiss government.) The organization says it spent another $26 million on office costs.

via Free Pass for Matchmaking at a Setting in the Alps – NYTimes.com.

Its a tough ticket to get, however.

Booklist | Drezner’s Reading List for U.S. Politicians

In the throes of the U.S. Republican Primary to recognize John Huntsman’s exit today  take a look at these suggestions from regular FP.com blogger Dan Drezner for informing your inner pol:

1)  Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence.  Comment:  An excellent introduction to the myriad strains of thought that have permeated American foreign policy over the past two and a half centuries.  International relations theorists might quibble with Mead’s different intellectual traditions, but I suspect politicians will immediately “get” them.

2)  David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest (for Democrats); James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans (for Republicans).  Comment:  Each side should read about their greatest foreign policy mistake of the past century to appreciate that even the best and smartest advisors in the world will not necessarily translate into wise foreign policies.

3)  Richard Neustadt and Earnest May, Thinking in Time.  Comment:  Politicians like to claim that they don’t cotton to abstract academic theories of the world, that they rely on things like “common sense”  and “folk wisdom.”  …  Neustadt and May’s book does an excellent job of delineating the various ways that the history can be abused in presidential decision-making.

via My three must-read U.S. foreign policy books for aspring politicians | Daniel W. Drezner.

Watch for my year in review list of best books for thinking about diplomacy and international affairs.  (I’m up to my neck in booklists, another great things about year end and the start of a new semester.)

The Best International Relations Master’s Programs | Foreign Policy

Wondering where to go if you want to run the world?  FP presents a ranking with Georgetown on top and many of the others that you would expect, including Hopkins, Harvard, Fletcher, and even a few surprises like Chicago and American.

These rankings are part of the Teaching, Research, and International Policy (TRIP) survey, conducted by Paul C. Avey, Michael C. Desch, James D. Long, Daniel Maliniak, Susan Peterson, and Michael J. Tierney. All additional information provided was added by Foreign Policy and is not part of the survey results.

via The Best International Relations Master’s Programs | Foreign Policy.