Obliquity Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly

Name: Obliquity Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly
Price: 3.87 USD
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ISBN: 9780143120551

ISBN-10: 0143120557

ISBN-13: 9780143120551

Edition: 2012

Authors: John Kay

List price: $16.00

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"John Kay tells a fast-paced detective story as he searches for the surprising secret to success...Brilliant." -Tim Harford, author of The Logic of LifeIn this revolutionary book, economist John Kay proves a notion that feels at once paradoxical and deeply commonsensical: the best way to achieve any complex or broadly defined goal, from happiness to preventing forest fires, is the indirect way. We can learn how to achieve our objectives only through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery-what Kay calls obliquity. The author traces this seemingly counterintuitive path to success as it manifests itself in nearly every aspect of life, including business, politics, sports, and more.

Book details

List price: $16.00
Copyright year: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 3/27/2012
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 240
Size: 5.25" wide x 7.75" long x 0.75" tall
Weight: 0.374
Language: English



Preface



Obliquity-"Why Our Objectives Are Often Best Pursued Indirectly



The Oblique World: How Obliquity Surrounds Us



Fulfillment-How the Happiest People Do Not Pursue Happiness



The Profit-Seeking Paradox-How the Most Profitable Companies Are Not the Most Profit Oriented



The Art of the Deal-How the Wealthiest People Are Not the Most Materialistic



Objectives, Goals and Actions-How the Means Help Us Discover the End



The Ubiquity of Obliquity-How Obliquity Is Relevant to Many Aspects of Our Lives



The Need for Obliquity: Why We Often Can't Solve Problems Directly



Muddling Through-Why Oblique Approaches Succeed



Pluralism-Why There Is Usually More Than One Answer to a Problem



Interaction-Why the Outcome of What We Do Depends on How We Do It



Complexity-How the World Is Too Complex for Directness to Be Direct



Incompleteness-How We Rarely Know Enough About the Nature of Our Problems



Abstraction-Why Models Are Imperfect Descriptions of Reality



Coping with Obliquity: How to Solve Problems in a Complex World



The Flickering Lamp of History-How We Mistakenly Infer Design from Outcome



The Stockdale Paradox-How We Have Less Freedom of Choice Than We Think



The Hedgehog and the Fox-How Good Decision Makers Recognize the Limits of Their Knowledge



The Blind Watchmaker-How Adaptation Is Smarter Than We Are



Bend it Like Beckham-How We Know More Than We Can Tell



Order Without Design-How Complex Outcomes Are Achieved Without Knowledge of an Overall Purpose



Very Well Then, I Contradict Myself-How It Is More Important to Be Right Than to Be Consistent



Dodgy Dossiers-How Spurious Rationality Is Often Confused with Good Decision Making



The Practice of Obliquity-The Advantages of Oblique Decision Making


Acknowledgments


Notes


Bibliography


Index