By Sarah Lindsay

October 03, 2022 | minute read

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life

by Dave Logan and Steve Zaffron Jossey-Bass

(First edition February 3, 2009)

You will not often find a business book that Nobel laureate and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called both practical and inspiring. It is inspiring partly because these “laws” are not tips, and this is not a one-size-fits-all how-to. But listening is almost certainly where you will want to start. And the authors—Dave Logan, co-founder and senior partner emeritus of a management consulting firm, and Steve Zaffron, founder and head of research and development of another management consulting firm—suspect they know what you will hear: the “default future” most employees have in mind, consciously or not. It is up to leaders to find out what that is, what future their employees would rather have and how to talk about that one. One, two, three. Four should be the employee buy-in every leader wants.

What We Owe The Future

by William MacAskill Basic Books

Aug. 16, 2022

Nothing is more relentless than time, and Oxford philosopher William MacAskill proposes that we put down our stopwatches and take the long view. If we get things right, he says, we can lay the groundwork for the happiness of billions of people who are not here yet. Who wants to fail at that? With a sense of optimism that seems to be in short supply lately, he urges readers to make choices that will allow our descendants to thrive. You could frame the situation as a business deal: What actions, and what money going where, get the best and biggest results? The Centre for Effective Altruism, which Mr. MacAskill co-founded, facilitates discussions regarding connections, behaviors, donations or even careers that will have the most positive effect. The decisions are up to you.

 

“Knowing the goals and motives of any country is at the foundation of diplomacy and national security.”—Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding, U.S. Air Force, retired

War Without Rules: China’s Playbook for Global Domination

by Robert Spalding Sentinel

April 19, 2022

“It’s not enough to know what your enemy wants. You need to understand his strategy,” writes retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding. And China, he wants us to know, is our enemy. Now, instead of participating in screaming arguments in the halls of the Pentagon, he presents his position in print. Its military belligerence notwithstanding, the Communist nation with the world’s largest population may pose a greater threat through its stealth war against the world, Gen. Spalding says. He urgently calls attention to its stratagems, listing theft of intellectual property, acquisition of technology, increased control over world shipping and many more.

 

The author’s credentials include his experience as senior defense official at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, former director for strategic planning at the National SecurityCouncil in the White House and life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

This article appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of Insigniam Quarterly with the headline “Browser History: Days of Future Passed.”

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