Comment:  Like so many books I share, this was recommended to me by a reader in response to a blog post about time.  Friedman has a string of best sellers including “The World Is Flat” and has become known as (what he calls) an “explanatory journalist; a translator from English to English”.  Here he takes complex issues such as technology and climate change and does two things that were helpful to me: 

Readers of last month’s blog about Daniel Kahneman’s work in decision making suggested I read this book and Michael Lewis latest, “The Undoing Project”, which is about DK’s work. I trust Lewis’ will be more readable as Superforecasting is well, but academically written. It’s still worth the slog if only due to two great findings from many years of research through what Tetlock titled the “Good Judgment Project”. First, and foremost in my view, is that teams of forecasters are more dependable than one so-called genius. And secondly, that the traits of good leaders conflict with the traits of good forecasters. That’s quite reassuring to me since my most enduring thought of leadership is collecting strength from diversity rather than gaining consensus for one’s own brilliance.

"If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else."

"In the book we describe the “bifurcated world” that most people inhabit, in which they assume that the only way to solve social challenges is through government and charity and that the only purpose of business and investing is to make money. Impact investors reject that worldview. We recognize that for-profit investment can be both a morally legitimate and economically effective way to address social and environmental challenges."

Editor’s note: A beautiful prayer by Leonard Cohen. Enough said. The words below are part of his introduction to the song at his 1985 Warsaw concert. 

Editor’s note: Tell me if you’ve heard this before: “the financial system is ruining our democracy”. Right, me too. But Foroohar is not the Thomas Picketty or Tragic Idealist take, whose solutions are neo-socialistic such as redistribution of income. Foroohar offers five solutions in the last chapter and while they’re a bit idealisitic, they are fairly precise such as #1: Reduce complexity and leverage. I believe we will wake up one day, whether thoughtfully or rudely and return to a more traditional capitalism, using banks to finance investment, debt and long term growth. Financial firms will return to products that aid the creation of goods, services, innovation, research and advancements rather than engineered financial products that simply move debt around. In the meantime, I’ll continue to worry.

“You gotta get the hay out of the loft, down to where the horses can eat it”.

Editor’s note: Lee has been cited on the website before since for my money, he’s as good a poet songwriter as there is on the current music scene. I enjoy his voice, pacing, instrumentation and production values as well.