strategy+business: “There are missions, and then there are missions. One type of mission is an achievable task with a fixed goal that is often tactical and short-term in nature. The other mission is a high-level aspiration that provides direction and motivation to an organization over a long period of time. Leaders who mix up the two can put the future of their companies at risk…Don’t mistake a goal—no matter how big, hairy, and audacious—for a compelling organizational mission. You can achieve a goal and put it behind you, but a mission is always up ahead and just beyond your reach.”
Shane Parrish: “To win, you have to avoid losing. The first thing chess masters do after an opponent makes a move isn’t to think about strategy or winning but rather to ask themselves: what’s the threat? Avoid stupidity before seeking brilliance.”
Noah Smith: “Why is India the most important development story on Earth? Two reasons. First of all, sheer size; as of this year, India is the world’s most populous country, overtaking a now-shrinking China…I have to say I’m optimistic about India. Development seems to have a momentum that’s as much psychological as economic — once the people of a country know that they can achieve rapid growth, their hunger is whetted for more. The reforms of the 1980s and 1990s didn’t get India all the way to developed status, but they gave Indians a golden 25 years during which they started to realize just how great their country could become. And I think much of the rest of the world realized it as well. So now is the time to keep pushing, with bold, persistent experimentation.” This is part of The Developing Country Industrialization series.
NYTimes: “Perhaps you spend hours replaying a tense conversation you had with your boss over and over in your head; or maybe you can’t stop thinking about where things went wrong with an ex during the weeks and months after a breakup. If you find that your thoughts are so excessive and overwhelming that you can’t seem to stop them, or if they’re so distracting that you’re falling behind on responsibilities at work or at home, you’re probably experiencing rumination, said Dr. Tracey Marks, a psychiatrist in private practice in Atlanta. While rumination is not a mental health condition, it can be a symptom of a larger problem. And in some cases, it can become so encompassing that it requires intervention, Dr. Marks said…What matters most when it comes to rumination is how your thinking makes you feel, Dr. Marks said. If your thoughts are causing distress, anger or anxiety, or if your rumination is pulling you away from important things in your life, that is when it’s a problem.”
Michael Munger: “Capitalism, however, also creates concentrations of economic power because of the ability of successful investors and entrepreneurs to gather large amounts of wealth. Ownership in a capitalist system is both the mechanism for raising liquid capital—by selling shares that are claims against the value of future profits—and a means of controlling substantial resources independent from state direction and control. The private ownership of tools and materials that characterize a market system are on a much smaller scale than the ownership of land and a controlling interest in the shares of joint stock corporations. Nations that do not have the corporate form of private ownership are likely to run up against capital constraints, as it is difficult to generate liquidity on a scale, and in a time frame, that allows the successful exploitation of profit opportunities.”
WSJ: “Mr. [George] Will is fond of an old joke: The first law of economics is, scarcity is real; the first law of politics is, ignore the first law of economics. “Everyone’s agreed on that,” he says. “They say Social Security’s trust fund will be exhausted in 10 years, at which point there will be a mandatory cut of 18% for all benefits. No there won’t. We’ll use general revenues, we’ll go on borrowing.” He ends this polite tirade against the political consensus with a perfectly Willian formulation: “People always ask, ‘What’s the biggest threat to American democracy?’ The biggest threat to American democracy is American democracy. It is the fact that we have incontinent appetites and no restraint on them.””
