Obliquity Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly

by Kay, John

• ISBN13: 9781594202780
• ISBN10: 1594202788
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-14
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The

Summary

A leading economist charts the indirect road to happiness and wealth. Using dozens of practical examples from the worlds of business, politics, science, sports, literature, even parenting, esteemed 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 wealth to profit to preventing forest fires-is the indirect way. As Kay points out, we rarely know enough about the intricacies of important problems to tackle them head-on. And our unpredictable interactions with other people and the world at large mean that the path to our goals-and sometimes the goals themselves-will inevitably change. We can learn about our objectives and how to achieve them only through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery-what Kay calls obliquity. Kay traces this pathway to satisfaction as it manifests itself in nearly every aspect of life. The wealthiest people-from Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates-achieved their riches through a passion for their work, not because they set materialistic goals. Research has shown that companies whose goal (as declared in mission statements) is excellent products or service are more profitable than companies whose stated goal is increasing profits. In the personal realm, a large body of evidence shows that parenthood is on a daily basis far more frustrating than happy- making. Yet parents are statistically happier than nonparents. Though their short-term pleasure is often thwarted by the demands of childrearing, the subtle-oblique-rewards of parenthood ultimately make them happier. Once he establishes the ubiquity of obliquity, Kay offers a wealth of practical guidance for avoiding the traps laid by the direct approach to complex problems. Directness blinds us to new information that contradicts our presumptions, fools us into confusing logic with truth, cuts us off from our intuition (which is the subconscious expression of our experience), shunts us away from alternative solutions that may be better than the one we're set on, and more. Kay also shows us how to acknowledge our limitations, redefine our goals to fit our skills, open our minds to new data and solutions, and otherwise live life with obliquity. This bracing manifesto will convince readers-or confirm their conviction-that the best route to satisfaction and success does not run through the bottom line.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Obliquity-Why Our Objectives Are Often Best Pursued Indirectly	p. 5
The Oblique World: How Obliquity Surrounds Us
Fulfillment-How the Happiest People Do Not Pursue Happiness	p. 17
THe Profit-Seeking Paradox-How the Most Profitable Companies Are Not the Most Profit Oriented	p. 24
The Art of the Deal-How the Wealthiest People Are Not the Most Materialistic	p. 35
Objectives, Goals and Actions-How the Means Help Us Discover the End	p. 46
The Ubiquity of ObliquitY-How Obliquity Is Relevant to Many Aspects of Our Lives	p. 53
The Need for Obliquity: Why We Often Can't Solve Problems Directly
Muddling Through-Why Oblique Approaches Succeed	p. 67
Pluralism-Why There Is Usually More Than One Answer to a Problem	p. 77
Interaction-Why the Outcome of What We Do Depends on How We Do It	p. 90
Complexity-How the World Is Too Complex for Directness to Be Direct	p. 99
Incompleteness-How We Rarely Know Enough About the Nature of Our Problems	p. 109
Abstraction-Why Models Are Imperfect Descriptions of Reality	p. 116
Coping with Obliquity: How to Solve Problems in a Complex World
The Flickering Lamp of History-How We Mistakenly Infer Design from Outcome	p. 129
The Stockdale Paradox-How We Have Less Freedom of Choice Than We Think	p. 139
The Hedgehog and the Fox-How Good Decision Makers Recognize the Limits of Their Knowledge	p. 144
The Blind Watchmaker-How Adaptation Is Smarter Than We Are	p. 152
Bend It Like Beckham-How We Know More Than We Can Tell	p. 158
Order Without Design-How Complex Outcomes Are Achieved Without Knowledge of an Overall Purpose	p. 165
Very Well Then, I Contradict Myself-How It Is More Important to Be Right Than to Be Consistent	p. 172
Dodgy Dossiers-How Spurious Rationality Is Often Confused with Good Decision Making	p. 179
Conclusions
The Practice of Obliquity-The Advantages of Oblique Decision Making	p. 187
Acknowledgments	p. 197
Notes	p. 199
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 219
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