307: The Life Cycle of a CEO
Good morning friends One of this letter’s joys is that frequently books are delivered with notes that read, “Love your newsletter; think you might enjoy this”. Claudius Hildebrand and Robert…
Leadership
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304: Return on Trust
Good morning dear friends /strategy Eric Ries’ recently published Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad… And How Great Companies Stay Great reads less like a research-driven ‘how to be world-class’…
298: Inventing Peace
Good morning, dear friends /strategyMany of you will know Kevin Kelly’s pretty famous 2008 blog post, A 1,000 True Fans. He argues, “To be a successful creator you don’t need millions.…
297: No sooner do we make sense of the world than that sense is out of date
Dear friends Let us start today with some whimsy. These occasional starting segues may seem like a distraction, but, in truth, they’re an expression of an important truth: everything is…
292: How We Murder Our Dreams
Dear Friends For several years, I have told you to buy Banele Vakele’s Tembela wines. Despite my wine vocabulary consisting of yum, meh and never again, it appears my advice is…
291: Executive Transitions: From Zhuangzi to Michael Watkins
Dear Friends Thank you for your generous messages after last week’s letter. If you enjoyed it, you might also appreciate The Power of the Powerless, Self-Doubt and Success or Being…
288: Angel or Devil? We choose.
Good morning, dear friends You may find today’s letter a little heavy, so we’ll start with two babies to make you smile: a Cape leopard cub and a rescued orphan…
281: Who is really in charge?
Dear friends I am revisiting Laozi’s Book of Dao, through a recent translation by one of my favourite authors, Ken Liu (a Christmas gift from my parents who have graciously…
278: Self-Doubt and Success: What J.M. Coetzee Teaches Us About Becoming
“A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us”Summertime, J.M. Coetzee Dear Friends Success always seems so neat, coherent and, in its perfection, unobtainable. We…
277: Life Happens. Make Plans.
Life is what happens to youWhile you’re busy making other plansJohn Lennon, Beautiful Boy Dear Friends You are young and life is longAnd there is time to kill todayAnd then…
274: John Kay. Billie Jean King. John Milton.
Good morning, dear friends Summer has eventually arrived on Africa’s southern tip (although can Cape Town’s wind take a breath? Pretty please). One of my favourite distilleries, Pienaar and Son,…
272: Zohran Mamdani. Tanitoluwa Adewumi. JM Coetzee.
Good morning dear friends If you liked last week’s quotation from Joanne Joseph’s Children of Sugarcane you might enjoy this one from Wole Soyinka. Today’s letter draws lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s victory,…