Economics Encourages Enlightenment

An ever-changing world benefits from individuals who can adapt and flex their thinking. Among the many fascinating concepts put forth in Thinking Like An Economist: A Guide to Rationale Decision Making by Randall Bartlett (Smith College), this one really caught my attention: "You don't have well-defined, memorized rules and answers to any question that arises. You have a framework to provide the questions necessary to think your way through, analyze, and reason your way to an important decision." Each component of those two sentences captures a critical concept seemingly contrary to the things valued in today's world and yet so incredibly important to our securing sustainable success. It isn't about the answers as much as it is about the value of a structured process through which you explore concepts, scenarios, and potential outcomes so that you can be more certain of having overturned necessary rocks and looked under otherwise insignificant stones. Economics offers valuable insights on the process of thinking and the practicality of exploring alternatives. May we remember to embrace that thinking and expand upon those ideas.

Effective Executives Focus Beyond the What

McKinsey Quarterly offers an excellent excerpt from Ed Catmull's book, Creativity, Inc., Overcoming the Unforeseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. It speaks to his experience in building purpose at Pixar, and the excerpt includes an awakening of how his effectiveness went well beyond the what Pixar wanted to accomplish to how it should accomplish it and more.

Executives who understand their purpose as helping others find purpose and meaning in the work they do not only puts the organization on the path toward greater success but also propels them into a reward cycle that goes well beyond immediate returns.