Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
“Leaders must be able to master four major tasks. Firstly, they need comprehensively to grasp the overall strategic situation in a conflict and craft the appropriate strategic approach–in essence, to get the big ideas right. Secondly, they must communicate those big ideas, the strategy, effectively throughout the breadth and depth of their organiza
... See morealthough warlords might claim possession of territory by conquest, they were unlikely to enjoy, in their new-won lands, the networks of élite client relations on whom secure rule depended. As late as the tenth century very powerful kings of Wessex struggled to engender loyalty among peoples recently ‘liberated’ from Viking control. There is a fine
... See moreMax Adams • The First Kingdom
Mais, tout de même, demandai-je, comment régler vos rapports avec la France ? — Nous aimons et respectons la France, répondit-il. Mais nous ne voulons obéir qu’à un chef qui nous connaisse, qui sache nos habitudes et nos traditions. De lui nous accepterons toutes décisions et la paix et le contentement seront sur le pays. Mais il faut un grand chef
... See moreJoseph Kessel • En Syrie (French Edition)
Until well into the seventeenth century, the Ottoman sultans balanced their dependence on the political and military service of the Turkish aristocracy by recruiting a slave army of Muslim converts (perhaps seven or eight thousand a year) separated in childhood from their Christian parents. Devshirme recruitment obliterated the ties of kinship and
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
What makes the story of the Endurance so remarkable, however, is not the expedition, it’s that throughout the whole ordeal no one died. There were no stories of people eating others and no mutiny. This was not luck. This was because Shackleton hired good fits. He found the right men for the job. When you fill an organization with good fits, those w
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