Essay · 7 min read
Craftsmanship
In August 2021 I wrote a brief essay exploring what helps institutions successfully endure for long periods of time. This is a followup on that essay, which I&
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Reflection
It's that time of the year again--the time when people sit and reflect about the 365 days they spent orbiting the sun. The time of year when people reset, and make
Read the essay →Faith · Business · Public life · Technology
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Ideas should be followed wherever they lead.
The subjects vary because the work does. This is a record of arguments about faith, business, public life, technology and the future.
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Notes, arguments and longer investigations.
Essay · 5 min read
Res Publica et Princeps
One of my oldest friends tells me often that "weak cultures are always eaten by strong cultures." I think of this often. What's a
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Essay · 13 min read
The African Strategic State
My my prior essay, On the African State, explored how a lack of strategic consensus building among elites has hamstrung the ability of African countries to develop "
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Essay · 16 min read
On the African State
There's a scene in the fourth season of Succession, an HBO TV show, where the protagonist--Logan Roy, tells his would-be heirs that they "
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Essay · 9 min read
Primer: real estate & finance
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with Stanbic Bank's [https://www.stanbicbank.co.zm/] credit department about real estate and finance. This
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Essay · 10 min read
Human habitats
Some 10,000 years ago cities emerged in the Fertile Crescent. Around that same time, human beings begun toying with a new technology--agriculture. We often don'
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Essay · 4 min read
Peace is conflict
We often think about peace as an idyllic state of being where there is tranquility, and there is an absence of conflict. The problem with this view of
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Essay · 8 min read
The Forge
"You have to understand that people have to pay a price for peace. If you dare to struggle, you dare to win." - Fred Hampton The Hero&
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Essay · 4 min read
Live long; don't die at all
My previous essay explored why some organisations die slowly or not at all. One outcome of that exploration was the identification of organisational culture as the primary driving
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Essay · 4 min read
Die slow, or not at all.
Why do some institutions last long whereas others burn brightly (if at all) for a moment? I was inspired to write this some time ago; after reading Patrick
Read the essay →Subjects
What I write about
These subjects often overlap. I follow the connections between them.
01
Faith
Jesus, truth, meaning and revelation.
→ 02Business
Companies, capital, strategy and the work of building.
→ 03Public life
Power, elections, institutions and conflict.
→ 04Technology
Tools, infrastructure, intelligence and systems.
→ 05Human futures
Longevity, intelligence and civilisation.
→ 06Habitats
Cities, settlement and the physical world.
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