One of my favorite graduate courses ever was Uses of History taught by the legendary Dick Neustadt. The Financial Times' columnist Andrew Hill reminded us last week that an organization's history can be used wisely to move it forward. Hill invokes Don Young's new book, Enterprise Rules: The Foundations of High Achievement - and How to Build on Them, to underscore the importance of the leader role in detecting signals – especially weak ones that nonetheless convey strong meaning. Having the ability and willingness to discern historical patterns can help a leader build on history. Hill adds, "People weak in this ability – and therefore unable to learn from history – will never be good strategists and are unlikely to make good leaders in a complex world.” Sure, this is Santayana redux. It's also exactly right in a Global 2000 world that remains obsessed with short-term performance.
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