|
Life at the Bottom – the
worldview that makes the
underclass
- by Theodore Dalrymple
This is one of the
finest recent
commentaries on the
socio-political
malaise that has
descended on the
western world since
the 1960s.
Its
subject is the
British underclass,
but the insights are
relevant in all
classes and all
societies.
The
author, who uses the
pseudonym above, is
an experienced and
well-travelled
doctor, whose work
in an inner city
hospital and the
prison nearby have
provided him with an
eye-opening fund of
case studies. Add to
this prose of a
sublime quality, and
you have what has
become an instant
classic. Dalrymple
has been likened to
Orwell as an
essayist, and the
comparison is
entirely
appropriate.
He convincingly
disposes of modern
myths relating to
the causes of social
dysfunction, and
lays bare the damage
done by a worldview
that holds up
consumerism and
self-gratification
as the chief goals
in life. Leaders in
all walks of life
need to read this
brilliant exposition
of the human
condition at the
beginning of the
Third Millennium.
The Mystery of Capital
– by Hernando de Soto
The premise of
this book is simple
– capitalism has
worked in the West
and hardly anywhere
else because of the
successful
implementation of
formal property
rights.
The
internationally-acclaimed
Peruvian economist,
Hernando de Soto,
backed by a team of
dedicated
researchers, shows
how the poor in
Asia, Africa, the
Middle East, and
Latin America,
possess assets
valued at forty
times all the
foreign aid
transmitted to the
Third World since
1945. But because
they have no legal
title, they are
unable to capitalise
on those assets.
|
|
The value of
untitled real estate
in the world is
close to $10
trillion, but the
researchers found
that getting legal
title to land, for
example in Peru,
required 728
bureaucratic steps.
The lack of
commitment to the
rule of law, and the
absence of formal
property rights,
shuts out capitalism
and locks the poor
into a life on the
treadmill.
Leaders in business
and communities need
to ponder long and
hard the
implications of De
Soto’s message. He
has earned wide
praise from the
political
establishment, but
one wonders whether
many in that realm
really want to make
the changes
required.
Team
of Rivals
–
by
Doris Kearns Goodwin
There are few
leaders whose life
and work have
provided more
valuable lessons
than Abraham
Lincoln.
There are
many fine books
dealing with the
leadership of
Abraham Lincoln, not
the least of which
are Carl Sandburg’s
superb history and
the works of Bruce Catton on the
American Civil War.
However, this fairly
recent study by
Doris Kearns Goodwin
is as good a place
as any to begin to
understand the
greatness of
Lincoln, and the
magnificent example
he set for leaders
in all fields of
human endeavour.
The title underlines
the main theme of
Lincoln’s humility
and commitment to
truth in selecting a
team of men who were
in many ways a
threat to him
politically, but who
he believed were the
best men for the
job. In the face of
intimidating trials
and tribulations,
Lincoln displayed
inspirational
leadership and
remarkable
managerial nous –
and also the courage
to stand firm on his
principles at all
times.
This fascinating
appraisal of Lincoln
entertains,
instructs, and
inspires, and is
essential reading
for leaders today.
|
