The Hedgehog and the Fox – Strategies for Decision Making


The Russian born, British philosopher and essayist, Sir Isaiah Berlin wrote an essay on Tolstoy’s view of history which he titled The Hedgehog and the Fox. The title comes from a fragment attributed to the Greek poet, Archilochus, who purportedly wrote, “The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing”. The fox, […]

March 25, 2010

The Downside of Democracy


A quick read of the morning papers leaves us in no doubt that this is a federal election year. Announcements, rebuttals, claims and counter-claims are starting to fill the newspaper columns. I suppose at least in the papers there is a little more substance and some reasonable analysis. On the television all we see is […]

March 17, 2010

Open To Criticism


It is good to be exposed to a range of viewpoints. We learn from being challenged and having our horizons widened. But this can’t happen if we automatically close our minds to what we don’t want to hear. The other morning I sat with one of my fellow directors on a board that I belong […]

March 10, 2010

On Writing


It is with some trepidation that I confront my task of writing this week’s blog. As you can see from the title, I have decided to expound on writing. Whilst I have co-authored a couple of books and written one outright, I won’t mislead you by pretending I’m a best selling author. Disappointingly, sales of […]

March 3, 2010