John Kay: Obliquity. Why Our Best Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly, 2010

Dynamite stuff. Creative, persuasive, synthetic, wise, prudent, 
courageous thinking of the kind the world needs, and writing that 
stands out in its clarity and brilliant elaboration of easy-to-relate 
examples.  Kay breathes new life to Aristotelian enlightened 
pragmatism, common sense and to the Socratic ideal of Know Thyself & 
Good Life through better practical thinking.

The indirect approach is the best, John Kay argues. "Happiness is not achieved through the pursuit of happiness. The most profitable businesses are not the most profit-oriented. The wealthiest people are not the most assertive in the pursuit of wealth. The greatest paitings are not the most accurate representations of their subjects."

John Kay's vision is culturally radical, culturally vital, constructive and relevant for 
the life of any responsible subject - or parent (like me, with twin 
boys at 21, for whom I rushed the get personal copies).

"The outcome of what we do depends on how we do it":

"As at ICI and Boeing, the oblique approach built shareholder value, the direct approach destroyed it. ... The statement 'We look after empoyees because we care' is not the same as the statement 'We have introduced new compensation arragements because, having calculated the relative costs of benefits enhancements and staff turnover, and commissioned a consultant's report on the policies of competitiors, we believe our policy will produce a net enhancement of shareholder value.'"

The basic line for the fundamental category of obliquity strikes a 
cord in me, because:

a) the book makes it more comprehensible what I've tried to do for 
three decades as a teacher, corporate "coach", public speaker and  
practical-positive-philosopher-of-the-everyday-who-doesn't-teach-
anything (directly);

b) because of the multifaceted and oblique macro level justification 
the perspective gives to what I and Raimo 
Hämäläinen have approached as "systems intelligence" - meaning 
intelligence with respect to and from within wholes, or systems, as 
they emerge and unfold and might involve parameters beyond anything 
that can be known.

Systems intelligence, as a fundamental form of the human condition and 
human endowment, amounts to intelligence-of-obliquity.