The hardest choices are also the most consequential. So why do we know
so little about how to get them right?
Big, life-altering decisions matter so much more than the decisions we
make every day, and they're also the most difficult: where to live, whom
to marry, what to believe, whether to start a company, how to end a war.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach for addressing these kinds of
conundrums.
Steven Johnson's classic Where Good Ideas Come From inspired creative
people all over the world with new ways of thinking about innovation. In
Farsighted, he uncovers powerful tools for honing the important skill
of complex decision-making. While you can't model a once-in-a-lifetime
choice, you can model the deliberative tactics of expert
decision-makers. These experts aren't just the master strategists
running major companies or negotiating high-level diplomacy. They're the
novelists who draw out the complexity of their characters' inner lives,
the city officials who secure long-term water supplies, and the
scientists who reckon with future challenges most of us haven't even
imagined. The smartest decision-makers don't go with their guts. Their
success relies on having a future-oriented approach and the ability to
consider all their options in a creative, productive way.
Through compelling stories that reveal surprising insights, Johnson
explains how we can most effectively approach the choices that can chart
the course of a life, an organization, or a civilization. Farsighted
will help you imagine your possible futures and appreciate the subtle
intelligence of the choices that shaped our broader social history.
