I stumbled across a great article on strategic thinking: Reflection on Failure, by Major Matthew Tweedy, USMC.
So far, I’ve only made as far as him showing himself to not be a strategic thinker with this antique thought: “The goal of education is the right ordering of human life.” While wonderfully 19th century and Enlightened (yes, capitalized on purpose), it is woefully dated. That may have been the goal of education, but it is certainly not in the 21st century – not even as an arguable position. The entire concept of “right ordering” is right out.
Philosophically, I sympathize, being a man of the Enlightenment, myself – born 50, if not 100, years late. Rhetorically, it’s a huge mistake. Almost every 21st century reader is going to read that and and run screaming – even I quit there. I will finish it, though. That’s the main reason for this post: So that I do not lose it.
On a side note, I might seriously wish to have been born 10 years earlier (to have been more a computer pioneer) or 10 years later (when quantum computing is actually useful), but I have no serious wish to have been born 50 or 100 years earlier, no matter the philosophical zeitgeist. I like Amazon Prime, not to mention hot running water.
Marked Up 