John Kay is one of Britain’s leading economists. His interests focus on the relationships between economics and business. His career has spanned academic work and think tanks, business schools, company directorships, consultancies and investment companies. For more details of John’s biography, see the About section.
John Kay is chairing the Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision-Making which will report to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in July 2012. He is a visiting Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, a Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He is a director of several public companies and contributes a weekly column to the Financial Times. He is the author of many books, including The Truth about Markets (2003) and The Long and the Short of It: finance and investment for normally intelligent people who are not in the industry (2009) and his latest book, Obliquity was published by Profile Books in March 2010.
Featured Books
Obliquity – Why our goals are best achieved indirectly
Now available as paperback!
Order your copy in John’s Bookshop.
If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the concept of ‘obliquity’: paradoxical as it sounds, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly. Whether overcoming geographical obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting sales targets, history shows that oblique approaches are the most successful, especially in difficult terrain.
Obliquity is necessary because we live in an world of uncertainty and complexity; the problems we encounter aren’t always clear – and we often can’t pinpoint what our goals are anyway; circumstances change; people change – and are infuriatingly hard to predict; and direct approaches are often arrogant and unimaginative.
Obliquity was published by Profile Books as hardback in March 2010 and paperback in February 2011. For dates of John’s book signings and talks check the NEWS section.
“John Kay is an admirable debunker of myths and false beliefs –he can see substantial things others don’t. Read this book.”
Nassim N Taleb, Author of The Black Swan
“Read this book for pleasure, and indirectly – obliquely – you will gain invaluable insights into how successful decisions are made.”
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England
Latest Articles
25 January 2012, Financial Times
Adam Smith had not imagined a world in which the Wealth of Nations would cross the world digitally at the click of a mouse. Nor had he envisaged one in which legislation would be drafted by paid lobbyists.
18 January 2012, Financial Times
Our intuition is that a centrally planned allocation of resources will be more efficient than an uncoordinated one. In a market economy, that error constantly leads us to overestimate the economic advantages, and longevity, of large companies.
11 January 2012, Financial Times
Modern titans derive their authority and influence from their position in a hierarchy, not their ownership of capital.
04 January 2012, Financial Times
Good strategy begins with diagnosis. And diagnosis is analysis, not a description of symptoms. You don’t go to your doctor to be told you have a sore throat.
