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About this quote

What does it mean?
Managerial elites run things but cannot think through crises.
In plain terms
Managers handle tasks but not deep thinking for crises.
What can you take from it?
Management is not the same as critical thinking.

Where it applies

  • corporate governance
  • public administration
  • reform

Putting it to work

  • promote deep thinkers
  • rethink management roles

Questions to consider

  • Can managers be thinkers?
  • What is needed in a crisis?

Another view

Management skills are still valuable for routine tasks.

More from John Ralston Saul

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  2. Because the managerial elites are now so large and have such a dominant effect on our educational system, we are actually teaching most people to manage, not t…

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  3. [G]iven our inability over the past two decades to deal with an unbreakable chain of unemployment, debt, inflation and no real growth, we have drifted farther …

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