Obliquity: Why our goals are best achieved indirectly [Hardcover]

`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

`An ingenious riff about unintended consequences ... Kay has long been our wittiest and most perceptive interpreter of economic theory.' --Stephen Bayley, architecture and design critic for The Observer

`A very timely and clever book' --Anthony Seldon

'Kay is persuasive, rigorous, creative and wise. Brilliant.'
--Tim Harford, author of "The Undercover Economist" and "The Logic of Life"

'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

`John Kay builds on a great philosophical tradition - stretching back through Charles Darwin and Adam Smith ... A great book.'

--Matt Ridley, author Genome and Nature Via Nurture

'An elegant new book...Kay applies his insight to art, politics, sport and family life' --Heather Stewart, Observer

`Obliquity is a characteristic John Kay production. It is a pleasure to read' --Howard Davies, Financial Times

`Fascinating' --Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI

'How rare it is for an academic economist to write with such clarity, intelligence and courage.' --Liam Halligan, Spectator Business

'One of our cleverest thinkers.' --Diana Coyle, Independent

'This is a fascinating book that challenges all sorts of assumptions.' --British Airways Business Life

An original, widely-applicable concept from one of the world's foremost economists. Obliquity will be The Tipping Point for the new decade

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. Pre-eminent economist John Kay applies his provocative, universal theory to everything from international business to town planning and from football to managing forest fires. He shows why the most profitable companies are not always the most profit-oriented; why the richest men and women are not the most materialistic; and why the happiest people are not necessarily those who focus on happiness.

Paradoxical as it may sound, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly: the most profitable companies are not the most aggressive in chasing profits, the wealthiest men and women are not the most materialistic, and the happiest people do not pursue happiness. This is the concept of 'obliquity'. Pre-eminent economist John Kay applies his provocative theory to everything from international business to warfare and from football to managing forest fires. He reveals how surprisingly universal it is, why oblique approaches are so often the most successful - and how understanding this leads to better decision-making. Very rarely does a brilliant new idea emerge that is brand new, immediately makes sense and - genuinely - changes the way we think. With Obliquity, John Kay introduces one of those rare ideas.

'A brilliantly straightforward account of lateral thinking: this is economics with style as well as substance.' Stephen Bayley, architecture and design correspondent for the Observer 'Very timely and clever' Anthony Seldon, author of Blair '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

John Kay is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and a fellow of St John's College, Oxford. As research director and director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies he established it as one of Britain's most respected think tanks. Since then he has been a professor at the London Business School and the University of Oxford, where he was the first director of the Said Business School. He is a regular columnist for the Financial Times and the author of numerous books, including The Truth About Markets (9781848296723) and The Long and the Short of It (9780954809324).