Concept of Obliquity

John Kay, a British economist, published a book in 2010 entitled Obliquity: Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly .

In this book, Kay explores how many great achievements have been made by indirectly approaching the goal. Kay gives numerous examples, from the building of the Panama canal to the making of some of our best companies.

This concept of obliquity lies behind much of my work with companies, communities and educators. They all operate in complex ecosystems.

I have found that in order to create healthy and vital ecosystems, you first need to imagine an Audacious Aspiration (_thoeria_), then guide a committed team to develop practices (_praxis_) that focus on the Deeper Driver that will allow new creation (_poiesis_) to occur – a model based on Aristotle's Trivium that underpins human potential.

Focus on the driver for the outcome you seek. For business profitability, we know that driver is _customer loyalty_. For communities, we believe that the driver is _trust_. For educational performance, perhaps that driver is _student engagement_.

Focus on the driver, change behavior and continually assess progress. Then, and only then, can you create the conditions for success in complex systems.

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