Thinking Through History

John von Neumann could make other brilliant people feel slow. The Hungarian-American mathematician reportedly memorised columns from the Budapest telephone directory as a child. Decades later, colleagues were still astonished by his ability to recall books, perform complex calculations mentally and move through difficult problems at extraordinary speed. Memory alone, however, does not explain his influence. Von Neumann helped shape quantum mechanics, game theory, computing, e

Dwight Eisenhower ran three of the largest, most demanding jobs of the 20th century, back to back. Supreme Allied Commander during the invasion of Europe. First Supreme Commander of NATO. Two-term President of the United States. He didn't survive that by working every hour he had. He survived it with a filter — two questions he ran every problem through before it ever reached his desk: Is it urgent? Is it important? That filter is now known as the Eisenhower Matrix, and it's

We live in an age of specialization. From an early age, we are told to choose a path, focus on a discipline, and become an expert in one field. The modern world rewards this. Doctors specialize in a single area of medicine, lawyers in a particular branch of law, academics in increasingly narrow subjects. And it works: specialization creates the deep expertise that lets us perform surgery, design aircraft, and push the boundaries of human knowledge. I want to be clear about th