Tony Blaire
A Journey: My Political Life
Vintage; Reprint edition, Random House, September 2, 2010; read Feb 2014
Vintage; Reprint edition, Random House, September 2, 2010; read Feb 2014
I picked up this book during a period last year when I
was worn out. I needed a diversion from strategizing. I have enjoyed this book as Tony Blaire
writes for the common reader, not to political experts. He writes about things
that have had my interest for years, especially the peace in Northern Ireland
which in and of itself is brilliant. I
remember seemingly daily news of the violence between Catholics and Protestants
that completely bewildered me at the time.
Ironic as it is, I found his writing inspiring me to think about leading
and strategy …. The locations are
from the Kindle version of the book.
This is from the first half of the book.
Some of these simply are good advice while others
prompted me to think much deeper about what it is I am spending my time on
3742-4 ch 6 Peace in Northern Ireland
The incident raised an interesting reflection on the
nature of the PM’s job: you have to absorb a large amount of abuse. Not crude shouting down or protests, but your
motives constantly questioned or traduced, your words misunderstood or
misrepresented, your attempts to do good seen as attempts either to further
your own interests or even to do bad.
4162 ch 6 Peace in Northern Ireland
In conflict resolution, small things can be big things.
This is not just about gripping, it is also about putting aside your view of
what is important in favour of theirs.
And not being prissy about finding such things below your pay
grade. Your pay grade covers anything
important to the parties you are serving: as defined by them. … if it matters
to them, it matters to me.
4184
So the small things matter because in the minds of the
key parties, they often loom large with a perspective we can’t always grasp.
<< Application - leading a team & serving &
leading >>
4199
In the creativity, you cannot always think of everything,
but you should be wary of doing anything that forfeits trust.
4246 context of having a 3rd party mediate in
conflict resolution
The point is the outside party does not just help
negotiate and mediate: they act as a buffer, a messenger and, crucially, as a
persuader of good faith in a climate usually dominated by distrust.
They also help define issues and indeed turning points.
4281…4286
Realise that for both sides resolving the conflict is a
journey, a process, not an event. Each side takes time to leave the past
behind. … the “ways” have to be “unset” so that change can make progress.
** 4596-4607 ch 7 We
govern in Prose, context Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement with Hitler
Chamberlain was a good man, driven by good motives. So
what was the error? The mistake was in not recognizing the fundamental
question. And here is the difficulty of
leadership: first you have to be able to identify that fundamental question.
…you might think the question was: can Hitler be
contained? That’s what Chamberlain thought. And, on that balance, he thought he
could. And rationally, Chamberlain should have been right. Hitler had annexed
Austria and Czechoslovakia. He was supreme in Germany. Why not be satisfied? … But
that wasn’t the fundamental question. The fundamental question was: does
fascism represent a force that is so strong and rooted that it has to be
uprooted and destroyed? Put like that, the confrontation was indeed inevitable.
The only question was when and how.
In other words, Chamberlain took a narrow and segmented
view – Hitler was a leader, Germany a country, 1933 a moment in time: could he
be contained?
Actually, Hitler was the product as well as the author of
an ideology that gripped several countries, of which Germany was one. By 1938,
fascism was culminating in a force…. [Chamberlain] misunderstood the question
and so answered wrongly.
< Chamberlains
legacy as PM was overshadowed by his failure to prevent Europe from going to
war with Hitler, thus making Blaire’s point all the more apropos. - This begged the question for me - in my plan of attack to see my end vision
reached, have I discerned the right question and thus the most effective course
of action?
a.
Compare Continuum of Activities with what I have
been doing last several years.
b.
Adjust my activities based on where the work is
at in the different areas, thus telling me what needs to happen, where and with
whom.
c.
Translate that into team action >
4941 ch 8 Kosovo
There was a desire to pacify, but not to resolve.
4948
…to recognize the necessity of the moment and act.
5472 ch 9 Forces of Conservatism
That’s the funning things about decisions as prime
minister: some are about doing things, but equally important are those about not doing things. They all come thick
and fast, and sometimes you don’t recognize them as decisions. They tend to be
the things you say “no” to.
5652 context:
institutional & systems reforms
Structures beget standards. How a service is configured
affects outcomes.
6222 ch 10 Managing Crises
…don’t pretend to be other than you are.
6368 context: Opposition
…they didn’t really want us to lose the fight, but a bit
of kicking might serve us right.
6735 (social democracy? )
…bring the private sector into the running of public
services.
7282-7289 ch 12
9/11 “Shoulder to Shoulder”
Context - Islam and her reactions to 9/11
…. [those Muslims] who condemn the terrorists and their
world view. But…even this group have not
yet confidently found their way to articulating a thoroughly reformed and
modernizing view of Islam. In other
words, it is true they find the terrorism repugnant and they wish to be in
alliance with the Western nations against it, but this does not yet translate
into an alternative narrative for Islam that makes sense of its history and
provides a coherent vision for its future. What this means is that very often
countries in the Arab and Muslim world will offer their people a disconcerting
and ultimately self-defeating choice between a ruling elite with the right
idea, but which they are reluctant or fearful to advertise, and a popular
movement with the wrong one, which they are all too keen to proclaim.
...it’s a fundamental struggle for the mind, heart and
soul of Islam.
