Volume 3 · The Corner Cabin · Essay 38

Battle of Borodino

Battle of Borodino is a lens. Nothing in the world changes when you pick it up, but quite a lot becomes visible.

It is worth keeping in your pocket not because it is always right, but because it is always available. A tool you carry beats a perfect tool you left at home.

Watch a good tailor in a busy lane. He does not measure twice out of fear; he measures twice out of respect for the cloth. Teams led with that spirit rarely need scolding.

An organisation is only a group of people who have agreed, for now, to pull in roughly the same direction. Do not memorise it. Notice it. Noticing is the senior discipline.