Zero-Sum Thinking

There are ideas that shout. Zero-Sum Thinking is not one of them. It waits quietly until the day you need it.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

Think of the tuition teacher who says, 'First learn the formula, then forget where it came from — and then, one day, remember it properly.' That three-step journey is how all real learning travels.

Learning is the one wealth that survives every partition of fortune. You will meet this idea again this week, wearing different clothes. Now you will recognise it.