changing fast enough

Financial Times: A frequent argument is that Germans are not capable of reforming themselves.

Angela Merkel: I would say this is utter nonsense. The people in East Germany have lived through so many changes in the last 15 years like never before in the country, and they did this often with great enthusiasm. But in the West we also have a high degree of transformations. Everyone who is able to work today does so under very different conditions. The willingness to learn new skills is very high. If you ask people what they are prepared to do in order to adapt to globalisation they say “I am willing to learn new skills”. Parents today do no longer expect there children to come and work in the family business but they urge them to go for new careers.

It is nonsense to say that Germans are unable to change. The reason why we do not have the Transrapid high speed train in Germany is not because Germans would not accept new railways to be build. It has to do with the political environment and the very slow decision making process. In this respect politicians can change a lot to deliver changes much faster to the people. The question is not whether we are able to change but whether we are changing fast enough. There is still some convincing to be done. That is what we want to do in the campaign.

Transcript of Angela Merkel interview. Bertrand Benoit and Andrew Gowers. Financial Times.  JULY 20 2005. As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World.

deliberate about the trade-offs

I once attended an event where Herb [Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines] was interviewed about his business strategy. It was a great talk in many ways, but when he began to talk about how deliberate he was about the trade-offs he had made at Southwest, my ears perked up. Rather than try to fly to every destination, they had deliberately chosen to offer only point-to-point flights. Instead of jacking up prices to cover the cost of meals, he decided they would serve none. Instead of assigning seats in advance, they would let people choose them as they got on the plane. Instead of upselling their passengers on glitzy first-class service, they offered only coach. These trade-offs weren't made by default but by design. Each and every one was made as part of a deliberate strategy to keep costs down. Did he run the risk of alienating customers who wanted the broader range of destinations, the choice to purchase overpriced meals, and so forth? Yes, but Kelleher was totally clear about what the company was - a low-cost airline - and what they were not. And his trade-offs reflected as much. 

It was an example of his Essentialist thinking at work when he said: "You have to look at every opportunity and say, 'Well, no... I'm sorry, We're not going to do a thousand different things that really won't contribute much to the end result we are trying to achieve."

Greg McKeown

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.49,50

wild and precious life

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life? 

Mary Oliver

Poem: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver. As found in Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.27

by design, not by default

The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless. 

Greg McKeown 

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.7

essentialism

Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it's about how to get the right things done. It doesn't mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential. 

Greg McKeown 

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. Crown/Archetype. 2020. p.5