ISBN: 9780226822815

A timely look at the real costs of leaders not examining their assumptions.  Why do accomplished and stable leaders frequently make calamitous decisions with devastating consequences… More...

A timely look at the real costs of leaders not examining their assumptions.  Why do accomplished and stable leaders frequently make calamitous decisions with devastating consequences for their countriesâ??and other nations? We debate debacles such as the American involvement in Vietnam, seeking to understand why leaders pursued disastrous policies. In Prisoners of Their Premises, George C. Edwards III argues that the failure of leaders to examine their premisesâ??the assumptions they make about the world and situation they are dealing withâ??cause them to ignore real problems or pursue policies that, in costly ways, deal with problems that are different than they think or simply donâ??t exist. Edwards looks at the role of premises in identifying (or ignoring) a problem in a series of case studies that range from strategic decisions in World War I and the Korean War to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Too often, unexamined premises color initial decisions to pursue a policy and shape the strategies leaders employ to achieve their goals, with grave consequences for their countries, organizations, and potentially the world. Timely and important, Prisoners of Their Premises demonstrates the real costs leaders incur by failing to question their assumptions. Political Science, eBooks.com<

2022, ISBN: 9780226822815

How Unexamined Assumptions Lead to War and Other Policy Debacles, eBooks, eBook Download (EPUB), [PU: University of Chicago Press], University of Chicago Press, 2022