Following up on the last blog on Franklin Roosevelt, I wanted to refer to a book about ideas that need clarification in the nation today. The book, Why Nations Fail, by M.I.T. economist Daron Acemoglu and the Harvard political scientist James A. Robinson, is getting a great deal of publicity right now. The authors wrestle with some ideas connected to political and economic institutions in the United States.

If you don’t have time to read the full book, Thomas Friedman recently wrote a compelling editorial piece that covered some of their key concepts. At the end of the article, he made the point that

“When one person can write a check to finance your whole campaign, how inclusive will you be as an elected official to listen to competing voices?”

Are you acting inclusively and allowing alternative voices inside your organization to be heard? Have you institutionalized the practice of considering points of view that differ from your own? Ask, assess, then act.