What can rich-country aid agencies learn from the private sectors of their own countries? William Duggan, Professor of Management, Columbia Business School, answered this question with ideas from his new book Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement.
In Strategic Intuition, Duggan argues that modern neuroscience, psychology, military history, and business strategy collectively point to similar lessons about what determines the success of revolutionary endeavors in social enterprises like microcredit, political development, and education reform in poor countries. Development agencies risk failure when they derive their acts from centrally predetermined goals rather than encourage action by flexibly seizing on chains of fortuitous, unpredictable opportunities.
William Easterly, Professor of Economics, New York University; Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution; Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development, provided remarks and Michael Clemens, Research Fellow, Center for Global Development, moderated the discussion.
