China, China, China. And lemon pound cake.
WL #372
Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! It’s finals time! Everyone’s least favorite time of the semester, including yours truly. The only good thing about it is that it’s the last hump before we go on break. Things are starting to look a little more holiday around the Durham. Once we’re done, I’ll be using break to get ahead on my Health Leader Forge podcast for the spring. I’ll be releasing my first HLF podcast in over a year next week, but I have two more scheduled for break, and hoping to get a couple more done before we come back. If you’ve got a health leader that you think has had an interesting career and might be willing to share their experiences, I’d love to hear about her/him.
Speaking of podcasts, I just found out my neighbor, Marc Hubbard, the UNH Men’s soccer coach, and subject of my last Flourishing in the World podcast has taken another job - he’ll be leaving in the spring to coach North Carolina State’s team. We’re sad to lose him as a coach, and as a neighbor. After talking with him about his role here and the challenges of coaching in the Northeast, it’s clear he’ll have better opportunities to excel. Still, a loss for our community. If you haven’t listened to the interview, I really recommend it - he has a lot of great things to say about helping young people excel.
Also, I found a fabulous recipe for glazed lemon pound cake. No pic, but recommended. I made one over the weekend for family and another for our last staff meeting. It has a nice, bright flavor for these long, dark nights.
This week I have three pieces on China - their economy and challenges to national security. Both of which are intertwined.
As usual, willing good for all of you, and see you Sunday with a new essay!
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Read
What: Politico, China’s Xi goes full Stalin with purge
https://www.politico.eu/article/chinas-paranoid-purge-xi-jinping-li-keqiang-qin-gang-li-shangfu/
Why: An interesting article summarizing what President Xi of China is doing. I keep hearing this discussed by folks like Zeihan, but this article gives more detail about some of the latest disappearances and demotions. As the leader of a large system, you can’t fire everyone who disagrees with you. If you do, you stop the flow of information.
Democratic processes like voting deliver information to elites. I’m still convinced that most votes for Trump were not for him but against the Progressive Elite that has taken over most cultural institutions in the United States. A vote for Trump should have sent information to Progressive Elites in the US that they had gone too far.
It will generally be an elite in charge, but the elites compete with each other. Voting is one way of getting information from the messy public to the elites. The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t allow broad voting, so it cuts itself off from that information about the sentiments of broader society. Couple that with the fact that Xi is killing or exiling anyone who doesn’t agree with him further reduces his access to information, and you get a leader who is cocooned in ignorance.
It’s useful for organizational leaders to think about this - how do you get information? Your team will provide you information if they don’t think you will have them killed (or demoted or fired). If you incentivize them to tell you what you want to hear, you will only hear what you want to hear.
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Watch
What: Peter Zeihan, Naval Power in the Pacific: China vs. The United States (12 min)
Why: Economics and global security are inevitably intertwined. China has been growing its navy quickly. Zeihan is less concerned about this than I am. Nevertheless, he recounts some significant growth in the weapons build up between China and the US. We still have a significant technological advantage, but… I wish we weren’t wasting money on weapon systems. As usual, well thought out analysis as always. Worth listening to.
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Listen
What: The Foreign Affairs Interview, Who Killed the Chinese Economy? (30 min)
Why: Great discussion about what is happening with the Chinese economy. Xi doesn’t own all the fault, of course. One man can’t completely stop economic progress, but one man can do a lot of damage if he is powerful enough and blinds himself enough.