By Alec Hogg
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg made 2015 his year of reading, committing to read a book a fortnight. After encouraging his 31 million Facebook Fans to do likewise, he kicked off with The End of Power by Moises Naim, former editor of Foreign Policy magazine, who was previously Venezuela’s Trade Minister and executive director at the World Bank.
I loved Naim’s “Illicit”, written a decade ago, which exposed how global organised crime is run along the same line as legitimate multinationals. “Power” is very different. In this masterpiece Naim unpacks how power works and why the equation is transforming – specifically how power of the big and previously invulnerable is being systematically eroded by thousands of “micropowers”.
Moises Naim’s definition of power: The ability to direct or prevent the future actions of others. And he reckons this can be achieved in one of only four ways – using force; applying codes (culture); through persuasion; or via incentives. Buy the book. Understanding how and why the world is changing so dramatically helps one live more comfortably in it.
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