We don’t know what we don’t know. (2011)

“It is a law of human nature,” David Brooks writes, “that the more men you concentrate in one happy pack, the more each will come to resemble Donald Trump.

Tony Schwartz
HBR Blog Network, July 2011

“It is a law of human nature,” David Brooks writes in his newest book The Social Animal, “that the more men you concentrate in one happy pack, the more each of them will come to resemble Donald Trump. They possess a sort of masculine photosynthesis to start with – the ability to turn sunlight into self-admiration. By the law of compound egotism, they create this self-reinforcing vortex of smugness, which brings out the most-pleased-with-themselves aspects of their own personalities.

“What makes The Social Animal the most satisfying and important book I’ve read in a very long time is that Brooks so brilliantly and evocatively explains why we’ve gone so far off course in this country, attributing it not to bad policies but to human failings we haven’t begun to recognize, much less acknowledge.”

Access the article here: We don’t know what we don’t know.

Access the book here: The social animal.