The Best and the Brightest

Why I recommend it

This is a book about America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but it’s also about leadership, pride, and groupthink. Small and seemingly benign issues can become huge in organizations. Highly recommend.

What stayed with me

Intelligence and impressive credentials don’t protect a group from bad judgment. Leaders need people who can question the assumptions everyone else has stopped examining.

Who it’s useful for

Leaders and history readers interested in how organizations make consequential mistakes.

A tension or limitation

The focus on American decision-makers gives us a particular view of the war. It needs to sit alongside Vietnamese accounts and experiences.