Why do empires rise and fall? Why do some cultures and civilizations disappear over the ages while others have thrived for thousands of years? Why have some countries become superpowers brimming with prosperity while others have not? What grand strategies have empires, countries, and cities used to grow themselves into greatness? There are many factors that foretell the rise and fall of civilizations, and two of the prosperity principles rarely discussed but must be mastered include asabiya, or cooperative group unity, and the aggregate "virtue" or "merit" of a great body of men.
There are also cyclical factors in history - whether of Kondratrieff innovation waves, Strauss and Howe generational waves, business cycles or demographic waves - which explain predictable trends in technology, politics and economics that we can align with for the purposes of prosperity. Cities can make use of these trends and through astute placemaking magnetically attract residents, talent, and the "next thing" industries within their borders.
Many companies also face the prospect of super profitability and then bankruptcy. What strategic factors explain how to build firms to last? Many companies thrive by adopting a guiding vision that creates benefit for customers and overrides a natural tendency towards pure profiteering without regard to human values. How should those companies design products embodying greater merit (benefit and values) than the competition and ethically market them to highlight their best value propositions?
In your own career, how do you avoid the slippery road of commerce that often produces "errant men of business"? What principles will help you stick to a virtuous road and even become considered a man or woman of "consummate conduct"? More importantly, how can you find your life purpose or purposes within life so that it becomes filled with more satisfaction than what your job or occupation provides, and how can you band together with larger groups with similar interests to uplift communities and infect the world with positive change?
When you peel back the layers of explanation you will find that the big principles of death and decline, or progress and prosperity for great bodies of men usually revolve around lasting issues of virtue, values, culture and merit. The grand strategies of progress revolve around unifying principles of cooperation and shared values. When virtuous ways such as altruism, self-sacrifice and cooperation hold sway we will normally see prosperity in societies and when they decline we will normally see deterioration. One individual with a vision or passion who cultivates himself to become better can therefore influence his family, community, country and the world to do great things, and can even affect the future generations of men.
This is a book on the big principles that explain why small to large associations of men grow and thrive or decline and die, and teaches how to manage their group-persistence and uplifting. It reveals the causes of progress and prosperity for civilizations, cultures, empires, countries, cities, companies and products ... and how men can personally raise these groups up to greater heights by pursuing purposes, values and missions that embody the highest of ideals.
