The Commonplace Book

Notes from the table

The mentors, their lives and philosophies, and the craft of learning itself.

Filtered by “strategy” · clear

Meet Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Planner

He commanded D-Day, drafted the failure memo in advance — and gave his name to the matrix on your whiteboard.

The soldier-philosopher who explained why plans die on contact — and how to plan anyway.

Abandoned as a boy, he built history's largest land empire on merit, law, and terrifying resolve.

General, author, dictator — the sharpest study in decisiveness, and in what unchecked ambition invites.

He retook Jerusalem — and spared it. Even his enemies wrote poems about him.

One generation: from expelled, resourceless island to one of the richest, safest nations on earth.

Game theory, computer architecture, quantum foundations — colleagues who won Nobels said he was the smart one.

From artillery lieutenant to emperor by pure merit — and the most studied case of overreach in history.

Undefeated at thirty-two, tutored by Aristotle, first over every wall — and a cautionary tale he'd tell you himself.

Thirteen short chapters written 2,500 years ago — still the most practical book on strategy ever composed.

Journal posts, new mentors, and a weekly digest — pick your topics, leave any time.