Edition 26 | 17 March 2026

Welcome to The Perspective. Each week I try to step back from the noise of headlines and focus on the thinking underneath them: the patterns, incentives and behaviours that shape how organisations and societies actually function.

Sometimes those reflections come from economic policy or institutional debates. Other times they come from something much simpler: how quickly a story can form around a piece of information before anyone pauses to examine it properly.

Earlier last week I came across a small example online that turned into a useful reminder about something surprisingly basic: the discipline of observation.

The Discipline of Conversation

A video began circulating online claiming that Emirates flights were leaving Dubai with fighter jet escorts, supposedly connected to the tensions in the Middle East.

It sounded dramatic. The clip looked convincing. And the explanation spread quickly. Except the aircraft in the footage wasn’t Emirates.

In several versions of the video, the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines logo is clearly visible on the wingtip. The clip actually shows a KLM aircraft being escorted by Dutch F-35A fighter jets as part of a ceremonial welcome for athletes returning from the Winter Olympics.

In other words, the explanation attached to the footage had nothing to do with what was actually happening.

What makes examples like this interesting is that they aren’t always the result of deliberate misinformation. Often they begin with something much simpler: a dramatic image, a quick assumption, and a narrative that spreads faster than the evidence behind it.

A striking clip appears. Someone offers an interpretation. Others repeat it before verifying the details. Within minutes the explanation becomes the story.

The pattern is familiar well beyond social media. In organisations, markets and public debates, narratives often form quickly when evidence is still incomplete. Once an explanation takes hold, it can be surprisingly difficult to unwind, even when the underlying facts are relatively easy to verify.

Observation, in that sense, is a discipline. It requires slowing down long enough to notice what is actually in front of us before deciding what it means.

In a world where information travels instantly, that pause has become increasingly rare.

Yet it remains one of the most valuable habits we can cultivate.

View the full post and comments on LinkedIn

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On My Desk

About six weeks on from the launch, the focus is beginning to shift.

The first phase was largely about visibility: getting the book onto shelves, into readers’ hands, and into the broader conversation. What’s becoming more interesting now is how the ideas move beyond individual readers and into teams, institutions, and shared discussions.

That has me thinking about the book less as a single product and more as a starting point for wider conversations.

One small project that wrapped up last week was the editing of the launch event from early February, which is now available online for those who couldn’t attend.

→ Watch the launch discussion here:

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For those who are interested, I've also added a dedicated page on my website with the full video and some context around the event. You can view this page by clicking here: https://yusufbodiat.co.za/the-book-launch/​

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Closing Perspective Information moves quickly. Interpretation often moves even faster. But good judgement rarely comes from speed alone. More often it comes from the simple discipline of looking carefully before deciding what something means. That principle applies whether we are interpreting a video online, analysing a financial result, or making decisions inside organisations. Sometimes the most useful skill is also the simplest one: noticing what is actually there. Keep thinking. Move forward. — Yusuf Visit my website

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