What to ask Jared Diamond
Key Takeaways
- •The conversation will focus heavily on Jared Diamond’s forthcoming book, "Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings (When) Do Leaders Matter?"
- •The book asks whether individual actions meaningfully change history or whether larger forces determine outcomes.
- •The discussion is tied to a broader debate in history and political science about human agency versus structural factors.
- •Diamond’s career has centered on how geography, environment, and institutions shape results.
- •The article suggests asking where Diamond believes leaders have the greatest influence and where they have little effect.
I will be doing a conversation with him. His entire career is fair game, although many of my questions will focus on his forthcoming book Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings (When) Do Leaders Matter?
From the Amazon summary: “Now, in Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings, he studies leaders throughout time to answer the question: do the actions of individuals truly influence history? Or is humanity subject to larger historical, technological, cultural, geographical forces, far beyond the influence of individuals, no matter how powerful they may seem?”
That framing gives the conversation a useful hinge: it connects the book to a long-running debate in history and political science about the balance between individual agency and larger structural forces. Since Diamond has built a career examining how geography, environment, and institutions shape outcomes, questions about where he sees leaders mattering most—and where they clearly do not—would fit naturally with the book’s premise.
So what should I ask him?