From Human Patience to Institutional Time: Where We Stop and Systems Begin

Long-term, multi-year patience is more than impressive. It’s an act of faith—in processes, in time itself, in the idea that some things simply cannot be rushed. In this essay, I aim to provide commentary on long-spanning human endeavors, namely: aged food ingredients, multi-year skyscraper construction, 25-year environmental corporate commitments, 30-year treasury bills, and a 45 year airport operation contract. For each, I’ll analyze what makes human patience possible–or impossible–at each s...