Not all prime ministers are equal. Not remotely – which is why books taking one prime minister after the other can only ever tell a partial story. In this chapter, we consider the other seven (after Walpole and Pitt the Younger) who defined the office as ‘agenda changers’. They are the creators of the (still evolving) office of prime minister. All nine – two in the eighteenth century, three in the nineteenth, and four in the twentieth – carved out what the office of prime minister means, and shaped the office in their own image. After these ‘agenda changers’ ceased to be prime minister, their successors over the years that followed either tried to be like them, or tried deliberately to distance themselves from them: but none could escape their long shadow. They took advantage of wide-ranging historical or consensus change and moulded the office and country to their will.

Convergent thinking is the third and final step of the DOC Process. The aim of the Converge step is to narrow the organized group of information down to a single choice, the “best” choice. In order to choose the “best” factor of the General Problem to address, or select the “best” solution to that problem, we need to first define “best.” That criteria must be clear, concious and public. We do not want to make intuitive, visceral decisions, but rather conscious, rational and reasonable ones. In order to accomplish that desired outcome, we need to choose a complete set of selection criteria.

Before applying the criteria, we need to create a level evaluation field for all concepts that will be judged by ensuring that all the organized concepts are described in enough detail, with respect to the criteria, to ensure they can compete equally against each other. This may mean returning to the Organize step once the convergent criteria are set. Generic criteria for Problem Identification and Solution Formulation are offered in this chapter. Selection tools ranging from t-charts to paired comparative analysis are also described.