Smoke and Mirrors

<h4 style="text-align: center;">Leaders need to act in accordance with their values</h4><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RZe6jS2rAGE/YUONyJxI4eI/AAAAAAABV8w/eRvxwdPDmB8TbHJkDXHbJSFRHaKJNkFjACLcBGAsYHQ/s800/Edward%2BBird%2B-%2BThe%2BCheat%2BDetected%2B1814.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="800" height="508" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RZe6jS2rAGE/YUONyJxI4eI/AAAAAAABV8w/eRvxwdPDmB8TbHJkDXHbJSFRHaKJNkFjACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h508/Edward%2BBird%2B-%2BThe%2BCheat%2BDetected%2B1814.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-cheat-detected-123948">The Cheat Detected</a></em> by Edward Bird, 1814 (Sir John Soane's Museum - CC BY-NC-ND)</span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%share_url%%","text":"Share","class":null}"><br style="text-align: left;" /></p></td></tr></tbody></table><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“The truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.”</strong> — Marcus Aurelius</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br />The camera ought to be listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.</p><p>More than the awe-inspiring Great Wall or the mysterious Machu Picchu, cameras have allowed us to capture and easily manipulate the world around us.</p><p>As early as 1855 in Paris, at the second world fair, a German photographer demonstrated his ability to retouch the negative of a photograph, thus producing a more desired effect.</p><p>This harmless action has evolved into the now-familiar editing features we see in the photo apps on our phones. What was once the capturing of unflinching truth is now subject to our whims and moods.</p><p>Susan Sontag <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/swindle-fraud/funhouse-mirror">observed</a>, “Instead of just recording reality, photographs have become the norm for the way things appear to us, thereby changing the very idea of reality, and of realism.”</p><p>That could almost be the mission statement for Instagram — and of its parent company, Facebook, while we’re at it.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>Facebook’s Reality</h2><p>In a devastating investigation, <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> uncovered the truth behind Instagram (“<strong><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739?st=tfirs5pwfi7lb2o&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show</a></strong>”). But this goes deeper than the typical head-in-the-sand approach that companies like Facebook have taken.</p><p>In this case, it wasn’t third-party research the company chose to ignore. It was <em>the company’s own research</em>.</p><blockquote><p>For the past three years, Facebook has been conducting studies into how its photo-sharing app affects its millions of young users. Repeatedly, the company’s researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of them, most notably teenage girls.</p><p>“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from 2019, summarizing research about teen girls who experience the issues.</p><p>“Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another slide. “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”</p><p>The research has been reviewed by top Facebook executives, and was cited in a 2020 presentation given to Mr. Zuckerberg, according to the documents.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>When Mark Zuckerberg appeared in front of Congress in March 2021 and was asked specifically if Facebook had studied the effect of Instagram on children, he admitted that the company had.</p><blockquote><p>In August, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn in a letter to Mr. Zuckerberg called on him to release Facebook’s internal research on the impact of its platforms on youth mental health.</p><p>In response, Facebook sent the senators a six-page letter that didn’t include the company’s own studies. Instead, Facebook said there are many challenges with conducting research in this space, saying, “We are not aware of a consensus among studies or experts about how much screen time is ‘too much,’ ” according to a copy of the letter reviewed by the Journal.</p><p>In public, Facebook has consistently played down the app’s negative effects on teens, and hasn’t made its research public or available to academics or lawmakers who have asked for it.</p><p>“The research that we’ve seen is that using social apps to connect with other people can have positive mental-health benefits,” CEO Mark Zuckerburg said at a congressional hearing in March 2021 when asked about children and mental health.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>You <em>Knew</em></h2><p>In another instance with a media executive, <strong><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4733894/user-clip-knew">Rep. Heather Wilson excoriated CBS president and CEO Mel Karmazin</a></strong> in a hearing on Broadcast Decency Rules in 2004, saying, “You <em>knew</em> what you were doing…because it improved your ratings, it improved your market share, and it lined your pockets.”</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="330" src="https://www.c-span.org/video/standalone/?c4733894/user-clip-knew" width="512"></iframe></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Using intentional deception to achieve a desired outcome is nothing new; we’re warned of it in the very first book of the Bible, as Eve is deceived by the serpent. It is one of God’s commandments handed down to Moses.</p><p>It is deeply and inextricably woven into human nature.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Men are so simple, and so much creatures of circumstance, that the deceiver will always find somebody ready to be deceived.”</strong> — Niccolò Machiavelli, 1513</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>We’ve seen Facebook’s tactics before. And since Scott Galloway called Facebook leadership “<strong><a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/facebook-leadership-is-lipstick-on-cancer-nyu-professor">a lipstick on cancer</a></strong>,” it shouldn’t shock you that the tobacco industry first used them.</p><blockquote><p>The experts Philip Morris hired work for firms whose scientists regularly contend in medical journals, courtrooms, and regulatory arenas that their clients’ chemical products pose little or no health risks to the public. The firms have been instrumental in delaying new regulations by criticizing the work of other scientists, and emphasizing the doubt inherent in health science. The resultant uncertainty has helped delay attempts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to crack down on ubiquitous chemicals with known dangers, such as formaldehyde, arsenic, and hexavalent chromium. ["<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/low-tar-cigarettes/481116/" target="_blank">Contesting the Science of Smoking</a>," <i>The Atlantic</i>]</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>This aversion to admitting the truth behind scientific studies spans back to the early 1950s, when research linked smoking to lung cancer. The tobacco companies’ response? A secret meeting at the New York Plaza on December 14, 1953 to develop a strategy to twist science and mislead the public about the dangers of smoking.</p><p>In 1964, the Surgeon General released a report of thousands of articles and began requiring cigarette companies to post the Surgeon General’s Warning on every pack of cigarettes. </p><p>The tobacco companies <em>knew</em> of the harm of cigarettes, but they would continue to deny that cigarettes cause cancer for another 35 years, instead relying on filters, low-tar cigarettes, and other innovations that would continue to allow them to rake in the profits.</p><p>In 1999, the United States Department of Justice sued a number of tobacco companies for fraud under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act. Judge Gladys Kessler found that the companies intentionally misled the public about the health risks, nicotine addictiveness, and selling to youths.</p><p>She took a full year to write the 1,652 page opinion of <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Philip_Morris">United States of America v. Philip Morris USA</a></em>, and it was damning.</p><blockquote><p>“In short, [the companies] have marketed and sold their lethal product with zeal, with deception, with a single-minded focus on their financial success, and without regard for the human tragedy or social costs that success exacted.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><p><br /></p><p>How is Facebook any different?</p><p>Every blue-blooded socialist and every red-blooded capitalist will admit that company executives are responsible for and obsess over profits. There’s nothing inherently wrong with profitability.</p><p>But leaders have the well-being of society to consider as well. Is your product or company doing more harm than good? Do your actions reflect your values?</p><p>If you’re pursuing profits at the expense of your values or the values of a decent society, it’s all just smoke and mirrors.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></blockquote><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p></p><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Join the club by signing up below:</div>

Smoke and Mirrors

Leaders need to act in accordance with their values The Cheat Detected  by Edward Bird, 1814 (Sir John Soane's Museum - CC BY-NC-ND) “Th...

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Travel Restricted? Try Reading

<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gHZzTFRnUAw/YTDP25GbI7I/AAAAAAABV0Q/kn9cgficuwUJRKB1BEGzknOZ9CGxDjLlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1232/Great%2BBooks%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWestern%2BWorld.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1232" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gHZzTFRnUAw/YTDP25GbI7I/AAAAAAABV0Q/kn9cgficuwUJRKB1BEGzknOZ9CGxDjLlgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/Great%2BBooks%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWestern%2BWorld.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">From the author's library</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p><i>A version of this appeared in the <b>Timeless & Timely</b> newsletter that helps you become a better leader, a better communicator, and a better human. <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe" target="_blank">Get it delivered to you regularly</a>.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong><br />“I have a passport to a far better age,</strong></em></strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>As close as the bookshelf, as near as a page”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— William Schweikert, 1984 </em></div><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>You like to read, right?</p><p>Well of course you do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t subscribe to this little newsletter.</p><p>But have you ever stopped to ask yourself <em>why</em> you read?</p><p>As a child, it was to become a better reader—to learn the language and become more proficient at every field of study that requires reading (all of them, essentially). And, to put it more simply, you read to have fun.</p><p>As an older student, you’d read to become a better thinker, a better reasoner, and more well-informed on topics that interested you. Along with your reading assignments came a healthy dose of essay writing.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” </strong></em><em>— Annie Proulx</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>If you want to become a better writer (and thus, a better communicator), the secret is to practice by reading more. You’ll be exposed to different styles, a wider vocabulary, and broader ideas. And they’ll rub off on you.</p><p>But what about your reading habit <em>now</em>? Why do you read today?</p><p>It probably goes without saying that you read to continue the process of learning. The best leaders are life-long learners.</p><p>You read to understand your industry and the associated forces that may impact it. You read to fine-tune your craft. You read for self-improvement.</p><p>But shouldn’t there be more?</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>In his letters, Gustave Flaubert wrote:</p><p></p><blockquote><strong>“Do not read as children do to enjoy themselves, or, as the ambitious do to educate themselves. No, read to live.”</strong></blockquote><p></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://ctt.ac/7_27y","text":"Tweet this quote","class":null}"><br /></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://ctt.ac/7_27y","text":"Tweet this quote","class":null}">Read to live.</p><p>Timeless and timely advice, I’d say.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Books are voyages of discovery. And with them, you can get your passport stamped on destinations around the world and over many centuries.</p><p>See the fog-enshrouded streets of Victorian London, the newly-laid cobblestones of the Via Appia in the second century BC, experience Hemingway’s Spanish bullrings of the 1920s, and Fennimore Cooper’s Mohican country of the 1750s.</p><p>What do we find on these journeys?</p><p>Aside from the sundry settings, to which our senses may be attuned for the first time, we find something more fundamental: we discover ourselves.</p><p>In what we read, we find the present in the past and the past in the present. And in doing so, you discover within yourself the presence of a once and future person.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“When you reread a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.”</strong> — Clifton Fadiman</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>As travel restrictions begin to ratchet up once more (just today <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/01/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html">the CDC advised</a> unvaccinated people to refrain from traveling over Labor Day weekend), we still have the ability to travel in our minds.</p><p>My friend <strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/cspenn/">Christopher Penn</a></strong> is bringing people along with him on his virtual travel adventures. Through an Oculus app, he is able to travel around the world virtually, and he shares his travels on Instagram.</p><p>Perhaps you appreciate books and don’t have as many at hand as you would like. Or you just miss the wonder of a curious mind and a lazy afternoon that accompany browsing the shelves of a library or used book store. Youre in luck: the Internet Archives <strong><a href="https://mymodernmet.com/internet-archive-library-explorer/">Library Explorer allows you to browse 3D shelves by subject, age, date and other sorting criteria</a></strong>.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“I care not how humble your bookshelf may be, or how lonely the room which it adorns. Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more.”</strong> — Arthur Conan Doyle, 1907</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Don’t let your geographical restrictions limit what you read.</p><p>And please, give your scrolling thumb a rest. Put down the phone and pick up a book instead.</p><p>You might be surprised at how much living you do.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"><br /></pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p>I’ll be back on Friday with more thoughts on the physicality of books and what they mean to us, along with some interesting timeless and timely links and recommended items to round out your reading habit. Be sure to sign up for Friday’s updates, exclusively available to Premium members. You can <b><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/44f59cab" target="_blank">try it for free</a></b>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/44f59cab" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="66" data-original-width="273" height="66" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiyvVhiJn6I/YSeKDEadabI/AAAAAAABVl0/I8f2d7rCmAQU6Cx49OR12YFCxPFaT4B9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/button_day-free-trial.png" width="273" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p>

Travel Restricted? Try Reading

  From the author's library A version of this appeared in the Timeless & Timely newsletter that helps you become a better leader, a...

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Other People's Property

<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-orNA9Zk4VWo/YSeGwpzZs_I/AAAAAAABVls/a6w_4fi6cP8rT1ff9gqifobU9ULgqBJxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s702/Tom%2BFreeman%2527s%2B2004%2Bpainting%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bburning%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWhite%2BHouse%2Bon%2BAugust%2B24%252C%2B1814%2B%2528White%2BHouse%2BHistorical%2BAssociation%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="702" height="440" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-orNA9Zk4VWo/YSeGwpzZs_I/AAAAAAABVls/a6w_4fi6cP8rT1ff9gqifobU9ULgqBJxQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h440/Tom%2BFreeman%2527s%2B2004%2Bpainting%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bburning%2Bof%2Bthe%2BWhite%2BHouse%2Bon%2BAugust%2B24%252C%2B1814%2B%2528White%2BHouse%2BHistorical%2BAssociation%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="text-align: left;">Tom Freeman’s 2004 painting of the burning of the White House on August 24, 1814. (</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/167721133253158/photos/pb.167721133253158.-2207520000.1409144793./834551549903443/?type=3&theater" style="text-align: left;">White House Historical Association</a><span style="text-align: left;"> / Facebook)</span></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“How can you build on such a quicksand?”</strong> — Arthur Conan Doyle, 1904</em></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>The White House, sometimes called “The People’s House,” is the most well-known piece of public housing in the world.</p><p>And it’s a powerful reminder that we don’t always control where we live or do business.</p><p>Every four or eight years, the occupant of the White House is required to move out. And just like that, the permanent staff goes into a whirl to prepare the residence for a new president.</p><p>It was 214 years ago this week — on August 24, 1814 — that the British army, laying siege to Washington, DC, set the White House on fire.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>It seems apt timing then, that late last week, OnlyFans made an announcement that rocked the world of creators. The site, known as a platform for those who create a variety of sexual content for their fans and viewers, abruptly announced <a href="https://www.axios.com/onlyfans-ban-sexually-explicit-policy-6d3298bd-49c1-40ca-9698-55cfecec8fa3.html">they would ban explicit content</a>.</p><p>Since many adult actors turned to the site during the pandemic, it became a break-out success. But OnlyFans says t<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/24/22639356/onlyfans-ceo-tim-stokely-sexually-explicit-content-ban-banks">he banks that back the payment systems on the site object to the content</a> — particularly because user-generated content has not been independently verified and can contain material related to sex trafficking.</p><p>The point is this: when you rely on someone else’s platform for your livelihood, you may find your destiny is not in your own control.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.thetilt.com/newsletter/no-fan-of-rented-land">Don’t build your house on rented land</a>,” as they say.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /><br /></div><p>Listen to the "<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/control" target="_blank">Control</a>" episode of <b><i>Timeless Leadership</i></b> — an interview with Carey Lohrenz:</p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1071156154&color=%23ce1a21&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></div><p></p><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/timelessleadership" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Timeless Leadership">Timeless Leadership</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/timelessleadership/control" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Control">Control</a></div><p></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label> <pre class="text"><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; white-space: normal;"><hr /><br /></div><br /></pre></div><p>In this case, the content creators don’t control the platform on which their content is hosted. And to add another layer, the platform doesn’t control the payment system.</p><p>While it’s not impossible to get around such an arrangement, neither is it easy.</p><p>Creators of any kind can take control by owning their own land. That is, they can create their own domain or website. They can host an audio show on a platform that gives them the ability to determine where to distribute the program.</p><p>When it comes to payment systems, we’re beginning to see the emergence of players in cryptocurrency such as <a href="https://rall.io">Rally</a> that allow creators to benefit from 100% of the money that changes hands. [<em>Disclosure: I own the Timeless Coin (<a href="https://rally.io/creator/MONTY/">$MONTY</a>) on Rally. Check out my coin for benefits that accrue to holders.</em>]</p><p><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>To Rent or to Own?</strong></h2><p>There have always been trade-offs to renting versus owning.</p><blockquote><p>When a theologian renting from ninth-century Islamic philosopher al-Kindi hosted two cousins for a month-long visit, the landlord increased the rent proportionally. His reasoning: a dwelling has a “limited existence.” A tenant enjoys this without the burden of ownership, then leaves the space “a dung heap and in dilapidation, only repairable at grievous expense.” (“<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/home/miscellany/repairable-grievous-expense" target="_blank">Miscellany</a>” from<i> Lapham’s Quarterly</i>, Volume X, No. 1, Winter 2017)</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Being active on social media means you need to follow someone else’s rules and that without warning, they can shut down and leave you stranded. Users can accrue huge followings on social media if they’re willing to take that risk.</p><p>Email newsletters, while typically smaller in size than social media followings, allow you to have direct relationships with your audience — and if you decide to change email service providers, you can take them with you.</p><p>The presidency itself is a job with 100% turnover. The troubles of the world are his for the duration of his term in office, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The officeholder receives a nominal salary, public housing, an airplane, a country estate, and an executive chef — all of which he relinquishes upon leaving office.</p><p>But those troubles and those perks give the jobholder the opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of millions of people. More than most private-sector jobs could.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Risks and rewards abound at every level.</p><p>As with anything in life, you’ll be judged by what you do with your time and talent.</p><p>You just need to decide where you’re going to spend it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><br /></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p>Stay tuned on Friday when we’ll address scarcity and abundance and how it applies to work and life. Becoming a Premium Member means you’ll be rewarded with additional content each week — and you even get a chance to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/44f59cab" target="_blank">try it for free</a>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/44f59cab" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="66" data-original-width="273" height="66" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OiyvVhiJn6I/YSeKDEadabI/AAAAAAABVl0/I8f2d7rCmAQU6Cx49OR12YFCxPFaT4B9QCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/button_day-free-trial.png" width="273" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>

Other People's Property

  Tom Freeman’s 2004 painting of the burning of the White House on August 24, 1814. ( White House Historical Association  / Facebook)   “How...

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Present Tense

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A4nqoBrvsbs/YR5wXKsLKtI/AAAAAAABVhw/T2Vs6r-Alo4jiHF5hqyGeGHO1E_4gmdngCLcBGAsYHQ/s968/James%2BRattray%2B-%2BShuja_Shah_Durrani_of_Afghanistan_in_1839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="968" height="470" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A4nqoBrvsbs/YR5wXKsLKtI/AAAAAAABVhw/T2Vs6r-Alo4jiHF5hqyGeGHO1E_4gmdngCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h470/James%2BRattray%2B-%2BShuja_Shah_Durrani_of_Afghanistan_in_1839.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shuja_Shah_Durrani_of_Afghanistan_in_1839.jpg#/media/File:Shuja_Shah_Durrani_of_Afghanistan_in_1839.jpg">Interior of the palace of Shauh Shujah Ool Moolk, Late King of Cabul</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by James Rattray, 1848 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child.”</strong>  — Marcus Tullius Cicero</em></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Leadership is messy.</p><p>Regardless of the time or situation in which they find themselves, there are choices leaders face that are difficult, outcomes that are unexpected, and interactions that can go sideways.</p><p>The leader confers with trusted advisors and relies on well-picked team members to make decisions to the best of their ability at the time.</p><p>But leadership isn’t like choosing ham or tuna for your sandwich. It’s much more nuanced and requires weighing forces seen and unseen, to result in an outcome that is, on balance, a net positive.</p><p>Part of doing that is not only living in the present, but understanding the past. Taking stock in those whose shoulders on which you stand to help you determine what needs doing now.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“We are all part of a larger stream of events, past, present, and future. We are all the beneficiaries of those who went before us.” </strong>— David McCullough, 1998</em></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>We fall into the trap of thinking we’re unique and never before has someone had to deal with the same issues we have. When we do this, we struggle as we tackle each obstacle as it occurs.</p><p>But what if we didn’t have to struggle so much? What if we could anticipate what comes next by recognizing patterns? That could help us avoid traps and jump ahead of the competition.</p><h3><em>How can we know who we are and where we are headed if we don’t know where we’ve come from? </em>[<a href="https://ctt.ac/C0lB3" target="_blank">TWEET THIS</a>]</h3><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>All one needs to do to appreciate this is to look at the history of Afghanistan. The 20-year war that the United States just concluded was never going to end well.</p><p>Alexander the Great arrived in the area of Afghanistan in 330 BC after defeating Darius III of Persia a year earlier at the Battle of Gaugamela. His army faced very strong resistance in the Afghan tribal areas where he is said to have commented that Afghanistan is “<strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Afghanistan#Alexander_and_the_Seleucids">easy to march into, hard to march out of</a></strong>.”</p><p>For as long as outside forces have been trying to form alliances and cohesiveness in Afghanistan, the internal forces have been fighting and rejecting them.</p><p>The opening of “<a href="https://youtu.be/2--QHlqyppY">A Study in Pink</a>” — the first episode in the BBC’s <em>Sherlock</em> — concerned an army doctor returning to London after serving in Afghanistan in 2010. He was suffering from PTSD and was looking for someone with whom to share lodgings.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2--QHlqyppY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p>This was exactly the scene that opened <em>A Study in Scarlet</em>, the first Sherlock Holmes story, set in 1881. Dr. Watson returned from war, having been injured at the Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan during the <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War">Second Anglo-Afghan War</a></strong>.</p><p>Outside forces that get involved in conflicts in Afghanistan have <em>always</em> left in defeat. Alexander the Great knew it, and the British knew it — twice before they repeated the error in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It’s all been done before, and will be again.”</strong> — Arthur Conan Doyle, 1914</em></p></blockquote><p> </p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>If we are willing to take the time to more deeply understand the events of the past, whether corporate history, local history, or world history, it will help ground you in what you may need today, tomorrow, or next year.</p><p>The leader who is prepared is the leader who <strong>observes </strong>and <strong>reflects</strong>, <strong>learns </strong>and <strong>challenges</strong>, and <strong>imagines</strong> and <strong>decides</strong>. [<strong><a href="https://ctt.ac/a9Q5j">TWEET THIS</a>]</strong></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>That’s much easier when armed with examples from leaders who have done it before.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%half_magic_comments_url%%","text":"Leave a comment","class":null}"><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em>Stay tuned Friday for the subscribers-only premium content when we’ll look at the impact of the past on emotional intelligence. And of course, the usual curated content.</em></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="10491" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

Present Tense

Interior of the palace of Shauh Shujah Ool Moolk, Late King of Cabul  by James Rattray, 1848 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)   “Not to ...

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Responding to Forces Beyond Our Control

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fSkTwJoDrMM/YRRRRBS66WI/AAAAAAABVV0/9syzBzl2MqIGbTk-ksmDpHDzGy-QyDbsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/John%2BSingleton%2BCopley%2B-%2BWatson%2Band%2Bthe%2BShark%2B1778.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="2048" height="508" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fSkTwJoDrMM/YRRRRBS66WI/AAAAAAABVV0/9syzBzl2MqIGbTk-ksmDpHDzGy-QyDbsQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h508/John%2BSingleton%2BCopley%2B-%2BWatson%2Band%2Bthe%2BShark%2B1778.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46471.html">Watson and the Shark</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by John Singleton Copley, 1778 (public domain - National Gallery of Art)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back whence we came.”</strong> — John F. Kennedy, 1962</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br />Have you ever been to the beach and picked up a shell large enough to put up to your ear and to listen to it?</p><p>As much as we would like to think we’re hearing sounds of the ocean, it’s simply <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seashell_resonance">seashell resonance </a>— the sound of ambient noise in a concave enclosure.</p><p>But the romantic notion of hearing the ocean in a shell has some magic about it. The proximity of the shell to the seaside makes it all the more appealing and believable.</p><p>This myth is similar in structure to the old yarn that the salinity of the ocean and of blood are of a similar percentage (they are not, in fact). Yet we still find these tales circulating.</p><p>Humans have always been drawn to the sea and stories about it. We flock to the coast for idealized living and for vacations. Did you know that more than 85 percent of Australia’s population l<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Percentage-of-population-living-on-the-coast-in-Australia-and-Worldwide_fig2_281942196" target="_blank">ives within 50 km of the coast</a>? </p><p>The lure of the coast is inescapable.</p><p>And this is even with threats to the eternally changing coasts — something that’s been happening since the continents first began tectonic shifts.</p><p>The ongoing change of the seas and their coasts are constant and volatile, a combination of conditions that range from predictable cycles to unexpected and sudden events.</p><p>And we have had to learn to deal with its various states as we enjoy it and live off of it.</p><p>We accept the reality, which includes risks as well as rewards.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts have always known this. If you happen to find yourself in Gloucester Harbor, you’ll undoubtedly see the Fisherman’s Memorial.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0SfNVCuY5w/YRRRoOdJKvI/AAAAAAABVWA/FYLpPGKt2mEondHC1gHaD0szcs0cfFkwQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/FishermanMemorialGloucester.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F0SfNVCuY5w/YRRRoOdJKvI/AAAAAAABVWA/FYLpPGKt2mEondHC1gHaD0szcs0cfFkwQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h480/FishermanMemorialGloucester.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FishermanMemorialGloucester.jpg#/media/File:FishermanMemorialGloucester.jpg" style="text-align: left;">Fisherman's Memorial, Gloucester, Massachusetts</a><span style="text-align: left;"> (</span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/" style="text-align: left;">CC BY-SA 2.5</a><span style="text-align: left;"> - Wikimedia Commons)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p>The sculpture features a lone fisherman at the wheel, looking out into the harbor (and is not to be confused with the Gorton’s fisherman, even though Gorton’s, creator of the fishstick, was founded in Gloucester). It is a monument to the more than 10,000 men who lost their lives to the trade in its first 300 years — including 249 men in 29 vessels in the year 1879 alone.</p><p>Fishing is a dangerous trade, as the fate of the Andrea Gail can attest, after sinking when unexpectedly finding itself at the intersection of three huge weather systems, as featured in Sebastian Junger’s <em><a href="https://amzn.to/3fV8mqw" target="_blank">The Perfect Storm</a></em>.</p><p>The potential reward of a massive catch was what the crew was willing to sacrifice as they raced against time and nature.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“He who commands the sea has command of everything.”</strong> — Francis Bacon, c. 1600</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>In business, we take on risks every day. In normal times, these risks include acquisitions, new hires, and gutsy campaigns.</p><p>Now we have leaders making decisions about whether to require employees to return to the office, get vaccinated, or wear masks.</p><p>Leaders acknowledge that there will always be some elements that are out of our <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/control">control</a></strong>. The best we can do is assemble our teams, prepare ourselves for any likely scenario, and keep our spirits up as we work together.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%share_url%%","text":"Share","class":null}"><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>A Word About This Week’s Image</strong></h2><p>In 1749, 14–year–old Brook Watson was attacked by a shark while swimming in Havana Harbor. John Singleton Copley’s pictorial account of the traumatic ordeal shows nine seamen rushing to help the boy, while the bloody water indicates that he lost his right foot.</p><p>The rescuers’ anxious expressions and actions reveal both concern for their thrashing companion and a growing awareness of their own peril. Time stands still as we, along with the sailors, are forced to ponder Watson’s fate.</p><p>Miraculously, Brook Watson esacaped almost certain death and went on to become a successful British merchant and politician.</p><p>Although Copley underscored the scene’s tension and immediacy, these poses actually were based on art historical precedents. The harpooner's pose, for example, recalls Raphael’s altarpiece of the Archangel Michael using a spear to drive Satan out of heaven.</p><p>The oil painting’s enormous acclaim ensured Copley’s appointment to the prestigious Royal Academy, and he earned a fortune selling engravings of its design.</p><p>Unfortunately, by the 1790s his powers had started to decline and in the new century his work was considered unfashionable. He died of a stroke, debt-ridden, in 1815. [<i>Source: <a href="Source: https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights/copley-watson-and-the-shark.html" target="_blank">National Gallery of Art</a></i>]</p><p>How quickly the tides and sands shift, moving us in ways that are beyond our control.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><hr><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="299" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p><p><br /></p>

Responding to Forces Beyond Our Control

Watson and the Shark  by John Singleton Copley, 1778 (public domain - National Gallery of Art)   “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go b...

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Memento Mori

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ro-GueYLeEc/YPloI87dgsI/AAAAAAABU1s/M9CIwDpWiOcuRDbHVN0-er-QDclYItl1gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Manuel%2BDom%25C3%25ADnguez%2BS%25C3%25A1nchez%2B-%2BThe%2BSuicide%2Bof%2BSeneca%2B%25281871%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="1920" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ro-GueYLeEc/YPloI87dgsI/AAAAAAABU1s/M9CIwDpWiOcuRDbHVN0-er-QDclYItl1gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h384/Manuel%2BDom%25C3%25ADnguez%2BS%25C3%25A1nchez%2B-%2BThe%2BSuicide%2Bof%2BSeneca%2B%25281871%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manuel_Dom%C3%ADnguez_S%C3%A1nchez_-_El_suicidio_de_S%C3%A9neca.jpg">The Death of Seneca</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Manuel Domínguez Sánchez, 1871 (public domain - Wikipedia) </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /><hr /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong><br />“Everlasting misfortune does have one blessing, that it ends up by toughening those whom it constantly afflicts.</strong><b>”</b> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Seneca, 42<br /><br /></em></div><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>I didn’t intend to write about suicide this week.</p><p>But that’s the thing about suicide: for those who must live in its aftermath, it is never an expected occurrence.</p><p>This week, we had to break the news to our 17 year-old son that <strong><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/vinnie-marroni-miracle-assist-foundation">a longtime friend of his died by suicide</a></strong> late last week. It was devastating for us, as we had known him since he was about 10.</p><p>In addition to our sorrow over the loss, we were heartbroken for our son, who had a tough time processing it as well. A parent’s instinct is always to protect their child, and in this instance, there was nothing we could do to protect him from the pain.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>I don’t know that I have any words of wisdom about suicide. This is something that humans have been grappling with for millennia, so all I can do is offer some observations that connect it to what I write about here: leadership and communication.</p><p>Parenting is leadership. Our children are like the next wave of managers that we train — the most important job of a leader is preparing the next generation of leaders — and every day, through our actions (taken or untaken) and words (spoken or unspoken), we demonstrate what we expect of them.</p><p>So when it comes to dealing with suicide, we help them grapple not only with the loss of a friend, but with the topic itself, in an effort to understand it.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Death is a part of life. Indeed, the leading cause of death is birth. The title of today’s newsletter, “<em><strong>Memento Mori</strong></em>,” (remember that you die) is the phrase chariot drivers whispered to commanders on parade in Ancient Rome. And it has become the unofficial motto of Stoic philosophy.</p><p><em>Memento mori</em> serves as a powerful reminder that our time here is limited, and that death is inevitable for every last one of us.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>The Facts of Death</strong></h2><p>With suicide rising as a cause of death—since 1999, suicide rates have <strong><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/30/u-s-suicide-rate-rose-again-2018-how-can-suicide-prevention-save-lives/4616479002/">risen by 35 percent</a></strong>—even before the pandemic, it is part of our collective experience.</p><p>Typical emotional markers for suicide include depression, lack of interest in activities once enjoyed, irritability, anger, anxiety, shame or humiliation, and mood swings. The natural assumption would be that COVID-19 led to an increase in suicide, but <strong><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8110323/">that wasn’t the case</a></strong>.  After a steady increase for 20 years, it would seem that suicide rates are already high.</p><p>I’ve lost many friends, family members, and associates (online and offline) to cancer, heart attacks, and accidents. A few of my online friends have died by suicide as well, driven by struggles of mental health.</p><p>We freely talk about the importance of cancer screenings and of healthy habits to impact our heart health, but we’re skittish about the topic of mental health. Mental health is stigmatized. But guess what?</p><p>Mental health <em>is</em> health.</p><p>It is the health of the most important organ in your body: your brain. And just like there are heart diseases caused by the body not producing the proper amount of certain enzymes, there are diseases associated with our brains caused by the body not producing the proper amount of certain chemicals or electrolytes.</p><p>And yet we treat people who seek mental health services as if they should be ashamed of it.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Shame on Who?</strong></h2><p>While it initially seemed odd to tackle the topic of suicide with you, I thought back to last week’s newsletter, in which I explored the concept of <strong><a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2021/07/have-you-no-shame.html">shame</a></strong> and its connection to duty, honor, and accountability.</p><p>And as I reflected on Sánchez’s painting above, I was reminded of the long tradition of <em><strong>honor suicide</strong></em>: when a person chooses suicide to escape the shame of an immoral or dishonorable action.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“I believe that no man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.” </strong></em></strong></em></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— David Hume, 1755</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>In such cases, the suicide itself wasn’t considered dishonorable; it was a natural way to leave the earth after experiencing something that would have been difficult to live with.</p><p>Seneca was a prime example of that. As Nero’s tutor, he tried to steer the youth clear of certain tendencies. Ultimately, he fell afoul of the emperor and had to take his own life. More on <strong>accountability </strong>and Seneca’s choice <strong><a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2021/01/leaders-need-to-be-accountable.html">here</a></strong>.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"><br /></pre></div><p>As Hume implied, we all have different ways of considering what our lives are worth. Whether it is an ancient philosopher, a World War II kamikaze pilot, or a troubled teen, each knows their value and breaking point.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Parental Advice</strong></h2><p>The most difficult part in absorbing this suicide close to our family is the feelings of hurt we have for our son, and knowing the right thing to say.</p><p>Above all, whether a parent or a leader, the most important communication skill you can bring to any relationship is <strong><a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/the-liberation-of-listening.html">listening</a></strong>.</p><p>We let our son know that we are always there for him, available to listen whenever he wants to talk to us. Or, if he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to us, we can find someone who will listen to him. Call this <em>memento audiere</em>.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The other is to encourage <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-transparency-of-innovation">transparency</a></strong>. We encouraged him to talk about his friend, memories of them together, and any feelings he has about the situation. The more we talk together, the more we can be aware of what our needs are. <em>Memento loqui</em>.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Ultimately, there is only so much within your power to <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/control">control</a></strong>. In expressing our sorrow and pity for his friend, we reminded our son that this was ultimately his friend’s choice. There are certain things that are beyond our control.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Like any struggle, I keep telling myself and my son that this is temporary. There will be times when it eases up, receding like the remnants of a wave, then moments again when it crashes to shore.</p><p>This is just part of the process.</p><p>Part of growing up.</p><p>Part of life.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure> </figure></div><div><hr /></div><p>In Friday’s newsletter, I’ll be writing about my first experience with suicide, how it shaped me, a teenager's canny lyrics about the topic, and I’ll share some links—both timeless and timely—about grappling with suicide. Be sure to sign up as a Premium subscriber so you can read it.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe now","class":null}">Meanwhile, I've opened this essay, “<strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/cycles">Cycles</a></strong>,” that was previously available only to Premium subscribers. Feel free to read and share it.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="9847" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

Memento Mori

The Death of Seneca  by Manuel Domínguez Sánchez, 1871 (public domain - Wikipedia)  “Everlasting misfortune does have one blessing, that it...

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Have You No Shame?

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VkQAYpWRn4I/YO-x_LboGQI/AAAAAAABUyM/BQeWGwQUrm4dPWMKrvm8N6G9IG6ft0FNwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/Thomas%2BRowlandson%2B-%2BThe%2BBurning%2BShame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1024" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VkQAYpWRn4I/YO-x_LboGQI/AAAAAAABUyM/BQeWGwQUrm4dPWMKrvm8N6G9IG6ft0FNwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h456/Thomas%2BRowlandson%2B-%2BThe%2BBurning%2BShame.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Burning_Shame_-_MET_DP88060.jpg">The Burning Shame</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Thomas Rowlandson, 1809 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons, </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en" style="text-align: left;">CC0 1.0</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: left;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“I am no longer good through deliberate intent, but by long habit have reached a point where I am not only able to do right, but am unable to do anything but what is right.”</strong></em></strong></em></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Seneca, 65</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />Every day, I’m amazed at how many people view the world in absolutes.</p><p>We have so much information at our fingertips, accessible through a few swipes or clicks on supercomputers we hold in our hands.</p><p>Gone are the days that required a trek to the local library, thumbing through the card catalog, where thousands of cards held the secrets of our collective knowledge, held in a warm embrace by shiny oak drawers and cold a metal spindle.</p><p>No longer do we need an understanding of the Dewey Decimal System.</p><p><br /></p><p>And yet, with the ability to connect to individuals and information anywhere across the globe in the blink of an eye, we seem more clueless than ever.</p><p>Social media, once the promised land of digital discourse and avowed “public square” of conversation, has devolved into shouting matches, untamed trolls who no longer live only beneath bridges, and personal attacks that range from merely cruel to outright dangerous and even illegal.</p><p>In the digital world, familiarity—passing or otherwise—does indeed breed contempt. This is unfortunate, as it ought to breed empathy, with our awareness that there are billions of individual stories and perspectives out there, each with its own set of struggles.</p><p>But it’s simply easier to sort and categorize in one of two buckets. Pro or con. Good or evil. My side or your side.</p><p>Somewhere out there, we need to be seeking common ground.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Moral Absolutes</strong></h2><p>This week, <strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/13/us/politics/biden-voting-philadelphia.html">President Biden tried to find common ground</a></strong> in a speech on voting rights that are supposed to be afforded to us all under the Constitution (and under subsequent legislation). In doing so, he appealed to the better angels of those who seek to restrict voting by asking,<br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><em><b><span style="font-size: large;">“Have you no shame?”</span></b></em></p><div class="preformatted-block"><div style="text-align: center;"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label></div><p> </p></div><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">That phrase stood out to me.</p><p>It is reminiscent of the phrase used by <strong>Joseph Welch</strong>, a Boston lawyer representing the Army at the McCarthy hearings in the Senate. On June 9, 1954 Welch stood up to the bullying senator live on national television, saying, “<strong><a href="https://www.happyscribe.com/public/it-was-said/ep-6-edward-r#paragraph_2263?utm_source=public_transcript&utm_medium=paragraph&utm_campaign=public_promo">At long last, have you no sense of decency?</a></strong>”</p><p>Whether asking about shame or decency, it is an arresting question. It pierces the veil of any argument and asks us to consider the dignity of our fellow citizens.</p><p>Here’s the thing about shame: it requires you to have a conscience—to feel as if you are breaking a code, whether it’s personal or collective.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--LftQIhG6Pk/YO-ymx-t6SI/AAAAAAABUyU/UgrTiod0HUEboNPtSiGpOsaSm-GGJ4qgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/SHame.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1200" height="224" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--LftQIhG6Pk/YO-ymx-t6SI/AAAAAAABUyU/UgrTiod0HUEboNPtSiGpOsaSm-GGJ4qgwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h224/SHame.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><em><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><br /></strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“It is not for outward show that the soul is to play its part, but for ourselves within, where no eyes can pierce but our own; there she defends us from the fear of death, of pain, of shame itself”</strong></em></div></em><p style="text-align: right;"><em> — Michel de Montaigne, 1580</em></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>A sense of shame is the mirror image of a sense of honor. If you fall short of your ideal (or the ideal of a community), you feel shame.</p><p>If you have a sense of virtue or integrity, that is.</p><p>When <strong>Horace </strong>wrote the third of his <em>Odes</em> in 23 BC, he made it clear that our better angels should triumph over our impulses:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Virtue, repudiating all base repulse, shines in taintless<br />honors, nor takes nor leaves dignity at the mere will of the<br />vulgar.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>In an ideal world, achieving that level of inner victory would be easy.</p><p>In reality, when it comes to our moral responsibility—to our family, our employees, or even our country—there will always be competing forces that require us to make choices.</p><p>Choosing to place a family member in childcare (or eldercare) versus keeping them at home is not an easy choice: it involves a financial commitment for the sake of a career or better medical attention than we can provide. Many people struggle with this decision.</p><p>Similarly, the decision to lay off a significant portion of employees in order to save an insolvent company is a gut-wrenching one for any CEO (one with a soul, at least). Do they put a percentage of people out of work, or do they prolong the dying breaths of the company until everyone is affected? Either way, there’s pain involved.</p><p>As difficult and nuanced as these decisions are, at their core they represent certain dichotomies:</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/honor-and-duty">Duty</a></strong> or desire.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/honor-given-honor-taken">Honor</a></strong> or shame.<br /><br />Virtue or vulgarity.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/leaders-need-to-be-accountable">Accountability</a></strong> or <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-blame-game">blame</a></strong>.</span></p></h3><div class="preformatted-block" style="text-align: left;"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p style="text-align: left;">After the appropriate amount of soul-searching, you’ll need to choose.</p><p>And then you should be ready to answer whether or not you have shame.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><em><strong>See you again on Friday </strong></em><span style="background-color: transparent;">— </span><em><strong>but only if you're a Premium subscriber</strong></em>.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. <br /></p><div style="text-align: center;">Join the club by signing up below:</div><p></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="4772" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

Have You No Shame?

  The Burning Shame  by Thomas Rowlandson, 1809 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons,  CC0 1.0 ) “I am no longer good through deliberate inten...

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It's About Time

<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIOWcm4y-10/YOcbgM0ehtI/AAAAAAABUns/4GQVaQfY30gnxUbUfQYuaBsoDhlpjBVrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Anton%2BRaphael%2BMengs%2B-%2BThe%2BTriumph%2Bof%2BHistory%2Bover%2BTime%2B%2528Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1725" data-original-width="2048" height="540" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DIOWcm4y-10/YOcbgM0ehtI/AAAAAAABUns/4GQVaQfY30gnxUbUfQYuaBsoDhlpjBVrgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h540/Anton%2BRaphael%2BMengs%2B-%2BThe%2BTriumph%2Bof%2BHistory%2Bover%2BTime%2B%2528Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">Detail from </span><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anton_Raphael_Mengs,_The_Triumph_of_History_over_Time_(Allegory_of_the_Museum_Clementinum),_ceiling_fresco_in_the_Camera_dei_Papiri,_Vatican_Library,_1772_-_M0tty.jpg">The Triumph of History Over Time</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum, ceiling fresco) by Anton Raphael Mengs (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“No preacher is listened to but time, which gives us the same train and turn of thought that elder people have in vain tried to put into our heads before.”</strong></em> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Jonathan Swift, 1706</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Time is a strange thing. Our perception of time is warped (see what I did there?) but we mark it in absolutes.</p><p>We can lose track of time when we’re enjoying ourselves, or feel like time is standing still when we’re loathing our surroundings.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“Time, when it is left to itself and no definite demands are made on it, cannot be trusted to move at any recognized pace. Usually it loiters, but just when one has come to count upon its slowness, it may suddenly break into a wild irrational gallop.”</strong></em> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Edith Wharton, 1905</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>For anyone with children, the phrase “The days are long but the years are short” hits home, as the daily toil of parenting can seem like a slog, but one day you realize your kids are grown up.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“One day you turn around and it’s summer,</strong></em></div><em><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Next day you turn around and it’s fall.</strong></em></div><strong><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>And all the winters and the springs of a lifetime—</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Whatever happened to them all?”</strong></em> </div></strong></em><p></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Frank Sinatra, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD87obuUgUk&ab_channel=FrankSinatra-Topic">The September of My Years</a>, 1965</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>As a father of a nearly-18 year-old, I feel this deeply. Now, I know you’re probably wondering how a youthful 39 year-old can have a grown son…</p><p>The classic “39 year-old” is a running gag that was first popularized by the legendary vaudeville/radio/television star Jack Benny, whose character was sensitive about his age. Thus, he bent time to his will and remained forever 39.</p><p>It’s an example of how we can use the double-edged sword of time to our advantage as leaders.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>A Quick Look Back</strong></h2><p>Yesterday marked the 6-month anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, and so my thoughts turned to that historic building.</p><p>If you visit the United States Capitol, there in the National Statuary Hall—which used to be where the House of Representatives met—over the doorway you’ll find a sculpture by Carlo Franzioni. It depicts Clio, the muse of history, riding a winged chariot called <em>The Car of History</em>.</p><p>She’s recording history in her book, as a reminder to all in that room that they were part of history and their actions and words mattered.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4iui0R_2tk0/YOcZW7UqQuI/AAAAAAABUnk/I1TQUBCTpAc9GAd_CkengUgSd7-1b_RrACLcBGAsYHQ/s600/Car%2Bof%2BHistory.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="394" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4iui0R_2tk0/YOcZW7UqQuI/AAAAAAABUnk/I1TQUBCTpAc9GAd_CkengUgSd7-1b_RrACLcBGAsYHQ/w263-h400/Car%2Bof%2BHistory.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">Source: </span><a href="https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/car-history-clock" style="text-align: left;">Architect of the Capitol</a></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p></p><p>But how often do you pause to look at works of art like this, or consider events of the past, or read of the lives and challenges of great men and women?</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.”</strong></em> </p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Socrates</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>We seem to be too busy focusing on what's right in front of us, being distracted by notifications and more content online than we can read in 100 lifetimes. And yet, there's this wealth of wisdom just sitting there on shelves, waiting for us to uncover it.</p><p>But look at that clock again. It is a symbol—a symbol of the past, present, and future. With its two hands, it not only tells us the current time; it tells us what time it <em>was</em> and what time it <em>will become</em>.</p><p>If we spend time understanding what has happened in history—family history, corporate history, or human history—we can determine where we need to go.</p><p>The problem with life as we know it today is that we forget the reflective function of the old-fashioned clock, and therefore of time. We live our lives digitally, in the moment.</p><p>A digital watch, historian David McCullough mused, “is the perfect symbol of an imbalance in outlook in our day. It tells us only the time it is now, at this instant, as if that were all anyone would wish or need to know.” <a class="footnote-anchor" href="#footnote-1" id="footnote-anchor-1">1</a></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>The Time-Space Conundrum</strong></h2><p>In 1953 in <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3wroWUe">Understanding Media</a></strong></em>, Marshall McLuhan predicted the difficulty that access to instant information would lead to when he wrote,</p><blockquote><p>“<em><strong>the instantaneity of communication makes free speech and thought difficult if not impossible</strong></em>.”</p></blockquote><p>Ironically, our near-synchronous connection with each other across the globe does not translate to a common experience. While we may be connected by time, we’re not connected by space. Our disparate geographies and cultures are necessary contexts to what we read, do, and think.</p><p>And thus comes the conundrum of the debate around returning to the office with the pandemic easing.</p><p>On one hand, employees that are remote are missing out on the interaction happening between peers and colleagues in the office, and thus may be robbed of context and excluded from decisions, meetings, etc.</p><p>Alternatively, remote employees have a different relationship with time: they don’t have to spend it in a commute or shuttling from conference room to conference room. They can be more efficient by selecting the time when the do certain work.</p><p>But <a href="https://www.inc.com/gabrielle-bienasz/productivity-remote-work-employer-survey.html">45 percent of employers said productivity was down</a> with remote work, and 39 percent would fire employees who refused to return to work.</p><p>I suppose that means there ought to be a conversation about valuing time: employees valuing their employers’ time and employers valuing their employees’ time. A better balance should be possible without resorting to absolutes.</p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;</strong></em></div><em><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>For now hath time made me his numbering clock:</strong></em></div><strong><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans</strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Show minutes, times, and hours.”</strong></em> </div></strong></em><p></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— William Shakespeare, 1595</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Ultimately, our relationship with time comes back to our perception of it.</p><p>As a leader, you ought to be doing all you can to share your perception with others and to use your empathy to understand their perceptions as well.</p><p>Only then will we be able to more fully appreciate the time we have with each other.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe now","class":null}"><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><em><strong>I'll be back on Friday </strong></em>with a subscribers-only edition that continues our exploration of time.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. And they get an audio version of this essay. Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1180" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

It's About Time

Detail from  The Triumph of History Over Time  (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum, ceiling fresco) by Anton Raphael Mengs (public domain - ...

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The War of the Office Worlds

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KpA8NX8sGk/YN9rlHGvBgI/AAAAAAABUg0/EIpJ9xbbL9Yf10jtZaKRscXT0MYqLx-4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Lourens%2BAlma%2BTadema%2B-%2BThe%2BDeath%2Bof%2BPharaohs%2BFirstborn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1259" data-original-width="2048" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2KpA8NX8sGk/YN9rlHGvBgI/AAAAAAABUg0/EIpJ9xbbL9Yf10jtZaKRscXT0MYqLx-4gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h394/Lourens%2BAlma%2BTadema%2B-%2BThe%2BDeath%2Bof%2BPharaohs%2BFirstborn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/SK-A-2664">The Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Lourens Alma Tadema, 1872 (public domain - Rijksmuseum)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>“But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be inhabited?”</b></i></div><i><br /></i><div style="text-align: right;"><i>— H.G. Wells, 1898</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div><hr /></div><p><br />The year-plus of the pandemic has given many people a chance to rethink their priorities.</p><p>Time at home, devoid of the daily commute and harried business travel, has offered us a chance to reassess where and how we spend our precious time.</p><p>And with the waning of the worst of the pandemic, leaders are faced with the formidable task of determining where and how employees will do their work.</p><p>The valuable lessons we’ve learned over the last 15 months are being tossed aside in the Great Return to Normalcy—masks off, large gatherings as if nothing ever happened—all while significant percentages of the population remain unvaccinated.</p><p>And we’re already seeing a push to return to the office full-time.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>“Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity, that no writer…expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level.”</b></i></div><div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>— H.G. Wells, 1898</i></div><br /><div><div><hr /></div><p><br />Of course we want to move past our dystopian experience of the last year. But there are lessons we ought to bring with us, rather than to instinctively try to return to “normal.”</p><p>So I reached for H.G. Wells’ classic dystopian novel <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/2Tg1dZU">The War of the Worlds</a></strong></em>, published in 1898, and found some fascinating parallels in which we might find wisdom.</p><p>While it can be classified as science fiction, the story was close enough to reality to dupe a wide audience when dramatized for radio by Orson Welles in 1939. The plot is straightforward:</p><p>Martians land on Earth and begin capturing and killing humans, destroying entire cities in the process. Humanity is defenseless against them, its artillery repelled and technological ingenuity bested by the Martians’ superior technology.</p><p>People flee, find refuge in remote locations, and amid hopelessness, suddenly find that the Martians are mysteriously dying. The cause? The simple common cold virus.</p><p>A virus stopped the nightmarish invasion.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>The War of the 2021 World</h2><blockquote><p><em><strong>“…slain, after all man’s devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><p>In 2020, the increasingly frenzied pace of work—of commutes, meetings (endless meetings!), and an always-on culture—ground to a halt as much of the world sheltered in place.</p><p>We were slowed not by productivity apps, scheduling systems, or corporate-mandated mindfulness workshops, but by a virus.</p><p>Interestingly, the sudden halting of life as we knew it is much closer to what the Martians faced: they were felled by tiny organisms they didn’t account for.</p><p>For all of our technological advances, we were slowed by nature.</p><p>During that time, it gave people an opportunity to spend more time with loved ones. To reflect more. To focus on things that mattered to them. A return to nature, of sorts.</p><p>It was a great gift.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>“At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all.”</b></i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>— H.G. Wells, 1898</i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><hr /></div><p><br />One would think that such a gift would be received and cherished, particularly by leaders whose employees stuck with them (and vice versa) through such a life-changing event.</p><p>It was an opportunity to test the old myth that workers couldn’t be productive from home, a long-held view by old-school managers who equated visibility with productivity. The myth was destroyed, with <strong><a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f5654b537cea057c500f59e/t/60143f05a2117e3eec3c3243/1611939604505/Wal+Bulletin+1.pdf">productivity remaining stable or even increasing</a></strong> during the pandemic.</p><p>And yet, we now see employers calling employees back to the office, eager to return to “normal.” But <strong><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-01/return-to-office-employees-are-quitting-instead-of-giving-up-work-from-home">not all employees are having it</a></strong>.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The challenge with a one-size-fits-all approach to work is that it doesn’t acknowledge the new reality we just emerged from: that some people fare better in remote locations. They can still connect with fellow teammates. Their stress level is lower without a commute.</p><p>Have we not learned our lesson?</p><p>Even with the harshness of a pandemic, we still see instances of companies ignoring what happened and simply pressing for life as they knew it.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera</h2><p>If you recall the story from Exodus in the Old Testament of the Bible, Moses was trying to free the Israelites from the clutches of the Pharaoh. God sent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagues_of_Egypt">ten plagues</a> to haunt the Egyptians, and it wasn’t until the final one—death of the firstborn of every household—that Pharaoh freed the Israelites.</p><p>But he didn’t learn his lesson; he didn’t relent. Undeterred, Pharaoh and the Egyptian army chased the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea. With God’s help, Moses parted the water and the refugees made it across.</p><p>But the Egyptians, hellbent on reclaiming the reality they knew, followed them onto the seabed. The waters flowed back into the sea, and Pharaoh and his recovery team were drowned.</p><p>The lesson is to adapt to what we learn from our surroundings and experiences.</p><p>For as leaders, we don’t want to end up like the Martians or Pharaoh’s army.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><hr style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><p><em><strong>Don’t miss the follow-up piece, “<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/our-intentionality-laid-bare">Intentionality Laid Bare</a>”</strong></em>, opened up for public access for a limited time. This subscribers-only edition continues the exploration of our post-pandemic readiness for the office.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. And they get an audio version of this essay. Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="18251" frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p></div></div></div>

The War of the Office Worlds

The Death of the Pharaoh's Firstborn  by Lourens Alma Tadema, 1872 (public domain - Rijksmuseum) “But who shall dwell in these worlds if...

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Innovation in Storytelling

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OascBdxFRC8/YN9oefXndGI/AAAAAAABUgs/YdqmwXkul68VoG4h9r4fNUNEgjyfVzAEQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Jules%2BVerne%2B-%2BVol%2B4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1600" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OascBdxFRC8/YN9oefXndGI/AAAAAAABUgs/YdqmwXkul68VoG4h9r4fNUNEgjyfVzAEQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h394/Jules%2BVerne%2B-%2BVol%2B4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://flic.kr/p/7BBA6r">Illustration from Volume 4 of the Works of Jules Verne, published in 1911</a></em><span style="text-align: left;">. (Flickr - George Oates)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“I care not how humble your bookshelf may be, or how lonely the room which it adorns. Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Arthur Conan Doyle, 1907</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />One of the great joys of life is immersing ourselves in stories that transport us. Whether a short story, a novel, or a movie, there are talented individuals who can bring worlds to life that are strange and different, or eerily familiar.</p><p>To me, those familiar ones are the most creative. Shows or stories that seem plausible, but stretch our imagination just a little further.</p><p>I’m talking about science fiction.</p><p>While stories have always been with us, at some point, someone had to innovate and determine that they wanted to incorporate science into adventure stories.</p><p>These go beyond the classic mythology of ancient cultures — stories that fused man, nature, and religion that in many instances provided fanciful explanations for natural phenomena. Science fiction done well is so plausible as to cause us to suspend our disbelief.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Forced innovation</strong></h3><p>When he was a teenager, Jules Verne’s father sent him to law school. An attorney himself, the elder Verne thought that a respectable and profitable career lay ahead for his son.</p><p>But the young man, while he was a decent enough student, found his joy in literature. He was a devotee of Victor Hugo’s work, reading the corpus multiple times. And he was beginning to explore his own writing skills through an association with Alexander Dumas’ son, writing some short stories for publication, and an appointment as secretary of the Théâtre Historique, where he wrote some comic operas with his friend and flatmate, a young composer named Aristide Hignard.</p><p>He knew that a career in literature was his future, and the additional pressure he received from his father—including an offer to set him up in a lucrative law practice—was enough to cause him to make his move.</p><p>These influences caused Verne to spend time at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, conducting research for his stories and inspiring a passion for science, recent discoveries, and especially geography.</p><p>During that time, Verne met Jacques Arago, a renowned explorer and geographer, who continued to travel extensively despite going blind in 1837, nearly 20 years previously. They struck up a friendship, and Verne was inspired by  Arago’s innovative and witty accounts of his travels. This led Verne to develop a new genre of literature: travel writing.</p><p>But not any just kind of travel writing. While Verne’s tales took us all over the globe, they were adventure stories that incorporated fantastic use of technology—technology that didn’t yet exist.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Technologies predicted by Verne</strong></h3><p>His novel <em>20,000 Leagues Under the Sea</em> introduced us to electric submarines, as Captain Nemo’s <em>Nautilus</em> traversed the oceans.</p><p>In <em>Robur the Conqueror</em>, we find a character who builds a contraption out of pressboard with high-speed rotors that propel him into the sky: a helicopter.</p><p>In <em>The Carpathian Castle</em>, Verne tells a story in which villagers live in fear of a mysterious castle that produces odd voices and projected images. The people later discover that the images were a hologram, paired with recorded sounds.</p><p>There are many other examples of Verne’s inventiveness. This creativity sprung not only from his mind, but from the careful research Verne did at the library. He was careful to combine the known with what he saw as trends, piecing them together in a way that made them seem strange, yet familiar at the same time.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>This is exactly how innovation works.</p><p>We get inspired by people, books, shows, events, and everything around us, we juxtapose it with what we know, and, with the help of others around us, we develop the idea to something we can bring to market.</p><p>All it takes is a little imagination and perspiration.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>Are you ready to improve your speaking skills?</strong></h2><p>The last year has thrown the speaking industry for a loop. The best speakers were able to pivot and adapt to the new virtual settings, but there’s still so much to learn.</p><p>Together with Peter Shankman, I’ve created a course to help you <b><a href="https://shankman.mykajabi.com/speaking-and-storytelling-with-scott-monty-and-peter-shankman" target="_blank">become a better speaker</a></b>. Whether it’s breaking into the industry, mastering the administrative side (including contracts and pricing), or becoming a better storyteller, we’ve got you covered.</p><p>Learn more about the course, which includes a lifetime subscription to a growing online community of speakers and experts, and <b><a href="https://shankman.mykajabi.com/speaking-and-storytelling-with-scott-monty-and-peter-shankman" target="_blank">register here</a></b>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-71-563" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f0e6f32-773d-470a-b2ef-69f71efeb388_563x71.png" style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: min(12.611%, 71px); width: 100%;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6f0e6f32-773d-470a-b2ef-69f71efeb388_563x71.png","height":71,"width":563,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":5308,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6f0e6f32-773d-470a-b2ef-69f71efeb388_563x71.png" style="max-height: 71px; max-width: 563px;" /></a></figure></div>

Innovation in Storytelling

  Illustration from Volume 4 of the Works of Jules Verne, published in 1911 . (Flickr - George Oates) “I care not how humble your bookshelf ...

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Character Defines Success Amid Uncertainty

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0HUG9_iOuzo/YMtAXD5X_5I/AAAAAAABUTE/_XyMHyQI9w0axOn7QMyJRxgvRRPda2f6QCLcBGAsYHQ/s734/John%2BStrudwick%2B-%2BA%2BGolden%2BThread%252C%2B1885.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="734" height="372" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0HUG9_iOuzo/YMtAXD5X_5I/AAAAAAABUTE/_XyMHyQI9w0axOn7QMyJRxgvRRPda2f6QCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h372/John%2BStrudwick%2B-%2BA%2BGolden%2BThread%252C%2B1885.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moirai#/media/File:Strudwick-_A_Golden_Thread.JPG">A Golden Thread</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by John Strudwick, 1885 (public domain - Wikipedia)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— <a href="https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760218ja" target="_blank">John Adams, 1776</a></em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />Do you know what’s going to happen tomorrow?</p><p>Well, you may have an idea of a general set of events or expected occurrences. The news media keeps us on alert so we can tune in, and our calendars attune us to where and when we need to make an appearance.</p><p>But beyond that, we can’t say with certainty that we know <em>how</em> things are going to work out.</p><p>The future is uncertain.</p><p>The past four years—and without doubt, the last year alone—have been fraught with the ups and downs of a reality TV show (admittedly, it has seemed like we were caught in the midst of one) as we’ve lived on edge.</p><p>But isn’t that the story of all history?</p><p>We don’t know how things are going to turn out for us, and neither did our ancestors.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>When <strong>Dwight Eisenhower</strong> oversaw the planning for Operation Overlord in 1944, he had no way of knowing whether D-Day would be a success. In fact, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/d-day-message" target="_blank">he drafted a short note</a> in the event of a defeat:</p><blockquote><p>"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."</p></blockquote><p>As the first three humans were set to land on the moon and safely return in 1969, we had no way of knowing whether NASA would be able to pull it off. Speechwriter <strong>William Safire</strong> prepared a speech for <strong>Richard Nixon</strong> titled "<a href="https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events/centennials/nixon/images/exhibit/rn100-6-1-2.pdf" target="_blank">IN THE EVENT OF MOON DISASTER</a>."</p><p>When we were making digital and social media progress at Ford, we didn’t have a road map; we paved the road behind us.</p><p>The point is, it is only upon looking back that we have certainty; looking forward, nothing is guaranteed.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“History, I like to think, is a larger way of looking at life.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— David McCullough, 2017</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />I write a lot about history here. And it’s more than a hobby or side interest to me. History is the study of human nature, of character.</p><p>And character is what shapes our future.</p><p>The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “character is destiny.”  It was his supposition that fate is not some predetermined outside force (as much as Greek mythology credited <strong><a href="https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/the-moirai.html">the Moirae</a></strong>), but that our future is determined by our inner character.</p><p>Character defines who we are, and part of knowing who we are is knowing where we came from.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Our family gives us a strong sense of values; our education provides us with facts and (with any luck) the ability to think critically; the corporate history of our company tells a story of how and why the company came to be.</p><p>Those looking to make change—particularly in uncertain times—will often encounter someone of long tenure at a company dissuade them from disrupting things with one simple and dismissive phrase:</p><p><em><strong>“We’ve always done it that way.”</strong></em></p><p>“We’ve always done it that way” is the shield behind which the fearful cower. It’s an excuse for avoiding a difficult decision. It is the plea of someone who needs a roadmap in unfamiliar terrain.<br /><br /></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>If you’ve always done it that way, then you’ll continue to get the same results. </i>[<a href="https://ctt.ac/d6v5B" target="_blank">Tweet this!</a>]</span></strong></p><p><br />And if you’re satisfied with the same results, want to avoid conflict, and wait for the world to change <em>you</em> rather than you changing the world, then by all means, keep doing things the same way.</p><p><strong>Margaret McFarland</strong>, a child psychologist who mentored <strong>Fred Rogers</strong>, said “<em>attitudes aren’t taught, they’re caught</em>.”</p><p>Risk-taking, fearless leadership, transformational change—all of these things are part of a company’s (or family’s) culture—and we need to <em>live</em> these values as well as talk about them.</p><p>Even though we may be predisposed to shrink from a crisis or to avoid a seemingly insurmountable task—uncertain as they are—it is the very act of meeting them head-on that calls out our character, and therefore our destinies.</p><p>When <strong>John</strong> and <strong>Abigail Adams</strong> sent their son, <strong>John Quincy Adams</strong>, across the Atlantic to study in France, he was just 12 years old. The year was 1779 and America was at war. Transatlantic travel in a leaky boat was anything but a sure thing.</p><p>But the Adamses wanted their son to have an opportunity to associate with Benjamin Franklin and political philosophers in France and to gain from experience, as uncertain as it was.</p><p>In <a href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0207" target="_blank">one of her letters</a> to her son, Abigail Adams reminded him that unfamiliar and uncomfortable scenarios help us become who we are meant to be:</p><blockquote><p><strong><i>“The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties... Great necessities call out great virtues.” </i>[<a href="https://ctt.ac/2U97Z" target="_blank">TWEET THIS</a>]</strong></p></blockquote><p>When faced with uncertainty, the character you display, either overtly or blatantly, tells others everything they need to know about you.</p><p>Deep down, you already know it to be true.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>Coming Up</strong></h2><p>Joining us this week on <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/s/timeless-leadership">Timeless Leadership</a></strong></em> is <strong>Carey Lohrenz</strong>, the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot and author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/3zoO6pg">Span of Control: What To Do When You're Under Pressure, Overwhelmed, And Ready To Get What You Really Want</a></em>.</p><p>We’ll be talking about <strong>Control</strong> — how leaders respond amid uncertainty, how to remain flexible and comfortable, and control as much as we can in an uncertain world.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v8byy4eFvEc/YMs_3cC-VCI/AAAAAAABUS8/xtNIx2_p2qQ95ejO35UZvl7ZcrSqhrLJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1665/Control%2B-%2BHeader.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1665" height="236" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v8byy4eFvEc/YMs_3cC-VCI/AAAAAAABUS8/xtNIx2_p2qQ95ejO35UZvl7ZcrSqhrLJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h236/Control%2B-%2BHeader.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://lu.ma/3ecq7x9r" target="_blank">Set a reminder</a> to join us live at 12:00 pm EDT on <strong><a href="https://lu.ma/3ecq7x9r">Fireside Chat</a></strong> and be sure to follow the show on <strong><a href="http://bit.ly/timelesspod">Apple Podcasts</a></strong> or <strong><a href="https://pod.link/timeless">wherever you get your podcasts</a></strong>.</p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><hr style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. 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Character Defines Success Amid Uncertainty

  A Golden Thread  by John Strudwick, 1885 (public domain - Wikipedia) “We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it.”   — John Adams, 17...

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