Scott Monty | Timeless and Timely

The Basis of the Best Relationships

<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/-5Ohr-PKqOR8/YXcKgHmxa5I/AAAAAAABXLw/fMQtR4mBjskKO3kWIJuQt2qnTF77hMsBgCLcBGAsYHQ/s827/Frank%2BGraham%2B-%2BBest%2BFriends.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="827" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5Ohr-PKqOR8/YXcKgHmxa5I/AAAAAAABXLw/fMQtR4mBjskKO3kWIJuQt2qnTF77hMsBgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/Frank%2BGraham%2B-%2BBest%2BFriends.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Best_Friends_36x44_ac_Frank_Graham_1995.jpg" target="_blank">Best Friends</a></i> by Frank Graham, 1995 (<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en" target="_blank">CC BY-SA 4.0</a> — Wikipedia)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><pre class="text"></pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“A broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound.”</strong> — Thomas Fuller, 1732</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong>Timeless & Timely</strong> has <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/s/audio">audio versions</a> of the posts for <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Premium subscribers</a>. We’ve opened this one to the public so you can decide if you’d prefer listening rather than (or in addition to) reading: </em><a class="button primary" href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/best-relationships-audio">The Basis of the Best Relationships</a></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Who’s your go-to friend for any occasion?</p><p>That friend who makes you smile, gives you sound advice, and who would drop everything in an instant if you found yourself in a crisis.</p><p>Once you have that person pictured in your mind, I’d like you to answer this: what is it about them that makes you feel that way?</p><p>You’ve probably known them for a while; maybe your whole life. They’ve shown up for you before: they came through when you’ve needed them and gave something when you were lacking.</p><p>Ultimately, you trust this person.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>A Friend in Need</strong></h2><p>The proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed” is one that rolls off the tongue, but have you stopped to consider what it means?</p><p>If looked at cynically, it could mean that someone who needs help is suddenly in need of a friend to help them out.</p><p>But I like looking at it from the other direction: meaning that a person who helps you in your hour of need is reliable and therefore worthy of your friendship.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“By mutual confidence and mutual aid<br />Great deeds are done, and great discoveries made.” </strong>— Homer, 8th century BC</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br />That reliability of your friend, the confidence you place in him — those attributes don’t appear suddenly. They’re the result of consistent and repeated actions over time, like callouses grown from a consistent tug of war, an endless back-and-forth of give and take as one kindness is repaid by another.</p><p>Ralph Waldo Emerson tells us “the only way to have a friend is to be one,” and we know the friends who put in the same level of work and commitment that we put into our friendships. If the teams are imbalanced in that tug of war, one side loses balance and falls back on itself.</p><p>In his <em>Nichomachean Ethics</em>, Aristotle wrote of the virtue that friendship is, and how some friendships were born of utility or of pleasure; they last when each of the friends is equally useful or pleasurable to the other.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us but for ours to amuse them.”</strong> — Evelyn Waugh, 1963</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br />But for Aristotle, the key to true friendship was to move beyond necessities and instead to focus on virtue itself:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Friendship being divided into these kinds, bad men will be friends for the sake of pleasure or of utility, being in this respect like each other, but good men will be friends for their own sake, i.e., in virtue of their goodness. These then are friends without qualification; the others are friends incidentally and through a resemblance to these.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><p>But knowing that you’re paired with another good person takes time—that give-and-take of friendship that Emerson echoed two millennia later. Aristotle reminds us:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Nor can they admit each other to friendship or be friends until each has been found lovable and been trusted by each. Those who quickly show the marks of friendship to each other wish to be friends. But they are not friends unless both are lovable and know the fact, for a wish for friendship may arise quickly, but friendship does not.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Ah, there it is. The magic word that undergirds all relationships.</p><p>Trust.</p><p>Trust is the basis of all thriving relationships; lack of it is the decay that rots them away.</p><p>Without trust, you have nothing.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><br /></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p>The latest episode of <em><strong>Timeless Leadership</strong></em> is up; we were joined by Margot Bloomstein, author of <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/2Za1SPa">Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap</a></strong></em>.</p><p>More here:</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="170px" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/trust-OFPWbtM1YKk/embed/" style="min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" width="100%"></iframe><br /></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;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><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;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></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><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1192" 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></div>

The Basis of the Best Relationships

Best Friends by Frank Graham, 1995 ( CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikipedia) “A broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound.” — Thomas ...

Leadership and the Dog in the Night-Time

<em><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/-7DBa5RLLVEA/YXcIhpfa7eI/AAAAAAABXLo/Bic_l702Us0T0llabh7eQ49NyEmIPr_9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/Paget%2B-%2BFull%2Bportrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1537" data-original-width="2000" height="492" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7DBa5RLLVEA/YXcIhpfa7eI/AAAAAAABXLo/Bic_l702Us0T0llabh7eQ49NyEmIPr_9gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h492/Paget%2B-%2BFull%2Bportrait.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;">Portrait of Sherlock Holmes</em><span style="text-align: left;"> (discarded) by Sidney Paget, n.d. (public domain)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></em><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.” </strong>— Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong>Timeless & Timely</strong> has audio versions of the posts for you to enjoy. They are available to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Premium subscribers</a>. This one is available here: </em><a class="button primary" href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/leadership-dog-night-audio">Leadership & the Dog in the Nighttime</a></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Children’s imaginations are the playground for creative types.</p><p>Think about it: if we can imagine something, we can commit it to paper. And children are wonderful vessels for imagination.</p><p>They’re also refreshingly frank in their statements, and without the first smidgeon of shame, diplomacy, or regret, they’ll blurt out exactly what they think.</p><p>Obviously, we can’t regress to child-like behavior, but perhaps we can channel some of our inner child to capture the wonder that was so plentiful in our childhood years.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>I grew up in a time when comic books were a normal and regular reading option. We didn’t have to go to a specialty comics store; we saw them displayed at newsstands and on carousel-style racks at the supermarket, readily available as an impulse purchase.</p><p>And inside the back cover of those comics were a series of classified ads—basically a display page of items you’d find at a joke shop or the Chuck E. Cheese rewards counter: Sea Monkeys, a Charles Atlas exercise brochure, or the inevitable X-ray specs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaEtqws27To/YXcG6__uYjI/AAAAAAABXLg/kIbHpWj0j1EdFNFPWFYoA9ovdJoPBuWLACLcBGAsYHQ/s522/X-Ray%2BGlasses.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="522" height="486" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uaEtqws27To/YXcG6__uYjI/AAAAAAABXLg/kIbHpWj0j1EdFNFPWFYoA9ovdJoPBuWLACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h486/X-Ray%2BGlasses.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>After reading a comic book about Superman and his amazing power of X-ray vision, I’d be captivated by the idea of seeing through solid objects. Now, I was never courageous enough to spend my hard-earned allowance on superpowers that were promised without any kind of serious technology (I <em>was</em> practical, after all), and besides, I wondered, what did the “De Luxe Model” offer for twice the price? Would I only be able to see halfway through things with the standard Slimline version?</p><p>But the idea of seeing things that other people couldn’t see appealed to me. It still does.</p><p>When you think about it, that’s what leaders do: they take note of things that mere mortals aren’t aware of—or at least aren’t willing to spend time on.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Eliminating the Impossible</strong></h2><p>Consider Sherlock Holmes.</p><p>In the very first Sherlock Holmes short story, the detective asked Dr. Watson how many steps led up to their sitting room. Watson, who had trodden up and down them some hundreds of times, said he had no idea.</p><p>Holmes scolded him, saying, “You see but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.”</p><p>The answer, by the way, is <strong>seventeen</strong>.</p><p>How many times are we presented with analytics or data, but we don’t appreciate what they’re telling us? We miss the true impact because we’re not focused on the right thing—or perhaps because we’re distracted by something else.</p><p>Sherlock Holmes gets credit for being a master of deduction, but in order to excel at drawing conclusions, he needed to be a master of preparation and of observation. He paid attention to things, however small, that other people did not. That made him a valuable consultant to his clients.</p><p>And so it is that we need to prepare our eyes, ears, and minds to understand how our business and our teams are doing. And in that preparation, we’re acting with <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/intentionality?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web" target="_blank">intention</a></strong>.</p><div class="embedded-post-wrap" data-attrs="{"id":42035794,"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/intentionality","publication_id":28922,"publication_name":"Timeless & Timely","publication_logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","title":"Intentionality","truncated_body_text":"This week on Timeless Leadership, the topic is Intentionality. We go through our days, flitting from one meeting to the next, firing off emails, and swatting down Slack messages. But as we do so, are we spending much time really thinking about things?","date":"2021-10-01T03:13:31.928Z","like_count":5,"comment_count":2,"bylines":[{"id":429,"name":"Scott Monty","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9ea180a7-4ad6-4937-b37a-52810591c920_2717x2531.jpeg","bio":"Strategic communications and leadership advisor inspiring people to be better communicators, leaders, and humans. First executive at Ford to lead digital communications. Soothing voice available for hire.","profile_set_up_at":"2021-04-25T06:21:53.329Z","publicationUsers":[{"id":1595,"user_id":429,"role":"admin","public":true,"is_primary":false,"publication":{"id":28922,"name":"Timeless & Timely","subdomain":"scottmonty","custom_domain":"www.timelesstimely.com","custom_domain_optional":false,"hero_text":"This is a time machine. Time is money, and money is the store of other people’s time and effort.","logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","author_id":429,"theme_var_background_pop":"#2879af","created_at":"2020-02-02T20:45:53.185Z","rss_website_url":null,"email_from_name":"Scott Monty","copyright":"Scott Monty Strategies","founding_plan_name":"Timeless Supporter","community_enabled":true,"invite_only":false}}],"twitter_screen_name":"ScottMonty","is_guest":false}]}"><div class="embedded-post-meta"><br /></div></div><p>In “<strong>The Adventure of Silver Blaze</strong>,” Sherlock Holmes finds a wax vesta half burned and half-buried in the ground, so covered with mud that it looked at first like a little chip of wood.</p><blockquote><p>   <em><strong>“I cannot think how I came to overlook it,” said the Inspector, with an expression of annoyance.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>   “It was invisible, buried in the mud. I only saw it because I was looking for it.”</strong></em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>You’ve heard the phrase “a canary in a coal mine.” This is a metaphor for advanced warning of some danger. It originated from the times when miners used to carry caged canaries while at work. If there was any methane or carbon monoxide in the mine, the canary, being smaller and more sensitive to minor changes in the atmosphere, would die before the levels of the gas reached those hazardous to humans.</p><p>Leading indicators can help determine a broader impact. Your industry probably has leading indicators as well, from which you can infer other impacts.</p><p>For example, when I worked at Ford, we knew that sales of Ford’s F-Series trucks were tied to the performance of the U.S. economy overall. The thinking is that since many small business owners and contractors buy the F-Series (the best-selling vehicle in the United States), they’re tied to home construction, which in turn is a factor in the economy.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>The Curious Incident</strong></h2><p>While you’re busy drawing conclusions from the observable data, at the same time, what you’re <em><strong>not</strong></em> measuring can be more important than what you <em><strong>are</strong></em> measuring.</p><p>Back at work in “Silver Blaze,” Sherlock Holmes gave the local inspector a handy piece of advice that we can all learn from. As Holmes prepared to leave, the baffled Inspector Gregory asked,</p><blockquote><p>   <em><strong>“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>   “To the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.”</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>   “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>   “That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.</strong></em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The point Holmes was making was that the intruder at the stables was someone who was familiar to the dog, which is why the canine didn’t make a ruckus during the course of the crime.</p><p>It’s the same concept as a black hole. Scientists can’t observe black holes directly. Telescopes that detect x-rays, light, or other forms of electromagnetic radiation can’t pick up a black hole. Instead, scientists study the <em>effect</em> of black holes on other matter nearby. Certain movements or the absence of something they were expecting can indicate the presence of a black hole.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Consider how you’re measuring progress your team is making after implementing a change. In addition to measuring the things that happen, another way is to measure what <em>doesn’t</em> happen: perhaps there are fewer calls to your customer service department, fewer returns at the store, or a shift of interactions with customers from phone to messenger bots. All of these indicate a change and can result in lower costs.</p><p>When dealing with a staff that is working remotely, you might pay attention to the things that people don’t say on calls or who aren’t speaking up. If you know your team well, these behaviors might indicate issues with which they’re struggling, and you can use that as an opportunity to check on them.</p><p>Indicators and clues aren’t always obvious — the proof of your success might not come directly from your own work, but from the impacts of how you notice what’s not there and how you treat other people.</p><p>You just need to know where to look.</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>As a follow up to this topic, we spoke with Len Herstein, author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/2YPJ7jV">Be Vigilant! Strategies to Stop Complacency, Improve Performance and Safeguard Success</a></em>, and talked about Attentiveness.</p><p><br /></p><iframe src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/attentiveness-OX6P1wGTium/embed/" height="170px" width="100%" style="width: 1px; min-width: 100%;" loading="lazy" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><p><br /></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;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><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;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></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><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1141" 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></div>

Leadership and the Dog in the Night-Time

Portrait of Sherlock Holmes (discarded) by Sidney Paget, n.d. (public domain) “You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of t...

Leadership in an Uncertain Future

<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97GkUpqiNP0/YWR0PTmAAsI/AAAAAAABWh0/tssNPrVAhzQ90Vu4VVPrJNia5VLc2kF3wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/Thomas%2BCole%2B-%2BThe_Course_of_Empire%2B3%2B-%2BThe%2BConsummation.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1200" height="434" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-97GkUpqiNP0/YWR0PTmAAsI/AAAAAAABWh0/tssNPrVAhzQ90Vu4VVPrJNia5VLc2kF3wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h434/Thomas%2BCole%2B-%2BThe_Course_of_Empire%2B3%2B-%2BThe%2BConsummation.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><figcaption class="image-caption" data-pm-slice="1 1 ["captionedImage",null]" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire_(paintings)#/media/File:Cole_Thomas_The_Consummation_The_Course_of_the_Empire_1836.jpg">The Course of Empire - The Consummation of the Empire</a></em> by Thomas Cole, 1836 (public domain - Wikipedia)</span></figcaption><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;"></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="preformatted-block"><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong>Timeless & Timely</strong> has audio versions of the posts for you to enjoy. They are available to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Premium subscribers</a>. This one is available here: </em><a class="button primary" href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/leadership-uncertain-future-audio">▶️ Leadership in an Uncertain Future</a></p><div><hr /></div><p> </p><blockquote><em><strong>“The best-laid schemes of mice and men<br /></strong></em><em><strong>      Go oft awry,<br /></strong></em><em><strong>And leave us nothing but grief and pain,<br /></strong></em><em><strong>     For promised joy!” </strong></em> <em>— Robert Burns, 1785</em></blockquote><p></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"><br /></pre></div><p>Did you ever have the perfect event planned, only for everything to go awry?</p><p>A product launch, a surprise celebration for an important milestone, a romantic meal. In your mind’s eye, you envisioned everything going off flawlessly, almost scripted like a scene out of Hollywood.</p><p>Then…WHAM!</p><p>Reality hits, and it’s not pretty. A supplier doesn’t come through with essential parts for your launch, a message doesn’t make it to the honoree in time, the power goes out in the middle of cooking dinner.</p><p>What do you do?</p><p>Before you head in any one direction, the first step is simple: acknowledge the reality of your newfound situation.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Very well. So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You’d better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.”</strong> — Isaac Asimov, 1941</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Every leader needs a plan. But they also need backup plans.</p><p>Better leaders know it’s not enough to have a plan. They’ve seen things go sideways before. And like any self-aware person, they know that it could happen to them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Take General Dwight Eisenhower for example.</p><p>He prepared his troops as best he could for Operation Overlord (aka the D-Day invasion). He sent this letter to his men:</p><blockquote><p><strong>“You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. We will accept nothing less than victory! Good luck!”</strong></p></blockquote><p>He also built their confidence:</p><blockquote><p><strong>“This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success.”</strong></p></blockquote><p>But Ike knew that there were variables that were out of his control: the weather, the number of enemy awaiting them, and scores of other things. So he prepared a note in the event of a catastrophic loss that day:</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/-N8_P6vVLCfw/YWR047Nk8nI/AAAAAAABWh8/QSvXLosW6cs_6wJGXRF8LjuMEKiNbw3bwCLcBGAsYHQ/s936/Ike%2BLetter.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N8_P6vVLCfw/YWR047Nk8nI/AAAAAAABWh8/QSvXLosW6cs_6wJGXRF8LjuMEKiNbw3bwCLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h640/Ike%2BLetter.jpeg" width="410" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;">Image credit: </span><a href="https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/in-case-of-failure" style="text-align: left;">The National Archives</a></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p><strong>“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 on 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.”</strong></p></blockquote><p>The Allies’ victory was not assured that day, but after many casualties, they succeeded. Ike did not need to send that admission of failure—written with nerves so jangly that he misdated the note as July 5 instead of June 5.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div><hr /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“Life is divided into three periods: past, present, and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain.” </strong>— Seneca, 49</em></p></blockquote><div><hr /></div><p> </p><p>Seneca’s observation is an important one: nothing in the future—<em>nothing</em>—is certain. Leaders need to have contingency plans and to adapt to the changing market forces, on the fly if necessary.</p><p>So back to the initial example. You find yourself in an unexpected circumstance.</p><p>Maybe you had planned a series of promotions for your company on Facebook or Instagram this week. The big Facebook outage was a surprise—certainly to the folks at Facebook, some of whom couldn’t even access their buildings.</p><p>What did you do instead?</p><p>Some people flocked to Twitter. Others turned inward and took an opportunity to enjoy some relative serenity.</p><p>But the prepared leaders likely knew that it isn’t wise to rely on platforms you don’t control. Building on rented land is a guaranteed disaster. They had their own platforms, their own way to contact their communities. They didn’t depend on Facebook’s availability, nor on its capricious algorithms.</p><p>Facebook itself is in need of a contingency plan. The social media giant has been on top for so long, it seems otherworldly to consider it on the decline. But <strong><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/technology/facebook-files.html?campaign_id=4&emc=edit_dk_20211004&instance_id=41978&nl=dealbook&regi_id=75113674&segment_id=70609&te=1&user_id=d65752cb66270b61c489c6eaa53f121c">Facebook is showing signs of weakness</a></strong>, and absent its need to pivot, users ought to give deep thought as to where and when they leverage the platform.</p><p>Especially given what we know from <strong><a href="https://flipboard.com/@tech/the-whistleblower-behind-the-facebook-files-reveals-herself-tt0alok8077isp6o">the whistle-blower</a></strong>, who may be Facebook’s biggest threat in years.</p><p>Makes you wonder what kind of a backup plan the leaders at Facebook have.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I'll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p>If you’re interested in hearing more about understanding trends and preparing for the future, tune into this episode of the <em><strong><a href="https://pod.link/timeless">Timeless Leadership</a></strong></em> on the topic of <strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/adaptability" target="_blank">Adaptability</a></strong> with Jeremiah Owyang:</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="170px" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/adaptability-IqjdJen-6Yb/embed/" style="min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" width="100%"></iframe><br /></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;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><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;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></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><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1439" 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></div>

Leadership in an Uncertain Future

The Course of Empire - The Consummation of the Empire by Thomas Cole, 1836 (public domain - Wikipedia) Timeless & Timely has audio ve...

Are You Collecting or Accumulating?

<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/-I5_R6wYzv34/YWRvjLKir5I/AAAAAAABWhs/616FXLOzAEw7YdN0Gn4L0TwePcgmGo0jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Giovanni%2BPaolo%2BPanini%2B-%2BAncient%2BRome.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1582" data-original-width="2048" height="494" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I5_R6wYzv34/YWRvjLKir5I/AAAAAAABWhs/616FXLOzAEw7YdN0Gn4L0TwePcgmGo0jQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h494/Giovanni%2BPaolo%2BPanini%2B-%2BAncient%2BRome.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><figcaption class="image-caption" data-pm-slice="1 1 ["captionedImage",null]"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437244">Ancient Rome</a></em> by Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1757 (public domain - Metropolitan Museum of Art)</span></figcaption></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><em><strong>“</strong></em><em><strong>INTENTION (n.): The mind's sense of the prevalence of one set of influences over another set; an effect whose cause is the imminence, immediate or remote, of the performance of an involuntary act.”</strong> — Ambrose Bierce, 1906</em></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><em><br /></em></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br />Timeless & Timely</strong> has audio versions of the posts for you to enjoy. They are available to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Premium subscribers</a>. This one is <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/collecting-accumulating-audio" target="_blank">available here</a>. </em></p></div><div><br /></div><div><div><hr /><br /></div></div><div><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"></p><p>I think there are two types of people in the world: collectors, and people who have yet to discover they’re collectors.</p><p>Collecting comes from an inner passion. Something excites you, intrigues you, makes you want to get deeply involved.</p><p>Some people are born collectors, while others learn the nuances and benefits of being a collector by being exposed to those who collect.</p><p>For many collectors, the thrill isn’t the collection itself; it’s the process. The hunt. Learning deeply about a subject: stamps, coins, baseball cards, cars, books, or lately, <strong>NFTs</strong>.</p><p>Now, before we get too far, let’s agree to one thing: there is a difference between a collector and an accumulator (someone who has all the discernment of a vacuum cleaner).</p><p>And thus the three Ds of collecting: <em><strong>deliberation</strong></em>, <em><strong>discernment</strong></em>, and <em><strong>display</strong></em>.</p><p>Or, taking these three attributes together: intention.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Intention is what we talk about with David Amerland, author of <i>Intentional: How to Live, Love, Work, and Play Meaningfully</i> in the first episode of Season 2 of the </strong><em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/intentionality">Timeless Leadership</a></strong></em><strong> podcast:</strong></h4>
<div><iframe frameborder="0" height="170px" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" src="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/timeless-leadership/intentionality--vQmHXfUB0V/embed/" style="min-width: 100%; width: 1px;" width="100%"></iframe>
  <hr /></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes explain the importance of collecting knowledge with intention:</p><blockquote><p>“I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>When you set out to collect something — and to me, leaders are in the business of collecting people for their teams — you do so with a specific intention in mind. You <em><strong>deliberate</strong></em> which items and with what features you’d like to pursue.</p><p>It could be first American edition James Bond novels, material written about Edgar Allan Poe in the decade after his death, or collectibles from the DC universe offered on VeVe.</p><p>As you come across different specimens, you begin to <em><strong>discern</strong></em> which are appropriate for your collection. Do the books have dust jackets, or are they signed or inscribed? Are the collectibles common, uncommon, rare, or ultra rare?</p><p>Such details about condition and relative scarcity not only determine whether you might want them in your collection, but also how much they cost. It works with physical items as well as with hiring. Rare talent with good reputation means they’re going to cost more to bring on board.</p><p>And finally, <em><strong>display</strong></em>. What’s the sense of having a collection if no one knows you have it? Most collectors I know are thrilled to be able to share their collections with others — particularly with others who can appreciate the collection.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>The Big Draw</strong></h2><p>Ultimately, every collector has one thing in common: they love stories. They love to tell them and listen to them.</p><p>For any good collector, knowing an item’s provenance and its chain of ownership adds to the romance and intrigue behind it. Association copies — that is, items that have been owned by people associated with the author, artist, or creator in some way — are just as interesting and valuable as nascent copies.</p><p>Or perhaps they recall the seller or the shop they were in when they purchased it, thus reliving an exciting memory as they were on the chase. A book collector friend of mine recounts pre-dawn starts that led through the countryside into barns, antique stores, estate sales, and used bookstores. He retells these moments as if they were part of a chase scene in a movie. It’s delightful.</p><p>If you’re around enough interesting people or read enough material, then you might find that like me, you begin to collect stories. In fact, I’ve begun chronicling some of these in a series I call “<strong><a href="https://racket.com/scottmonty">Wow Finish</a></strong>” on Racket.</p><p><br /></p><h2><strong>Putting It Together</strong></h2><p>Once you’ve got the beginnings of a collection, things will naturally fall into place. You can spot patterns, or see themes. As you do, it’s an opportunity to consider how you arrange your growing collection.</p><p>That is the essence of <strong>curation</strong>.</p><p><br /></p><p><i><b>We talk more about curation in <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-intentional-art-of-curation">the Premium edition</a> ("<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-intentional-art-of-curation?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web" target="_blank">The Intentional Art of Curation</a>") where I share some secrets on how I curate material for Timeless & Timely every week.</b></i></p><div class="embedded-post-wrap" data-attrs="{"id":42041086,"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-intentional-art-of-curation","publication_id":28922,"publication_name":"Timeless & Timely","publication_logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","title":"The Intentional Art of Curation","truncated_body_text":"“What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?” — George Eliot, 1871 You’ve been to a museum, right? As you wander around the galleries, stopping at the display cases and pausing in front of wall hangings to ponder the artist’s meaning,…","date":"2021-10-01T11:00:34.934Z","like_count":1,"comment_count":0,"bylines":[{"id":429,"name":"Scott Monty","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9ea180a7-4ad6-4937-b37a-52810591c920_2717x2531.jpeg","bio":"Strategic communications and leadership advisor inspiring people to be better communicators, leaders, and humans. First executive at Ford to lead digital communications. Soothing voice available for hire.","profile_set_up_at":"2021-04-25T06:21:53.329Z","publicationUsers":[{"id":1595,"user_id":429,"role":"admin","public":true,"is_primary":false,"publication":{"id":28922,"name":"Timeless & Timely","subdomain":"scottmonty","custom_domain":"www.timelesstimely.com","custom_domain_optional":false,"hero_text":"Makes you a better leader, communicator, and human with advice and counsel from the past for the issues of today. ","logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","author_id":429,"theme_var_background_pop":"#2879af","created_at":"2020-02-02T20:45:53.185Z","rss_website_url":null,"email_from_name":"Scott Monty","copyright":"Scott Monty Strategies","founding_plan_name":"Timeless Supporter","community_enabled":true,"invite_only":false}}],"twitter_screen_name":"ScottMonty","is_guest":false}]}"><br /></div><p>For now, keep this in mind: curation is essential when bits of information begin to overwhelm us. Curation is a way of telling a story by assembling the right material in the right order, and giving it context.</p><p>In an age when we’re overloaded with the number of platforms on which to communicate — let alone the amount of content on each — knowing how to curate is an essential skill.</p><p>Similarly, as you assemble your team, you need to think like a curator: put the appropriate managers in place with the right talent, and the right structure. If you throw a bunch of people together without organization or purpose, the result will be chaos.</p><p>The best leaders are collectors and curators. They deliberate over the strategy, discern the talent and resources needed, and arrange everything in a way to display the culture of the organization.</p><p>And doing so with great intention.</p><p><br /></p><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;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday.<br /></p><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;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></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><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1393" 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></div></div>

Are You Collecting or Accumulating?

Ancient Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini, 1757 (public domain - Metropolitan Museum of Art) “ INTENTION (n.): The mind's sense of the prev...

How Much Is Enough?

<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/-abiRjnAl7bY/YUyT6xnXucI/AAAAAAABWCg/zuqT6kH-RAQF8MaIf__qZY1gF-JzsfgTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/JS%2BPughe%2B-%2BThe%2BTantalus%2Bof%2BTo-day.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1024" height="418" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-abiRjnAl7bY/YUyT6xnXucI/AAAAAAABWCg/zuqT6kH-RAQF8MaIf__qZY1gF-JzsfgTwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h418/JS%2BPughe%2B-%2BThe%2BTantalus%2Bof%2BTo-day.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>The Tantalus of Today</em> by J.S. Pughe, 1897 (public domain - Library of Congress)</span></p><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><p><em><strong>Timeless & Timely</strong> has audio versions of the posts for you to enjoy. They are available to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Premium subscribers</a>. This one is <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/how-much-is-enough-audio" target="_blank">available here</a>.</em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><div><hr /><br /></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>“I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expense, and my expense is equal to my wishes.”</strong> — Edward Gibbon, 1776</em></p></blockquote><p> </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 /><br /></div><p>Tantalus had everything going for him.</p><p>He was the legendary king of Sipylus, a son of Zeus and Pluto, famous for his immense wealth, like Midas and Croesus.</p><p>But, like some people of privilege, too much simply wasn’t enough.</p><p>Tantalus was welcomed to Zeus’ table on Mt. Olympus—a great honor for a mortal. But he abused Zeus’ hospitality by stealing ambrosia and nectar and brought them back to his people to make them immortal and reveal the secrets of the gods.</p><p>Then, he offered up his son Pelops as a sacrifice, cutting him into pieces, cooking him, and serving him to the gods to test their powers of omniscience. When they discovered Tantalus’ treachery, the gods punished him with an eternal sentence befitting his offenses.</p><p>Tantalus was forced to stand in a pool of water, chained underneath a fruit tree with low branches, for eternity. Every time he reached for a piece of fruit, the branches rose beyond his reach; every time he bent to quench his thirst, the water receded.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>As you know, the English word “tantalize,” meaning to tempt or torment with the sight of something desired but out of reach. For Victorian or Edwardian antique hunters, the tantalus is a wooden rack of decanters secured by a lock; the idea was that servants would be unable to enjoy the nectar of their employers.</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/-8NK5IV3BoNA/YUyUhsHfkmI/AAAAAAABWCo/Ar_dgSbQ0yQWkVvv1DJQxXNDQalD5WYXwCLcBGAsYHQ/s912/Tantalus.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="912" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8NK5IV3BoNA/YUyUhsHfkmI/AAAAAAABWCo/Ar_dgSbQ0yQWkVvv1DJQxXNDQalD5WYXwCLcBGAsYHQ/w632-h640/Tantalus.jpg" width="632" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Victorian-era tantalus</span></i></figcaption></figure></div><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false" style="text-align: left;"></label></div><div><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Ancient Greeks knew it, Victorian British knew it, and it’s still true today: show us something that we don’t yet have, something that might be within our reach, and we will try to attain it, even if we already have everything we need.</p><p>How often do we find ourselves in a situation, wishing we had more or better? We tell ourselves “<strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/if-only">if only</a></strong>.”</p><p>If only I had a better salary, I’d feel secure. If only I had a bigger house, I’d be content. If only I got that promotion, I’d be happier.</p><p>If only… If only…</p><p>We seem to predicate how we feel and how we live our lives based on tangibles and outcomes. As if there were some end goal, some final state of being that we could attain if we possessed something or passed a level—an IRL version of “<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Achievement%20unlocked">Achievement unlocked!</a>”</p><p>If you have desires that are then satisfied—more money, a different house, a different job, a vacation, an ice cream cone, a single malt whisky—does that keep you happy and satisfied? Likely not. Your circumstances change briefly, but then you find you’re back to saying “if only…” again.<span class="embedded-post-publication-name"></span></p><p><br /></p><h2><strong>From Sacrifice to Elegance</strong></h2><p>The Jimmy Carter era was a short stretch of American history blighted with long gas lines, a 55 mph speed limit (for fuel economy more than safety), and a cardigan-wearing president who, in February 1977, advised Americans to set their thermostats at <a href="https://youtu.be/3SFM999m5c0?t=17">65°F in the daytime and 55°F at night</a> to sacrifice for their fellow citizens.</p><p>The Reagan era ushered in “a return to elegance,” where Americans threw off the shackles of sacrifice and adorned themselves with the symbols of a new era, symbolized by stockbrokers in power ties, suspenders, and limousines.</p><p>The decade that was decorated in decadence delivered to us such cultural moments of excess as represented by the fast lanes of Jay McInerny’s <em>Bright Lights, Big City</em> and the “Greed is good” speech in <em>Wall Street</em>.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><br />“Greed is good” equates to “more is better,” and before you know it, Americans were encouraged to pursue happiness, one the triptych of unalienable rights granted to them in the Declaration of Independence.</div><p>That founding document was written at a moment of great upheaval for the country, when our well-read forbears understood human nature and knew history deeply.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>It is precisely at moments of change—a new job, a new house, democracy under threat, or some other significant event—when we should consider what fulfills us and more importantly what our responsibility is to those around us, rather than what we might have more of.</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”</strong> — Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)</em></p></blockquote><div class="embedded-post-wrap" data-attrs="{"id":33313805,"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/money-happiness-and-worth","publication_id":28922,"publication_name":"Timeless & Timely","publication_logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","title":"Money, Happiness, and Worth","truncated_body_text":"“Money is human happiness in the abstract.” — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851 Money is one of those topics that traditionally hasn’t been discussed in polite society. People who don’t have enough of it may be embarrassed or anxious, and people who d…","date":"2021-03-05T16:55:24.462Z","like_count":2,"comment_count":0,"bylines":[{"id":429,"name":"Scott Monty","photo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9ea180a7-4ad6-4937-b37a-52810591c920_2717x2531.jpeg","bio":"Strategic communications and leadership advisor inspiring people to be better communicators, leaders, and humans. First executive at Ford to lead digital communications. Soothing voice available for hire.","profile_set_up_at":"2021-04-25T06:21:53.329Z","publicationUsers":[{"id":1595,"user_id":429,"role":"admin","public":true,"is_primary":false,"publication":{"id":28922,"name":"Timeless & Timely","subdomain":"scottmonty","custom_domain":"www.timelesstimely.com","custom_domain_optional":false,"hero_text":"Makes you a better leader, communicator, and human with advice and counsel from the past for the issues of today. ","logo_url":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/6b0b5664-8343-4c87-a050-1a89626389ec_1280x1280.png","author_id":429,"theme_var_background_pop":"#2879af","created_at":"2020-02-02T20:45:53.185Z","rss_website_url":null,"email_from_name":"Scott Monty","copyright":"Scott Monty Strategies","founding_plan_name":"Timeless Supporter","community_enabled":true,"invite_only":false}}],"twitter_screen_name":"ScottMonty","is_guest":false}]}"><div class="embedded-post-header"><br /></div></div><p>Does the consumption of more or the process of acquisition blind us to other priorities? Does it make us oblivious to the needs of others, or cause others to see us as callous in the face of suffering?</p><p>Look, it’s fine to chase things that bring us joy, in whatever form that might take. Like the saying goes, “Money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy ice cream, and that’s basically the same thing.”</p><p>The question is, how much ice cream is enough?</p><i><blockquote><b>“We reach. We grasp. And what is left in our hands at the end? A shadow. Or worse than a shadow—misery.” </b><i> — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1926</i></blockquote></i><div><br /><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white;"><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 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;"></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></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><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://www.timelesstimely.com/embed" style="background: white; border: 1px solid #EEE;" width="480"></iframe><br /></div></div>

How Much Is Enough?

The Tantalus of Today by J.S. Pughe, 1897 (public domain - Library of Congress) Timeless & Timely has audio versions of the posts for ...

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...

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...

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...

Present Tense

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 ...

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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