It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It

<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIpu_8UaMEJlChF9vZO-2jEw9wVMSEMdpMMDPDup-brZqE88kmogkjcKRY7mZ4MVvSPBEekTW1Omv9ahTbJtgDEG-6NOeEmsPzL6g4AxITDfw8aqgDYpNTWjxXrIkjRAK1wUCiRWFwW1ZwPxZzBbZz8N6dWrNs_cHxy5uZM08SFOvDekU5HVUwt_D/s1196/How%20you%20say%20it.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1196" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLIpu_8UaMEJlChF9vZO-2jEw9wVMSEMdpMMDPDup-brZqE88kmogkjcKRY7mZ4MVvSPBEekTW1Omv9ahTbJtgDEG-6NOeEmsPzL6g4AxITDfw8aqgDYpNTWjxXrIkjRAK1wUCiRWFwW1ZwPxZzBbZz8N6dWrNs_cHxy5uZM08SFOvDekU5HVUwt_D/w640-h482/How%20you%20say%20it.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Match your content with your intent</h2><p><br /></p><div class="pullquote" data-pm-slice="2 1 []"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“My strength is the strength of ten,</em></strong></div><strong><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>Because my heart is pure.”</em></strong></div></strong><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842</em></div></em><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Did you ever plan a conversation in your mind, carefully mapping out your words and anticipating the response — a scene that a scriptwriter would envy — only to have the actual conversation go completely sideways?</p><p>Maybe you botched your opening or awkwardly stumbled over words after hearing a reply.</p><p>And in the end, you made the situation worse despite your sincere desire to improve it.</p><p>What happened?</p><p>You obscured your good motives with your poor execution.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe"}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><br /></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Part of being a leader is making difficult decisions. Decisions that can impact the lives and livelihood of your people.</p><p>And the way you execute your decisions makes the difference between looking like an ogre or an empathetic leader.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset" style="text-align: center;"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":360,"width":480,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":1926032,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/gif","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="360" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fed463d54-defd-43ff-8b15-d47f66c0e502_480x360.gif 1456w" width="480" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Such as when <strong>Elon Musk</strong>, upset that advertisers were fleeing the platform because of concerns about brand safety, tweeted “A thermonuclear name & shame is exactly what will happen if this continues.”</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_ZzKIbB0nUz56TtiwLhzPpmIirnjL1S2JbW8ceeFwdZ_PmjjxZwcE8HX0rjEF4AKFLIXgLjPTwV7u0O1ngBidjK7MyV0KisSrloc1avbx95WokkP8mNKKOFq-pOwB1i5kepRWRpyGS6OZijRWDTow8GG-XzePdzjYN9N346yXGynKvbpsLxH46dFR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="965" data-original-width="1154" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_ZzKIbB0nUz56TtiwLhzPpmIirnjL1S2JbW8ceeFwdZ_PmjjxZwcE8HX0rjEF4AKFLIXgLjPTwV7u0O1ngBidjK7MyV0KisSrloc1avbx95WokkP8mNKKOFq-pOwB1i5kepRWRpyGS6OZijRWDTow8GG-XzePdzjYN9N346yXGynKvbpsLxH46dFR=w400-h334" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Twitter has been in need of an overhaul, and Elon Musk seems to be the one to do it (just ask him), but once again, the way he’s going about making these changes is unnecessarily <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/a-tale-of-two-layoffs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">chaotic and cruel</a>.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Over the weekend, 80 percent of the contract staff at Twitter discovered they had been fired. While reducing headcount may be necessary, it’s the way their termination was handled that’s questionable.</p><p>Casey Newton’s <a href="https://www.platformer.news/p/elon-only-trusts-elon" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Platformer reported</a>:</p><blockquote><p>Unlike Twitter’s full-time employees, who at least got the courtesy of an email informing them that layoffs were coming a night before, contractors received nothing. Neither did their managers, who discovered one by one over the weekend that people they had been counting on to perform critical tasks had suddenly disappeared from the company’s systems. </p><p>“One of my contractors just got deactivated without notice in the middle of making critical changes to our child safety workflows," one manager noted in the company’s Slack channels. This is particularly worrisome because Twitter has for years struggled to adequately police child sexual exploitation material on the platform, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23327809/twitter-onlyfans-child-sexual-content-problem-elon-musk" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">as we previously reported</a>.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Some of them found because they lost access to Slack and email; others discovered through public tweets that it would be their last day and that their healthcare coverage was ending that day as well.</p><p>One employee wrote:</p><blockquote><p>“In 2 weeks Twitter has gone from being the most welcoming and healthy workplace I’ve ever known to the most openly hostile and degrading I’ve ever known.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>It doesn’t have to be this way.</p><p>People can (and should) be treated with dignity and respect: the hallmark of leader humility, which <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/humility" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Marilyn Gist</strong></a> defined on our <strong><em>Timeless Leadership</em></strong> podcast as  “<strong>the tendency to feel and display</strong> <strong>deep regard</strong> <strong>for others’</strong> <strong>dignity</strong>.”</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="6187" data-dashlane-rid="033b85987f775947" data-form-type="other" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/18654419/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/424242/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>Gray Flannel Dignity</strong></h2><p>When I read Sloan Wilson’s bestseller <a href="https://amzn.to/32hGLcA" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit </em></strong></a>— the precursor to <em>Mad Men</em> — I was struck with a marvelous scene that was a masterclass in delivering difficult news to an employee in a way that made him <em>eager</em> to improve.</p><p>The book is set in the 1950s and the protagonist, <strong>Tom Rath</strong>, has returned from war and trying to settle in. He gets a job as special assistant to <strong>Ralph Hopkins</strong>, president of a TV network, who one day asked him write him a speech.</p><p>Tom put in a first effort, handing his draft to <strong>Bill Ogden</strong>, Hopkins’ a consistently dour and curt right-hand man. He was the type who had to insert himself in order to prove his worth. After reading Rath’s first draft, Ogden's response was:</p><blockquote><p>“Christ! This is awful! It isn’t what we want at all! You can do better than this!”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Not knowing exactly what Ogden meant, Rath didn’t make any changes before turning it in to Hopkins. The boss invited him in and gave him the following feedback:</p><blockquote><p>“Marvelous. You’ve really got the feel for it! This really sings. The <em>heart</em> of the thing is just right! Now let’s just go over it together.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>At which point, Hopkins takes the entire speech apart, sentence by sentence before sending Rath on his way, saying,</p><blockquote><p>“You certainly did a grand job! Just fix up the details we’ve worked out and let’s see it again in a few days.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Rath was halfway to Grand Central Station before he fully realized that Ogden and Hopkins had simply told him the same thing in two different ways: to rewrite the speech.</p><p>But here’s the difference: Hopkins’ approach left Tom <em>eager</em> to try.</p><p>During the following week, Rath had to rewrite the speech four times, each time getting the same set of reactions.</p><p>He was sure he would have quit in discouragement if it hadn’t been for Hopkins’ praise, which grew in warmth over each successive draft, but somehow never failed to sound sincere.</p><p>Words aside, it was the <strong><em>demeanor</em></strong> of these two superiors that made all the difference.</p><p>Ogden seemed to be annoyed, as if Rath’s work was inconveniencing him. His curt attitude and abruptness exuded contempt.</p><p>Hopkins invited Tom to his apartment to review the speech over drinks. He was reassuring at every turn, even when delivering bad news. Rather than just critiquing the words, he boosted Rath’s self-confidence and complimented him in the process.</p><p>Tom Rath didn’t have a problem with the <strong><em>task</em></strong>; he had a problem with how his direct supervisor <strong><em>exercised his authority</em></strong>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Good leaders want <strong><em>results</em></strong>.</p><p>Great leaders want to <strong><em>inspire people</em></strong> to contribute.</p><p>You can have the best intention in the world for your employees. But if they can’t see or hear it, it won’t matter.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The difference isn’t in what you say, but in <em>how</em> you say it.</p><p>You’ll be respected not for what you do, but for <em>how</em> you do it.</p><p><br /></p><h3></h3><hr /><h3>Next up:</h3><p>A reader wrote to ask about soliciting feedback from a team and the need to cull the feedback without offending people whose suggestions were discarded. Make sure you’re subscribed to <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/how-to-not-alienate-your-team-when" target="_blank">read the advice I gave her</a>.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Subscribe now</a></h3><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet. </p><p></p><h3></h3><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":383,"width":700,"resizeWidth":462,"bytes":114058,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="252.78" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5566595-88af-48e2-a927-a78bec321784_700x383.png 1456w" width="462" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><br /></p><h4 style="background-color: white; 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It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It

Match your content with your intent “My strength is the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1842 Did you e...

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It CAN Happen Here

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoWbVt53hsOvM5wE7xbp9GER4eQiFtUSeJuj-MFRpaPQxVPEvU1-L7h_T-fB6Z1QWPVFFYsSjvTpQXgB9DzfkAbZN8HuKWHykZiFvDNqiblCrGmIaCDZvlUisBwWaCM55WUJh64RaDHIsnRB5pIe73HBWlJnYjgQgxHD5rUGM8B99-eY1OR-EAOoV/s2048/It%20Can%20Happen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPoWbVt53hsOvM5wE7xbp9GER4eQiFtUSeJuj-MFRpaPQxVPEvU1-L7h_T-fB6Z1QWPVFFYsSjvTpQXgB9DzfkAbZN8HuKWHykZiFvDNqiblCrGmIaCDZvlUisBwWaCM55WUJh64RaDHIsnRB5pIe73HBWlJnYjgQgxHD5rUGM8B99-eY1OR-EAOoV/w640-h480/It%20Can%20Happen.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><strong>It <i>is </i>happening here.</strong></h3><div><strong><br /></strong></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“All men would be tyrants if they could.”</em></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Daniel Defoe, 1712</em></div></em><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>There are moments in history when speaking up matters — when remaining silent is no longer an option.</p><p>And this is one of those times.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe"}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><br /></p><p class="cta-caption">I write about leadership and communication as they intersect with values and principles. And I frequently ask myself, “What kind of unprincipled leader would I be if I didn’t give voice to my conscience?”</p></div></div></div><p>That’s integrity, isn’t it? When you act in accordance with your values.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>So today, on Election Day here in the United States, I’m drawing attention to <a href="https://amzn.to/3G7g3aO" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>It Can’t Happen Here</em></strong></a>, a dystopian novel by <strong>Sinclair Lewis</strong> that was published in 1935.</p><p>In it, citizens of the United States voluntarily vote their way into fascism (but they don’t call it that, of course) for economic reasons, to be protected from Communism, and for conservative religious and racial reasons.</p><p>Are you sensing a familiar strain?</p><p>Strap in. It doesn’t end there.</p><p><br /></p><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>The Players in the Drama</strong></h2><p>Everyone who speaks, writes, or protests against the government starts to disappear, leaving the protagonist, <strong>Doremus Jessup</strong>, to decide how he and his newspaper, the <em>Daily Informer</em>, can contribute to the fight for democracy.</p><p>Several factors contributed to the victory, including a new communications technology: the radio — and the support that popular broadcasters like <strong>Bishop Prang</strong> gave to the candidacy of the aspiring autocrat, <strong>Senator Buzz Windrip</strong>.</p><p>And Windrip was about as pure as the driven slush:</p><blockquote><p>He was never governor; he had shrewdly seen that his reputation for research among planters-punch recipes, varieties of poker, and the psychology of girl stenographers might cause his defeat by the church people</p><p>The militiamen considered him their general and their god, and when the state attorney general announced that he was going to have Windrip indicted for having grafted $200,000 of tax money, the militia rose to Buzz Windrip’s orders as though they were his private army and, occupying the legislative chambers and all the state offices, and covering the streets leading to the Capitol with machine guns, they herded Buzz's enemies out of town.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Watching this unfold, Doremus Jessup begins to warn people. But the town’s leading industrialist claims that fascism couldn’t happen in the U.S. because “<em>We’re a country of freemen!</em>” </p><p>There’s a good history lesson in his monologue:</p><blockquote><p>“The answer to that,” suggested Doremus Jessup, “if Mr. Falck will forgive me, is ‘the hell it can’t!’ Why, there’s no country in the world that can get more hysterical—yes, or more obsequious!—than America. Look how Huey Long became absolute monarch over Louisiana, and how the Right Honorable Mr. Senator Berzelius Windrip owns his State. Listen to Bishop Prang and Father Coughlin on the radio—divine oracles, to millions. Remember how casually most Americans have accepted Tammany grafting and Chicago gangs and the crookedness of so many of President Harding’s appointees? Could Hitler’s bunch, or Windrip’s, be worse? Remember the Kuklux Klan? Remember our war hysteria, when we called sauerkraut 'Liberty cabbage' and somebody actually proposed calling German measles 'Liberty measles'? And wartime censorship of honest papers? Bad as Russia! Remember our kissing the—well, the feet of Billy Sunday, the million-dollar evangelist, and of Aimée McPherson, who swam from the Pacific Ocean clear into the Arizona desert and got away with it? Remember Voliva and Mother Eddy?... Remember our Red scares and our Catholic scares, when all well-informed people knew that the O.G.P.U. were hiding out in Oskaloosa, and the Republicans campaigning against Al Smith told the Carolina mountaineers that if Al won the Pope would illegitimatize their children? Remember Tom Heflin and Tom Dixon? Remember when the hick legislators in certain states, in obedience to William Jennings Bryan, who learned his biology from his pious old grandma, set up shop as scientific experts and made the whole world laugh itself sick by forbidding the teaching of evolution?... Remember the Kentucky night-riders? Remember how trainloads of people have gone to enjoy lynchings? Not happen here? Prohibition—shooting down people just because they might be transporting liquor—no, that couldn’t happen in America! Why, where in all history has there ever been a people so ripe for a dictatorship as ours! We’re ready to start on a Children’s Crusade—only of adults—right now, and the Right Reverend Abbots Windrip and Prang are all ready to lead it!”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Does any of this sound familiar?</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The retort to Jessup’s warning is a defense of business and its utility within the administration, and a screed against those who need government assistance:</p><blockquote><p>“Well, what if they are?” protested R.C. Crowley. “It might not be so bad. I don’t like all these irresponsible attacks on us bankers all the time. Of course, Senator Windrip has to pretend publicly to bawl the banks out, but once he gets into power <strong>he’ll give the banks their proper influence</strong> in the administration and take our expert financial advice. Yes. Why are you so afraid of the word 'Fascism,' Doremus? Just a word—just a word! And might not be so bad, with all the lazy bums we got panhandling relief nowadays, and living on my income tax and yours—not so worse to have a real <a href="https://amzn.to/3vDyZZp" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Strong Man</strong></a>, like Hitler or Mussolini—like Napoleon or Bismarck in the good old days—and have ’em really run the country and make it efficient and prosperous again. ’Nother words, have a doctor who won’t take any back-chat, but really boss the patient and make him get well whether he likes it or not!”</p><p>“Yes!” said Emil Staubmeyer. “Didn’t Hitler save Germany from the Red Plague of Marxism? I got cousins there. I know!”</p><p>“Hm,” said Doremus, as often Doremus did say it. “Cure the evils of Democracy by the evils of Fascism! Funny therapeutics. I’ve heard of their curing syphilis by giving the patient malaria, but I’ve never heard of their curing malaria by giving the patient syphilis!”</p></blockquote><p> </p><hr /><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br />Now, as a historical aside, there was an actual radio broadcaster in the 1930s by the name of <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/charles-e-coughlin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Father Coughlin</strong></a>. He was a Catholic priest and populist leader who promoted antisemitic and pro-fascist views to the 10 million listeners of his radio program.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>In fact, the podcast <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/id1647910854" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Ultra</strong> </a>covers in fascinating detail what was happening then.</i></p></div><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="152" loading="lazy" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/3ImqTb6CcfZINTgByeAThh?utm_source=generator" style="border-radius: 12px;" width="100%"></iframe><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>Globalists</strong></h2><p>Prang’s millions of followers — economically distressed white people who call themselves the “<strong>League of Forgotten Men</strong>” — are a powerful voting bloc.</p><p>In Chapter 5, the nation’s leading Christian demagogue, <strong>Bishop Prang</strong>, announces that his “League of Forgotten Men” — economically distressed white people — will put its weight behind Windrip, the populist/fascist candidate who promises action to bring “globalist” corporations to heel while fending off the Communists.</p><blockquote><p>“There is no Peace! For more than a year now, the League of Forgotten Men has warned the politicians, the whole government, that we are sick unto death of being the Dispossessed—and that, at last, we are more than fifty million strong; no whimpering horde, but with the will, the voices, the votes to enforce our sovereignty! We have in no uncertain way informed every politician that we demand—that we demand—certain measures, and that we will brook no delay. Again and again we have demanded that both the control of credit and the power to issue money be unqualifiedly taken away from the private banks; that the soldiers not only receive the bonus they with their blood and anguish so richly earned in ’17 and ’18, but that the amount agreed upon be now doubled; that all swollen incomes be severely limited and inheritances cut to such small sums as may support the heirs only in youth and in old age; that labor and farmers’ unions be not merely recognized as instruments for joint bargaining but be made, like the syndicates in Italy, official parts of the government, representing the toilers; and that International Jewish Finance and, equally, International Jewish Communism and Anarchism and Atheism be, with all the stern solemnity and rigid inflexibility this great nation can show, barred from all activity. Those of you who have listened to me before will understand that I—or rather that <strong>the League of Forgotten Men—has no quarrel with individual Jews</strong>; that we are proud to have Rabbis among our directors; <strong>but those subversive international organizations which, unfortunately, are so largely Jewish</strong>, must be driven with whips and scorpions from off the face of the earth.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>With the recent rise in anti-Semitism in this country, we’re seeing a frightening parallel.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>On the Press</strong></h2><p>A “quote” regarding “the lying press” from Windrips autobiography (which the fascist/populist politician had ghostwritten for him by his nihilistic, sadistic, and voluble advisor Lee Sarason), we get his view on the free press:</p><blockquote><p>I KNOW the Press only too well. Almost all editors hide away in spider-dens, men without thought of Family or Public Interest or the humble delights of jaunts out-of-doors, plotting how they can put over their lies, and advance their own positions and fill their greedy pocketbooks by calumniating Statesmen who have given their all for the common good and who are vulnerable because they stand out in the fierce Light that beats around the Throne. —<em>Zero Hour</em>, Berzelius Windrip</p></blockquote><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>On Ignorance and the Elite</strong></h2><p>This is how Lewis describes the fascist President-to-be:</p><blockquote><p>The Senator was vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his ‘ideas’ almost idiotic, while his celebrated piety was that of a traveling salesman for church furniture, and his yet more celebrated humor the sly cynicism of a country store.</p></blockquote><p>The fascist President of the United States describes his realization, early in life, that being an obnoxious dunce gets you far more attention than being a smart and decent person.</p><blockquote><p>When I was a kid, one time I had an old-maid teacher that used to tell me, “Buzz, you’re the thickest-headed dunce in school.” But I noticed that she told me this a whole lot oftener than she used to tell the other kids how smart they were, and I came to be the most talked-about scholar in the whole township. The United States Senate isn’t so different, and I want to thank a lot of stuffed shirts for their remarks about Yours Truly. —<em>Zero Hour</em>, Berzelius Windrip</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>He had the power of oratory:</p><blockquote><p>He was an actor of genius. There was no more overwhelming actor on the stage, in the motion pictures, nor even in the pulpit. He would whirl arms, bang tables, glare from mad eyes, vomit Biblical wrath from a gaping mouth; but he would also coo like a nursing mother, beseech like an aching lover, and in between tricks would coldly and almost contemptuously jab his crowds with figures and facts—figures and facts that were inescapable even when, as often happened, they were entirely incorrect.</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>Violent Action</strong></h2><p>The night Buzz wins the election, Doremus Jessup finds an anonymous note threatening violence if he refused to “crawl" before the newly empowered League of Forgotten Men and MM (the Minute Men — Lewis’ version of the <strong>Proud Boys</strong>).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="That night Doremus found, on his front porch, a notice in red chalk upon butcher's paper: You will get yrs Dorey sweethart unles you get rite down on yr belly and crawl in front of the MM and the League and the Chief and I A friend" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":568,"width":942,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":null,"alt":"That night Doremus found, on his front porch, a notice in red chalk upon butcher's paper:\n\n\nYou will get yrs Dorey sweethart unles you get rite down on yr belly and crawl in front of the MM and the League and the Chief and I\n\nA friend","title":null,"type":null,"href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="386" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg 1456w" title="That night Doremus found, on his front porch, a notice in red chalk upon butcher's paper: You will get yrs Dorey sweethart unles you get rite down on yr belly and crawl in front of the MM and the League and the Chief and I A friend" width="640" /></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9991e4b7-a3d3-42cf-a537-ded3bf0902e4_942x568.jpeg" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><br /></p><p>Not terribly different than the anonymous emails and direct messages so many journalists and politicians get from far-right supporters these days — misspellings and all — is it?</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The new fascist President declares martial law on inauguration day. There are massive protests and the Minute Men start to retreat. He rallies them to violent action with the call “<strong><em>to make America a proud, rich land again</em></strong>.”</p><blockquote><p>The Minute Men—why, they said to themselves, they’d never meant to be soldiers anyway—just wanted to have some fun marching! They began to sneak into the edges of the mob, hiding their uniform caps. That instant, from a powerful loudspeaker in a lower window of the jail brayed the voice of President Berzelius Windrip:</p><p>“I am addressing my own boys, the Minute Men, everywhere in America! To you and you only I look for help to make America a proud, rich land again. You have been scorned. They thought you were the 'lower classes.' They wouldn't give you jobs. They told you to sneak off like bums and get relief. They ordered you into lousy C.C.C. camps. They said you were no good, because you were poor. I tell you that you are, ever since yesterday noon, the highest lords of the land—the aristocracy—the makers of the new America of freedom and justice. Boys! I need you! Help me—help me to help you! Stand fast! Anybody tries to block you—give the swine the point of your bayonet!”</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-donald-trump-chris-wallace-0b32339da25fbc9e8b7c7c7066a1db0f" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Stand back and stand by</a>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>I Love the </strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpdt7omPoa0&ab_channel=AssociatedPress" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Poorly Educated</strong></a></h2><p>The new fascist government (the Corpo state) reorganizes higher education in order to remove any hint of intellectualism:</p><blockquote><p>All Corpo universities were to have the same curriculum, entirely practical and modern, free of all snobbish tradition.</p><p>Entirely omitted were Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Biblical study, archaeology, philology; all history before 1500—except for one course which showed that, through the centuries, the key to civilization had been the defense of Anglo-Saxon purity against barbarians. Philosophy and its history, psychology, economics, anthropology were retained, but, to avoid the superstitious errors in ordinary textbooks, they were to be conned only in new books prepared by able young scholars under the direction of Dr. Macgoblin.</p><p>Students were encouraged to read, speak, and try to write modern languages, but they were not to waste their time on the so-called "literature"; reprints from recent newspapers were used instead of antiquated fiction and sentimental poetry.</p></blockquote><p>Again, we’re seeing the present in the past.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p></p><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>Because Reasons</strong></h2><p>Once the dictatorship has been established, there are millions of people like Jessup’s wife Emma who don’t support the leader, but who at least give him credit for so strongly encouraging “<strong><em>church attendance, low taxation, and the American flag</em></strong>.”</p><p>Things that evidently mean more to people than democracy.</p><p>A complete echo of what we’re hearing today.</p><p>Why is this happening?</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p><strong>Ezra Klein</strong> had a conversation with <strong>Pippa Norris</strong>, a political scientist at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-pippa-norris.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>about the rise of the far right across the globe</strong></a>.</p><p>One thing she said about the motivating factor for people stood out to me:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“The new literature really says maybe there’s genuine support for authoritarian strongman leaders who promise security and order. And that many people may feel that that’s a priority — not freedom and not the chaos that can be attributed to democracy.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>We shrink from <strong>uncertainty</strong> — and let’s face it: there’s plenty of uncertainty in the world today. But we also embrace the power that comes from <strong>control</strong>.</p><p>People love the feeling of <strong>power</strong> more than the feeling of <strong>democracy</strong>.</p><p>It’s immediate. It’s visceral. It makes us feel superior.</p><p>These are competing human instincts that are at play: one is <strong>personal survival</strong> at all costs; the other is a sense of <strong>communal benefit</strong> where we look out for each other.</p><p>One leads to a willingness to inflict <strong>pain</strong> and rule with <strong>vengeance</strong>, while the other looks to <strong>lift people up</strong> and lead with <strong>empathy</strong>.</p><p>And during the pandemic, we saw how people took sides on this divide, based on what they were willing to do to get through it — selfish actions or community actions.</p><p><br /></p><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>“Autocracy is the opposite of democracy. It means the rule of one, one person, one interest, one ideology, one party. To state the obvious, the lives of billions of people, from antiquity till now, have been shaped by the battle between these competing forces, between the aspirations of the many and the greed and power of the few, between the people’s right for self-determination, and the self-seeking autocrat, between the dreams of a democracy and the appetites of an autocracy.”</strong></div><div style="text-align: right;">— <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/02/us/politics/transcript-biden-speech-democracy.html?unlocked_article_code=bPwUp5Uba2_JVoe_BD9zrD3GUlVDmXZ6TJwQXKL0Hue064ALN4zdo56oivZ4U8YDV-5esvvcvOzR2hBwu-t95wrTI6lJUtImYBp91yxpflEZ6x-tUlFFx6zcnXcrCc7525-Zfpqr0a8O5L57Jq1Mmrd7Dn-fPxqA3rDRBWGoJ99hKtaHhQSqCkU-5Yamf3JPDn1TcG4IHPB9S8rgGZLxcHsVy7I6k4xAkeZLlsAR1tkdjbPnEO53PGHoWwYi6t5JA7v240DL6LzLNY13NqsZreyAEXekKLorGvtoGoE-S97pYc518GjRCy_lE_2suM0WxDAnaUJM9ljSqk2oUZUAm0hA9R60_SZui7rz78LmsQ&smid=share-url" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">President Joseph Biden, Nov. 1, 2022</a></div><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label></div><p> </p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">I’ve been thinking a lot about authoritarians lately.<br /><br />Maybe you have, too.<br /><br />Call them autocrats, despots, strongmen, bullies, dictators, oppressors, tyrants — the names may differ, but their behaviors are the same. 🧵1/ <a href="https://t.co/jJwckn24HA">pic.twitter.com/jJwckn24HA</a></p>— Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMonty/status/1521879972616495105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 4, 2022</a></blockquote><p> </p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []"></h2><hr /><h2><strong><br /></strong></h2><h2><strong>Are You Feeling It?</strong></h2><p>But one quote has always stood out to me that was reminiscent of Sinclair Lewis. A quote from 2019, when Florida was experiencing a shutdown. A voter was asked about the president and she said:</p><div class="pullquote"><p>“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this. I thought he was going to do good things. <strong><em>He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting</em></strong>.”</p></div><p>When you feel you need to hurt someone, there’s something inside of you that no strong man, autocrat, or vengeance-seeking individual can cure.</p><p>There’s no telling who’ll get hurt in the process, because it <strong><em>can</em></strong> happen here.</p><p>Speak up. Get involved. Vote.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><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><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":383,"width":700,"resizeWidth":452,"bytes":114058,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="247.30857142857144" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4fb048b3-e816-420e-8241-e70ce452735e_700x383.png 1456w" width="452" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><hr /><p></p><p><br /></p><h4 style="background-color: white; 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It CAN Happen Here

It is happening here. “All men would be tyrants if they could.” — Daniel Defoe, 1712 There are moments in history when speaking up matters ...

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It's the Relationships, Stupid

<div class="pullquote" data-pm-slice="2 1 []"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNG5kGTi66HfESVYkSa1Cj_Kt4liqUjyo3HqUgf83IQ6E8U9vKSEjCZUIaREG0hGSPzTXlPquhw5IbEIpw1c5ycH7xPuShdOAwrUonl4_mPh4A6mlfJb0e9GNGm8carbE2zQ-5nF_PNZvcQvj2Vy5K5ti4t5Y2qCwSRmW7aRF50mxuUKN812L5UA7/s800/Relationships%20Stupid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="800" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHNG5kGTi66HfESVYkSa1Cj_Kt4liqUjyo3HqUgf83IQ6E8U9vKSEjCZUIaREG0hGSPzTXlPquhw5IbEIpw1c5ycH7xPuShdOAwrUonl4_mPh4A6mlfJb0e9GNGm8carbE2zQ-5nF_PNZvcQvj2Vy5K5ti4t5Y2qCwSRmW7aRF50mxuUKN812L5UA7/w640-h422/Relationships%20Stupid.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>If you look upon your work and despair, then place your attention on the people who matter.</b></h3><p><br /></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><b>“The chief proof of man’s real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.” </b></em></div><em><b><div style="text-align: right;">— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle</div></b></em><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Not everyone is destined to be a leader.</p><p>Shakespeare reminded us of how some — not all — are born or become leaders, while others are thrust into the situation.</p><p>But that “some” would imply that there are more followers than leaders. As is the natural order of things. If everyone were to try to lead, we’d end up in a world of chaos.</p><p>We need leaders.</p><p>But consider a world in which leaders overestimate their own abilities. Where “<strong>I alone can fix it</strong>” is the clarion call of narcissistic delusion, coupled with a lack of self-awareness, a penchant for invalidating ideas that aren’t theirs, and toxic micromanagement.</p><p>Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: </p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Narcissism will make you do strange things. <a href="https://t.co/IFLl6s2AgJ">pic.twitter.com/IFLl6s2AgJ</a></p>— Scott Monty (@ScottMonty) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottMonty/status/1587519571229114370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><b>Musk Rat Love</b></h2><p>Elon Musk is a unique figure. Founder of Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and a handful of others, he is fetishized by his many followers as infallible.</p><p>And his pattern of behavior — from <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1240758710646878208" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">spreading Covid-19 misinformation</a> to calling a British diver and rescuer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk-british-diver-thai-cave-rescue-pedo-twitter" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">a pedo guy</a>, to <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526246899606601730" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">trolling</a> and <a href="https://wapo.st/3fqZ2h9" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">political misinformation</a> — all are indicative of the toxicity and misinformation that may be permissible under his leadership at Twitter.</p><p>I’ve seen him called many things of late, including a “<strong>sociopathic toddler</strong>” and a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/10/im-staying-on-twitter/671951/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>shitposting teenager</strong></a>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>But behavior aside, the concern is that fundamentally, it seems that he doesn’t realize that <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/28/23428132/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-problems-speech-moderation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>what ails Twitter is not an <em>engineering</em> problem, but a <em>community</em> problem</strong></a>.</p><p>And I think it’s bound up in the idea that he has <a href="https://mgoulston.medium.com/dear-elon-tweet-this-1b69bc128630" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>visionary intelligence, not emotional intelligence</em></strong></a>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Emotionally-intelligent leaders are self-aware, practice self-discipline and empathy, and manage their relationships well. In a previous edition, I wrote:</p><blockquote><p>It seems that more often than not, the ego-driven, ambitious, obsessive visionaries — call them what you will — are celebrated and rewarded. And to a certain degree that’s valid. For without drive, ambition, and self-confidence, it’s hard to stand out.</p><p>But kind of ego I’m talking about isn’t about that kind of motivation. It’s about the misguided and blind ambition — twisted, selfish, arrogant self-belief: when the visionary won’t tolerate naysayers or questions. When they seem to be detached from reality and think they can do no wrong. Think <strong>Travis Kalanick</strong> (Uber), <strong>Adam Neumann</strong> (WeWork), or <strong>Mark Zuckerberg</strong> (Facebook).</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/emotional-intelligence-and-ego.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Read the whole thing</a>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>What we see happening now at Twitter is the result of an emotionally-unintelligent business magnate who joked about buying Twitter, was forced to honor the contract he signed, and is now randomly throwing around ideas that may in fact tank the platform.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Anyway, my tuppence worth on Musk and Twitter. He’s in for a rocky ride, and the question for me is whether his ego is going to make him destroy Twitter. Right now, what’s pretty clear is that he doesn’t understand what makes Twitter work. 1/10</p>— Prof Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulbernalUK/status/1587353418406010881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><br /><p></p><div><p data-pm-slice="1 2 []">As with many things I observe in the modern world, my mind finds little crevasses in history, and the occasion of a change in ownership of Twitter was no different.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Ozymandias Lives</strong></h2><p>In late 1817, Percy Bysshe Shelley <a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" href="#footnote-1" id="footnote-anchor-1">1</a> and his financial advisor Horace Smith <a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" href="#footnote-2" id="footnote-anchor-2">2</a> challenged each other to a contest: to write a sonnet about a passage from the writings of the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus — specifically one that described a massive Egyptian statue that has been toppled and its inscription:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“I am Ozymandias, king of kings. If any one would know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass any of my works.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><p>Oh, the irony.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Shelley captured it as:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!</em></strong></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Smith wrote:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“I am great OZYMANDIAS, saith the stone,<br />The King of Kings; this mighty City shows<br />The wonders of my hand.”— The City’s gone,—</em></strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Either way, the moral is the same: Ozymandias was seduced by the thought that his power and influence might somehow last forever.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>Legacy That Matters</strong></h2><p>Vainglorious leaders spend too much time worrying about their legacy. They hope to be remembered for the mark they leave on the world — for some, these things occupy their every waking moment.</p><p>We’d like to think our legacy assumes some permanence, as expressed in concrete, marble, or steel, but in “Ozymandias” Shelley reminds us such things are temporary.</p><p>True legacy — the legacy that matters — isn’t one that’s set in stone or on balance sheets. Your legacy will be in the stories they tell about you.</p><p>It will be carried on by employees long after you’ve left the company, who remember you fondly for the way you made them feel and continue to tell stories about what it was like.</p><p>At home, your family won’t remember you for your work achievements, nor for the headstone or mausoleum built to mark your final resting place. They’ll remember you for the love you show and the moments you share together.</p><p>In short, they’ll remember the joy, wonder, and awe you bring them.</p><p>Your monument will be built on <strong><em>relationships</em></strong> you nurture.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h1>A Quote to Consider</h1><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“After I</em></strong>’<strong><em>m dead I</em></strong>’<strong><em>d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.”</em></strong></div><strong><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Cato the Elder, c. 150 BC</em></div></em></strong><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>For subscribers only, here is <b><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/emotional-intelligence-and-ego.html" target="_blank">a special selection of articles from the Archives</a></b> that touch on the notions of ego, permanence, and emotional intelligence. </p><p>Be sure you’re <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe" target="_blank">signed up as a subscriber</a>.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe"}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><br /></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":383,"width":700,"resizeWidth":444,"bytes":114058,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="242.93142857142857" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F63dd2d2d-2910-4dd9-bb12-f25e27c978bb_700x383.png 1456w" width="444" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="#footnote-anchor-1" id="footnote-1">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p><strong>Shelley’s version:</strong> </p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text">I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”</pre></div><p></p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" href="#footnote-anchor-2" id="footnote-2">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p><strong>Horace Smith’s version:</strong></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text">In Egypt’s sandy silence, all alone, Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws The only shadow that the Desart knows:— “I am great OZYMANDIAS, saith the stone, The King of Kings; this mighty City shows The wonders of my hand.”— The City’s gone,— Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose The site of this forgotten Babylon. We wonder,—and some Hunter may express Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace, He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess What powerful but unrecorded race Once dwelt in that annihilated place.</pre><pre class="text"><br /></pre><pre class="text"><br /></pre><pre class="text"><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; white-space: normal;"><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members get extras, such as exclusive essays and monthly leadership calls.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join tens of thousands of others on this journey:</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div></h4><h4 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; white-space: normal;"><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="322" 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></h4></pre></div><p></p></div></div></div>

It's the Relationships, Stupid

If you look upon your work and despair, then place your attention on the people who matter. “The chief proof of man’s real greatness lies in...

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When Fear Works ― and When it Doesn't

<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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLkWYfr89GSRgpKsakf1t_0P4WQ74KKBQ5QokCGAXL2N-CCWnpkRQ_9AnFw_M-zEEE--hrPLJTj1WQIdrXK39WM5QUWVwLhQGEAttPF91NkuhKg2IdWVd3a4N6yANIlP7EsH5ZN7TW5c7HZ2ABwizNsuHKSHcCobKDK03muRvm3oL11pUtdf9e4ew/s1500/Fear.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="1500" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLkWYfr89GSRgpKsakf1t_0P4WQ74KKBQ5QokCGAXL2N-CCWnpkRQ_9AnFw_M-zEEE--hrPLJTj1WQIdrXK39WM5QUWVwLhQGEAttPF91NkuhKg2IdWVd3a4N6yANIlP7EsH5ZN7TW5c7HZ2ABwizNsuHKSHcCobKDK03muRvm3oL11pUtdf9e4ew/w640-h524/Fear.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> Leadership is about inspiration, not intimidation<p></p><p><br /></p><div class="pullquote" data-pm-slice="2 1 []"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.”</em></strong></div><strong><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― La Rochefoucauld, 1664</em></div></em></strong><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Have you ever felt real fear?</p><p>Like the kind of fear that gives you a palpable sense of dread? That makes your chest tighten and your heart pound?</p><p>I remember feeling like that when I first visited a lake in New Hampshire when I was 14 years old.</p><p>Growing up in Connecticut, I was fortunate to have a backyard pool. We used to host YMCA-taught swimming lessons each summer for our friends and neighbors. I remember the pride I had as I received a patch for the level I completed every year: Polliwog, Guppy, Minnow, Fish, Flying Fish, and ultimately, Shark.</p><p>By the end of each day, we’d be as wrinkled as prunes and our lungs would ache from all the time spent underwater. But we were expert swimmers, which made us even braver when we went to the beach on Cape Cod or Newport later in the summer.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>So when I first had the chance to head up to New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee for a week with a friend, I was looking forward to more time in the water, including water skiing and boating ― something impossible in a pool. </p><p>As I dipped my toes into the cool water on the edge of the lake, I enjoyed the soft sand and gravel between my toes. Located in the middle of New Hampshire, the lake is fed by runoff from the White Mountains, which means it’s fairly chilly. I gradually got used to it and was finally able to get my entire body submerged.</p><p>I brought a snorkeling mask along with me, so I put it on and dove down to examine the stones and gravel as it sloped up toward the beach. But then I did something that didn’t prepare me for what came next.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Remember, I had only explored the great Underwater World of My Pool until this time.</p><p>I turned my head around and looked out into the center of the lake with my mask. The dark green, somewhat murky water trailed off into nothingness, such that I couldn’t see anything but a vast expanse that lay in front of me.</p><p>At that moment, I felt that tightening ― that sense of horror ― and immediately burst to the surface. Simply put, I was freaked. Out.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.”</em></strong></div><strong><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― Epictetus, c. 100</em></div></em></strong><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Where does that sense of terror come from?</p><p>It’s certainly within our genetic programming to avoid danger. The old “fight or flight” response is well documented throughout the animal species.</p><p>But that kind of irrational response to nothing: what is that?</p><p>I think it’s a combination of two powerful forces at work ― two forces that are beyond our command:</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3 style="text-align: center;"><em>We fear the </em><strong><em>unknown </em></strong><em>and we fear </em><strong><em>what we can't control</em></strong><em>.</em></h3><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>How positively and uniquely human is that?</p><p>Humans have been blessed with consciousness, such that we know there are things we don't know (well, <em>most</em> of us, anyway). We’re aware that there is more out there that may be looming, waiting for us. And it is terrifying.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>Absence of the Familiar</h2><p>In a situation similar to the lake-diving incident, I recall the first time I was on a cruise ship and we were out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. </p><p>I stepped onto the deck one evening close to midnight, and looked out into the distance. It was a cloudy night, so there were no stars, no moon, no ambient light. It was pitch black and I was looking into nothingness. </p><p>And it was terrifying to me.</p><p>It was that same sense of dread, feeling enveloped by the unknown. In this case, fear was borne not through the presence of something, but the absence of it. </p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>In the past, we’ve talked about death (a morbid but real topic). There’s been a natural connection between fear and death for as long as humans have been aware of their mortality.</p><p>If you look at all of the anti-aging products and services available, it’s clear that our desire is to prolong our lives for as long as possible.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“The thing I fear most is fear… Those who are in pressing fear of losing their property, of being exiled, of being subjugated, live in constant anguish, losing even the capacity to drink, eat, and rest; whereas the poor, the exiles, and the slaves often live as joyfully as other men. And so many people who, unable to endure the pangs of fear, have hanged themselves, drowned themselves, or leaped to their death, have taught us well that fear is even more unwelcome and unbearable than death itself.”</em></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― Michel de Montaigne, 1580</em></div></em><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Yes, we know humans fear many things ― more recently <strong>government corruption</strong> <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/americas-top-fears-2018/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">topped the list in 2018</a> and <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2022/10/14/the-top-10-fears-in-america-2022/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">has again in 2022</a> ― and death is a perennial favorite. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":429,"width":961,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":71233,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="429" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd65844ee-006e-461f-a400-8509fad8fc7d_961x429.png 1456w" width="961" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>But consider the <em>manner</em> of death that many people have an irrational fear of.</p><p>Things like shark attacks and airplane crashes. Both scary things, right? But also both unlikely things.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>I could share all of the available statistics on each of these things to show how rare they are and how silly it is to be concerned about them, from a rational standpoint. But it wouldn’t matter. </p><p>Why not?</p><p>Because regardless of how uncommon these events are, they both have something in common: <strong>they’re out of our control</strong>.</p><p>You have no control over when or where the great white shark does its hunting. </p><p>When you’re in a metal tube, hurtling through the air at 600 mph six miles above the earth’s surface, you can’t determine what will happen.</p><p>At the same time, why worry about it? If you can't do anything to change it, it's wasted energy.</p><p>And as Montaigne knew, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/17/montaigne-philosophy-death" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>when your fears of death consume you, you can’t enjoy life</strong></a>. </p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>When placed in situations with grizzly bears, mean horses or gunfighters, <strong>Theodore Roosevelt</strong> was afraid at first. And then, as he wrote in his <em>Autobiography</em> he discovered that he could become fearless through practice: </p><blockquote><p>“<strong><em>by acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid</em></strong>.” </p></blockquote><p>It’s another way of saying “fake it ’til you make it,” but TR was spot on: <strong>practice the skills you want to grow</strong>.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”</em></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― Mark Twain, 1894</em></div></em><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>What about the things you <strong><em>do</em></strong> have control over?</p><p>We all like to think that we have some semblance of control over our government (although lately, that’s up for debate). Elections give us the opportunity to express our desires, hopes, fears, and outrages.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><div class="pullquote"><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“Fear itself these days is America’s top-selling consumer product, available 24-7 as a mobile app with color-coded pop-ups in all shades of the paranoid rainbow.”</em></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― Lewis H. Lapham, 2017</em></div></em><p></p></div><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>If you’ve been following along over the last few years, you may have noticed politicians ― typically on one side of the spectrum ― who make it their business <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201612/fear-and-anxiety-drive-conservatives-political-attitudes" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>to make you afraid and angry</strong></a>. Fentanyl in your child’s Halloween candy, criminals freely flowing over our borders, IRS agents coming for you (all <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2022/oct/16/republican-talking-points-midterms-robert-reich" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>nonsense</strong></a>). </p><p>Why? </p><p>There’s power in fear. </p><p>When you have power, you can control things ― or at least, that’s the perception. And by gaining more control, you can lessen some of your own fears.</p><p><br /></p><h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Motivating and Inspiring Your Team</h2><p>In <a href="https://amzn.to/2wqxC3W" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>Only the Paranoid Survive</em></strong></a> (1996), the late Intel executive <strong>Andrew Grove</strong> wrote about <strong>creating a passion for winning</strong> in the marketplace, and suggested that “<em>fear plays a major role in maintaining such passion</em>.”</p><p>While no one wants to be part of a losing team, the way Grove articulated it was akin to creating a set of neuroses among employees: “fear of competition, fear of bankruptcy, fear of being wrong, and fear of losing.” </p><p>He seemed to focus only on the <strong>threats</strong> and <strong>weaknesses</strong> in the classic <strong>SWOT</strong> analysis.</p><p>This is almost as if to invite a corps of Cassandras to your team. If you recall from mythology, <strong>Cassandra </strong>was the Chicken Little of Troy: her constant (accurate) fears and predictions of the future were dismissed by all.</p><p>It's natural to be wary of threats and changes to the environment around us. But to live and operate in abject fear is destructive to morale.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p><strong>Charles Schwab</strong> knew how to deal with people. In the classic <a href="https://amzn.to/2PaRWNs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><em>How to Win Friends and Influence People</em></a> (1936), <strong>Dale Carnegie</strong> recalls Schwab's approach:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among the men to be the greatest asset I possess, and the way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><p>When we help our teams trust us and build mutual trust between us, we create an opportunity to rely on each other. And when we tell them about the potential we see in them, we inspire them to become more.</p><p>Stephen M.R. Covey spoke had some sage advice along these lines in the “<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/trust-and-inspire" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Trust and Inspire</strong></a>” episode of <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/trust-and-inspire" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>Timeless Leadership</em></strong></a>:</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="1619" data-dashlane-rid="98f4c1167c89b253" data-form-type="other" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/24241974/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/424242/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">The world can be a scary place, certainly. It can also be a hopeful, helpful place. It depends on where you put your attention.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><div class="image2-inset"><picture><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png" target="_blank"><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":383,"width":700,"resizeWidth":448,"bytes":114058,"alt":"","title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="245.12" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa7f9fba2-5c72-4540-ae48-334388c3b569_700x383.png 1456w" title="" width="448" /></a></picture></div></figure></div><p> </p><p><br /></p><hr /><h4 style="color: #333333; font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members get extras, such as exclusive essays and monthly leadership calls.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join tens of thousands of others on this journey:</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><center><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="1607" 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></center></h4>

When Fear Works ― and When it Doesn't

 Leadership is about inspiration, not intimidation “We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears.” ― La Rochefoucau...

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Why Do Leaders Encourage Questions?

<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdbUTfGVG6apQFktq7GqsxdnBkePucv4X9XOsFe3WR6NuNOy5hu9y3WTD63fPd4OZQTqs3AU535ZpL0y1mw99_0I9nRk9Q0FXq9HiqZ1R2LGwQAjj1HEA7kc0TYszNucHF-DIcgeABZJJyJd_frEJfaMnqDaU38wog6qtSZStTz5PR2hKf2UyTj3l/s1024/Questions.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="649" data-original-width="1024" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdbUTfGVG6apQFktq7GqsxdnBkePucv4X9XOsFe3WR6NuNOy5hu9y3WTD63fPd4OZQTqs3AU535ZpL0y1mw99_0I9nRk9Q0FXq9HiqZ1R2LGwQAjj1HEA7kc0TYszNucHF-DIcgeABZJJyJd_frEJfaMnqDaU38wog6qtSZStTz5PR2hKf2UyTj3l/w640-h406/Questions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Something we should be asking ourselves</h3><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.”</em></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Socrates, c. 430 BC</em></div></em><p></p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Did you ever notice how the best leaders ask a lot of questions?</p><p>(See what I did there?)</p><p>Now, let’s be clear. This isn’t the same thing as the “<em>I’m just asking questions</em>” brigade, who attempt to camouflage their insidious implications as if they’re engaging in some high-minded Socratic discussion.</p><p>The seemingly innocent “I’m just asking questions” method is designed to introduce doubt or misinformation, thus keeping their intellectual rudder stuck on a collision course with the shoals of their own worldview.</p><p>In contrast, those who ask questions sincerely and openly are attuned to and prepared for whatever responses they receive, allowing the new information to steer them to new shores of knowledge and perspectives.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><hr /><p></p><h1><strong>The Socratic Method</strong></h1><p>We’ve all heard of the <strong>Socratic method</strong>. The Athenian philosopher and teacher regarded probity and inquisitiveness as the highest order of virtues.</p><p>Socrates engaged in dialogues with his students (we can thank <strong>Plato</strong> for documenting them), often turning to questions. And some of these categories of questioning are relevant to leaders today.</p><p>Leaders who ask questions show that they want to learn more and that they want to help others learn at the same time.</p><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>Socratic Questioning For Leaders </h2><h3><strong>Clarification</strong></h3><p>Something simple and open-ended can elicit more information. It helps your team think more deeply about what they are asking, and in some cases, it can give them the ability to answer their own question.</p><p>Examples of clarifying questions/statements:</p><ul><li><p>“Tell me more.”</p></li><li><p>“What does this mean?”</p></li><li><p>“Can you give me an example?”</p></li></ul><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Testing Assumptions</strong></h3><p>It’s never easy to rethink our positions. But when faced with gentle questions that test the foundations of an argument, together we might find out more to inform our situation.</p><ul><li><p>“What else could we assume?”</p></li><li><p>“What would happen if…?”</p></li></ul><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Exploring Rationale</strong></h3><p>When your team gives you a rationale for their arguments, there’s an opportunity to explore their reasoning rather than assume it is a given.</p><ul><li><p>“Why is that happening?”</p></li><li><p>“What evidence is there to support your position?”</p></li></ul><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Implications and Consequences</strong></h3><p>When presented with a scenario, plan, or forecast, its helpful to get the team to think through the logical next steps.</p><ul><li><p>“Does the data make sense?”</p></li><li><p>“How do your assertions fit with the variables [market conditions, competitive landscape, etc.]?”</p></li><li><p>“What are the consequences of that assumption?”</p></li></ul><div class="preformatted-block" data-component-name="PreformattedTextBlockToDOM"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h3><strong>Reversing the Question</strong></h3><p>One of the hallmarks of Socratic dialogue is answering a question with a question. This reflexive approach relieves the leader of the responsibility to have all of the answers (we often don’t have the answers) and empowers the team member.</p><ul><li><p>“What do <em>you</em> think it means?”</p></li><li><p>“Why do you think I asked this question?”</p></li></ul><br /><hr /><br /><p>I’ve collected a handful of resources that will help you think about <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/more-questions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>at least 50 questions you could be asking yourself</strong></a> on a regular basis, if you’re interested in improvement.</p><p><br /></p><h1 data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>Questions = Growth</strong></h1><p>To learn is to grow, and we can’t learn without asking questions.</p><p>When leaders are comfortable asking and answering questions, it creates a culture of growth.</p><p>Questions are a source of data and information, which we can apply to the problems and challenges at hand. Once we have new information, we are then armed to make important decisions.</p><p>Think of the alternative: moving along at the same pace, with no new information and less ability to solve problems, we remain mired in confusion and uncertainty.</p><p>Without questions, there is no change.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><hr /><h1><strong>“I drank <em>what</em>?”</strong></h1><p>Even at the end of his life, <strong>Socrates</strong> grappled with conflicting decisions by facing questions. He was found guilty of corrupting the city’s youth and straying from its approved theologies.</p><p>In the month between his conviction and execution, he considered the two alternatives, as told in <strong>Plato’s</strong> <strong><em>Crito</em></strong>: exile or death. But rather than face off in a Q&A session with Crito, Socrates instead has a hypothetical conversation with the <strong>Laws of Athens</strong>.</p><p>The Laws remind Socrates of one of his fundamental ethical principles: “<strong><em>neither to do wrong nor to return a wrong is ever right, not even to injure in return for an injury received</em></strong>.”</p><p>And so, they ask Socrates if his escape from prison would harm the Laws and the civic community, imputing that it would be more than civil disobedience; it would be tantamount to destroying the Laws themselves.</p><p>And if a city is not faithful to the rule of law — that is, <strong><em>if it allows a prominent individual like Socrates or other aristocrats to violate the law without consequence</em></strong> — it abandons legal principles for favoritism.</p><p>Moreover, if Socrates escaped and joined other disobedient criminals in a corrupt city of exiles, Crito wonders if it would be worth it. Socrates answers the question: living as a criminal and with criminals is worse than dying under the rule of law.</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://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH33S7nCz-36rQNo36tz4tKHUOI_jJPEB70U64GFlAVOKBWkfxgn9J_wzTksG8CES25rf3PquVCUODUYLbs8y1ZPOz-HarVzhDmob2_N2-QEJvQdK2Ju8XCEGsNrVdAH2_fz3-xFLMfHZfJzaYoLEjElSdrc84t7tUh2bDNeDUALIVU-LCwdGivUh/s1199/Jacques-Louis%20David%20-%20The%20Death%20of%20Socrates.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1199" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH33S7nCz-36rQNo36tz4tKHUOI_jJPEB70U64GFlAVOKBWkfxgn9J_wzTksG8CES25rf3PquVCUODUYLbs8y1ZPOz-HarVzhDmob2_N2-QEJvQdK2Ju8XCEGsNrVdAH2_fz3-xFLMfHZfJzaYoLEjElSdrc84t7tUh2bDNeDUALIVU-LCwdGivUh/w640-h420/Jacques-Louis%20David%20-%20The%20Death%20of%20Socrates.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;"><i>The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David</i>, 1787 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Socrates#/media/File:David_-_The_Death_of_Socrates.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> - public domain)</span></figcaption></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">When we ask questions, we don’t always get the answers we want or expect.</p><p>We owe it to ourselves to listen to those answers with open minds.</p><p>And to ask questions in the first place. </p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"%%checkout_url%%","text":"Subscribe now","action":null,"class":null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link is-viewable-img image2" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source sizes="100vw" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 1456w" type="image/webp"></source><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":383,"width":700,"resizeWidth":460,"bytes":114058,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null,"belowTheFold":true,"topImage":false,"internalRedirect":null}" height="251.68571428571428" loading="lazy" sizes="100vw" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F39320693-b5a8-4218-8899-1b7fa6aafe1c_700x383.png 1456w" width="460" /></picture><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><br /></p><h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>What would you say to a bonus?</strong></h2><p>The next time you finish a presentation, instead of asking your audience, “<em>Do you have any questions?</em>” instead try asking: “<strong><em>What questions do you have for me?</em></strong>”</p><p>It’s much easier eliciting questions from an open-ended question rather than from one for which the answer could easily be “No.”</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><h4 style="font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members get extras, such as exclusive essays and monthly leadership calls.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></p><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">Join tens of thousands of others on this journey:</div><div style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><center><iframe data-dashlane-frameid="9616" 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></center></h4></div><p><br /></p>

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