Scott Monty: Timeless and Timely

Do You Believe in Magic?

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGjDSxZ08qQ/XntvWEdVwII/AAAAAAABMTU/oIR41zYH6wAmbMKmC3cMERbR7G2inlqsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/David%2BTeniers%2B-%2BThe%2Bmagician%2Bdiscovers%2BCarlos%2Band%2BUbaldo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="1024" height="444" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGjDSxZ08qQ/XntvWEdVwII/AAAAAAABMTU/oIR41zYH6wAmbMKmC3cMERbR7G2inlqsQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/David%2BTeniers%2B-%2BThe%2Bmagician%2Bdiscovers%2BCarlos%2Band%2BUbaldo.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Teniers_(II)_-_The_magician_discovers_Carlos_and_Ubaldo,_the_whereabouts_of_Reinaldo_(The_search_for_Reinaldo).jpg">The magician discovers Carlos and Ubaldo, the whereabouts of Reinaldo (The search for Reinaldo)</a> by David Teniers the Younger, 1629 (public domain - Wikipedia)</td></tr>
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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." — Arthur C. Clarke, 1968 
 
 
 
If you have the 1965 song by The Lovin' Spoonful as an ear-worm now, I'm sorry. 
 
But I ask the question for a reason. 
 
In trying times we need to believe in something. 
 
I'm not suggesting that magic is a stand-in for religion or other spiritual beliefs. 
 
Rather, it represents our ability to suspend disbelief — even if just for a few moments — to revel in something mystical, otherworldly, or wondrous. 
 
Magic has the power to unite us in awe and wonder, as we either marvel at something inexplicable or attempt to unravel the secret behind the illusion. 
 
Think of the times that you've seen magic shows, whether the rabbit-out-of-the-hat kind at birthday parties when you were a child, street performers who dazzle you with the cup and ball trick, or master illusionists on a Las Vegas stage. 
 
We invite magical things into our lives, to distract us or to help create an illusion of something fanciful. 
 
Think about the aptly-named Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. Strolling down Main Street USA, you're magically transported to a 1910s-era America. The architecture changes as you enter Tomorrowland, or Frontierland, or Adventureland. You're meant to believe. 
 
 
"'Tis magic, magic, that hath ravished me." — Christopher Marlowe, 1590 
 
 
Thus Doctor Faustus admits that he is enraptured by magic, as it promises "a world of profit and delight, of power, of honor, and omnipotence." 
 
Just as the back pages of comic books promised generations of young girls and boys: "Amaze your friends! Baffle your relatives!" 
 
We stand ready to believe that we can make believers out of others. 
 
Humanity has a long history of believing in magic—or at least of telling stories about magic. 
 
<ul>
<li>In The Odyssey (c. 1190 BC), we find Odysseus and his men were delayed on their journey home, in part because of spells, enchantments, or other magic used on them by Circe, Calypso, and the Sirens.</li>
<li>Apuleius' Metamorphoses (c. 160 AD) follow the adventures of Lucius, who is turned into an ass.</li>
<li>The legend of King Arthur (1136) is not complete without the central figure of Merlin, the wizard.</li>
<li>And speaking of wizards, how much Dorothy and her friends wanted to believe the Wizard of Oz (1900) could help them, even after "that man behind the curtain" was exposed.</li>
</ul>
 
 
It's a universal human trait—one that spans the globe over millennia—to put meaning around things that we don't understand or that are outside of our control. 
 
And in the past, when we couldn't explain something, we called it magic. 
 
In some cases, we did so because those who wanted to believe didn't have the ability to elucidate what they saw, while the more skeptical among them applied the term "magic" simply as a catch-all phrase. 
 
It seems like a pretty stark dichotomy: the believer and the skeptic. If you've been following the news in recent weeks, that's exactly how people have lined up with regard to the coronavirus. 
 
It would seem laughable—perhaps even downright fictional—if we didn't see these opposing views play out right in front of us. 
 
And yet, there's a story from 100 years ago about two friends whose friendship was destroyed because of how fervently they each dug in. 
 
 
"The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder." — Glen Gould, 1982 
 
 
In 1920, two of the biggest celebrities of the day met each other: Illusionist Harry Houdini and author <a href="https://amzn.to/2y0lSWD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Arthur Conan Doyle</a>. Both shared an interest in spiritualism. 
 
Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, would seem to be an unlikely believer in spiritualism; after all, he created the foremost logical and rational thinker the world has ever seen. But after his oldest son died in World War I, Conan Doyle became deeply interested in life after death and became a tireless evangelist for the cause. 
 
He was no stranger to the fantastical; he used the famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies">Cottingly Fairies</a> photographs to illustrate an article he had written for The Strand Magazine in 1920. It wasn't until 1983 that the girls who made them revealed that they were faked. 
 
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1A7AUFnrP-o/XntzYZSJbYI/AAAAAAABMTg/1WWxm4J645kqnv7t4JOqs9hk054QvJT0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Cottingley_Fairies_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="381" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1A7AUFnrP-o/XntzYZSJbYI/AAAAAAABMTg/1WWxm4J645kqnv7t4JOqs9hk054QvJT0ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Cottingley_Fairies_1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Cottingly Fairies (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cottingley_Fairies_1.jpg">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
Houdini, on the other hand (whose birthday was yesterday), seemed the perfect match for the supernatural. He was a noted escape artist and illusionist who made people believe he had special powers. 
 
What brought these two men together was Houdini's desire to contact his dear mother, who had passed away in 1913. He had been overseas when she died and felt that hearing from her one last time would help him deal with the overwhelming loss. 
 
After two years of correspondence and a meeting of the Society of American Magicians in June of 1922 in Atlantic City, Conan Doyle held a séance with Houdini, to contact his mother. 
 
Arthur Conan Doyle's wife Jean served as the medium, being "seized by the Spirit," beginning with drawing a sign of the cross after asking the unseen presence if it believed in God. What followed was fifteen pages of scribbled messages from what she claimed was Houdini's mother. 
 
Houdini, who so deeply missed his mother, desperately wanted to believe. But logic told him otherwise: the scribbled notes were all in English; his mother spoke German. She would not have made the sign of the cross; she was Jewish. 
 
The common bonds that they two forged over spiritualism were broken forever, and their correspondence devolved into dueling letters columns in newspapers. 
 
 
"To ensure the adoration of a theorem for any length of time, faith is not enough; a police force is needed as well." — Albert Camus, 1951 
 
 
The reason I chose magic as a topic this week was because I came across the phrase "wave a magic wand" in stories about the coronavirus crisis. Donald G. McNeil, Jr., the New York Times reporter who covers plagues and pestilences, said in "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-restrictions-us.html">The Virus Can Be Stopped, but Only With Harsh Steps, Experts Say</a>" and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/24/podcasts/the-daily/coronavirus.html">March 23 edition of The Daily</a> that epidemiologists said the epidemic would end “If it were possible to wave a magic wand and make all Americans freeze in place for 14 days.” 
 
It shows the wishful thinking and likely inability for Americans to apply the kind of self-discipline that other countries have enacted. This isn't going to happen naturally, so we seemingly need to turn to the supernatural to see us through. 
 
Think of the ways we believe our leadership is supposed to protect us. Or at least how the various parts of public and private industry are supposed to be connected. How much faith do we put into our current system? 
 
Is it any surprise then that magic creeps its way into conversation? 
 
 
"The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature—and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection." — Friederich Nietzsche, 1878 
 
 
The human mind, as complex as it is, can be manipulated. In fact, Teller (of Penna and Teller fame) even revealed his secrets with his <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/teller-reveals-his-secrets-100744801/">Seven Laws of Magic</a>: 
<ol>
<li>Exploit pattern recognition</li>
<li>Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick seems worth</li>
<li>It's hard to think critically when you're laughing</li>
<li>Keep the trickery outside the frame</li>
<li>To fool the mind, combine at least two tricks</li>
<li>Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself</li>
<li>If you are given a choice, you believe you have acted freely</li>
</ol>
 
 
Consider each of those seven principles for a moment. They could just as easily apply to magic, management, or public health, couldn't they? 
 
Exploit pattern recognition 
Pattern recognition is what epidemiologists study; by creating routines or expectations, we can guide employee behavior. 
 
Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick seems worth 
When someone takes more time, money and practice to do something, you're more likely to believe. Testing and monitoring is a key part of tracking disease. Employee advocacy depends on the training and culture you build around it. 
 
It's hard to think critically when you're laughing 
Making something fun takes the drudgery out of a task. It's equally as difficult to think critically when you're panicked. 
 
Keep the trickery outside the frame 
We don’t need to see a debate about numbers, process, or staffing. Doing so spoils the illusion of a well-managed team. If you can present a fully-formed plan and demonstrate results, you'll impress your audience. 
 
To fool the mind, combine at least two tricks 
If we participate in a set of actions and they're rolled into what we're already doing, it's less likely that we'll notice what's happening. We've seen this demonstrated in past weeks as people have been instructed to sing a song while washing their hands. 
 
Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself 
What you choose to reveal to people can convince them of what you need them to know or believe. In some cases, we don't need to show them everything, but only essential elements that allow them to make discoveries themselves. 
 
If you are given a choice, you believe you have acted freely 
No one likes to feel as if they've been forced to do something, whether it's being quarantined or having to take an employee survey. If we can find ways to allow people to reach these conclusions or make decisions themselves, it's more likely to stick. 
 
 
"Nothing is so easy as to deceive one's self; for what we wish, that we readily believe." — Demosthenes, 349 BC 
 
 
These are strange times, my friends. We need to find inspiration and belief anywhere we can get it. 
 
Do you believe in magic? 
 
 
This originally appeared in the March 25 issue of the <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/" style="color: #280170; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter. To see the newsletter in its entirety, including links, recommended books, and more, <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/do-you-believe-in-magic" style="color: #280170; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">please click here</a>. 
 
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Do You Believe in Magic?

The magician discovers Carlos and Ubaldo, the whereabouts of Reinaldo (The search for Reinaldo) by David Teniers the Younger, 1629 (publi...

Pulling Together — Separately

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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxRdtdRI3Hc/XnGoamuhKkI/AAAAAAABMLk/EcXCWh5QntAxr3F-lKB0eFXEhhkTSSZswCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Edward%2BHopper%2BRedux%2B-%2BNighthawks%2BQuarantined%2B2020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="880" height="344" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NxRdtdRI3Hc/XnGoamuhKkI/AAAAAAABMLk/EcXCWh5QntAxr3F-lKB0eFXEhhkTSSZswCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Edward%2BHopper%2BRedux%2B-%2BNighthawks%2BQuarantined%2B2020.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
 
<hr />
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" — Herman Melville, 1856</div>
 
<hr />
 
 
With those words ends the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street." 
 
The story was a tale of a clerk/copyist in a law firm who eagerly took a job, but eventually refused to do the work that his employer demanded of him, responding always with "I would prefer not to." 
 
The lawyer eventually moved out, but Bartleby remained and new tenants found him there, always preferring not to do what they asked him to do. He ended his days in prison, dying of starvation because he preferred not to eat. 
 
Themes of isolation and depression recur throughout Melville’s story, and they reflect a life and workplace that was becoming more common in the mid-1800s. 
 
And we're seeing them play out again in the present day. 
 
Before the coronavirus / COVID-19 crisis hit, the open office was becoming more accepted; over the last five years it rose in popularity. 
 
Really, it wasn't that much different from office settings in the past, where there was a large room, and desks were laid out next to each other. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VmYX99LpkZI/XnGo6v0GP9I/AAAAAAABMLs/sVGV4CQ8FIoabINmhJQOYClCaJz9IG2ZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/1200px-Blythe_House_preparing_totals_for_daily_balance_1930s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VmYX99LpkZI/XnGo6v0GP9I/AAAAAAABMLs/sVGV4CQ8FIoabINmhJQOYClCaJz9IG2ZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/1200px-Blythe_House_preparing_totals_for_daily_balance_1930s.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blythe_House_preparing_totals_for_daily_balance_1930s.JPG" target="_blank">Blythe House preparing totals for daily balance 1930s</a> (public domain - Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
The difference in modern times of course is that everyone is sitting at their station with noise-cancelling headphones on, blocking each other out. 
 
Now, we're seeing large swaths of employees working from home, (in)voluntarily practicing social distancing from humanity. 
 
With the array of technologies at our disposal, it's not surprising that it's easier than ever to accommodate remote work. In fact, some think that this crisis may result in <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/14/how-coronoavirus-could-lead-to-a-permanent-remote-workforce/">a permanent remote workforce</a>. 
 
While the flexibility and freedom may seem enticing, there are concerns. As we saw with Bartleby, <a href="https://qz.com/1815671/coronavirus-is-making-older-people-even-lonelier/">isolation can lead to depression, particularly in the elderly</a>. 
 
When working from home, it's important to take steps to remain connected with humanity, whether it's by taking walks outside, picking up the phone, <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2018/11/human-emotions-win-every-time.html">writing letters</a>, or video calls. 
 
You probably recognize the painting above — it's a ghost of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. The <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111628/nighthawks">original</a> has three patrons sitting at a diner counter and the busboy behind it. Themes of loneliness and predators have been associated with it. 
 
Someone Photoshopped the original, removing each of the humans, and creating a surreal yet accurate portrayal of restaurants today, as closures hit. 
 
Hopper was known for his paintings of lone individuals, with recurring themes of solitude, loneliness, regret, boredom, and resignation. Themes that will become part of our lives as we practice social distancing and remote working. 
 
Someone on Twitter wasted no time in noting that life is imitating art: 
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
we are all edward hopper paintings now <a href="https://t.co/gpcmSiavkD">pic.twitter.com/gpcmSiavkD</a></div>
— Michael Tisserand (@m_tisserand) <a href="https://twitter.com/m_tisserand/status/1239618422079660034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
 
The process to get us to embrace social distancing has been anything but smooth. Even now, people are still finding it hard to wrap their heads around. 
 
There's a certain swath of humanity that will always look out for one another (more about them in a moment). 
 
But there are others who simply don't seem to care — <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/newt-gingrich-i-am-italy-amid-coronavirus-crisis-america-must-act-now-act-big-opinion-1492270">until they're personally affected</a>. 
 
Just yesterday, as many states (including the bordering Ohio) were closing down restaurants, the governor of West Virginia was <a href="https://twitter.com/adamkraymond/status/1239639462696685568">encouraging people to go to them</a>: "Go to the grocery stores. If you want to go to Bob Evans and eat, go to Bob Evans and eat." 
 
At the time, West Virginia had no known cases of COVID-19. Today, with their first case, he reversed course. 
 
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The bottom line is this: <a href="https://medium.com/the-full-monty/individualism-has-no-place-in-a-pandemic-57af9c587e7a">Individualism has no place in a pandemic</a>. 
 
We are better than this. 
 
<hr />
 
 "However selfish man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others." — Adam Smith, 1759 
 
 
<hr />
 
Have you noticed how, in times of disaster, society seems to simply do the right thing? Such as when the Twin Towers came crashing down on September 11, 2001, and the whole world seemed to act in solidarity with America? 
 
Or more recently when the cathedral of Notre Dame suffered a massive fire, how the world watched in horror and then pledged to fix it? 
 
In Adam Smith's <a href="https://amzn.to/2x0tcBb">The Theory of Moral Sentiments</a>, he contrasted man's selfishness with his ability to put humanity first. He asked us to think of an earthquake in China and how a man of humanity in Europe might respond. 
 
He would first express sorrow for their misfortune, then he might consider how it would affect the commerce of Europe and the world more broadly. But he'd sleep fairly soundly. 
 
But he goes on to wonder: 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"When we are always so much more deeply affected by whatever concerns ourselves than by whatever concerns other men, what is it which prompts the generous, upon all occasions, and the mean upon many, to sacrifice their own interests to the greater interests of others? It is not the soft power of humanity, it is not that feeble spark of benevolence which nature has lighted up in the human heart that is thus capable of counteracting the strongest impulses of self-love. It is a stronger power, a more forcible motive, which exerts itself upon such occasions. It is reason, principle, conscience, the inhabitant of the breast, the man within, the great judge and arbiter of our conduct."</blockquote>
 
Ah humanity! There it is again. 
 
It manages to seep through, regardless of any external force, natural or man-made, that tries to suppress it. 
 
Empathy and compassion are a package deal with us. 
 
It's not uncommon to find altruism in a disaster zone. At the height of the Cold War, experts worried that a nuclear disaster would destroy social bonds and throw communities into chaos. And then, a devastating earthquake in Alaska showed that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-disaster-response.html">natural disasters could bring out more kindness than selfishness</a>. 
 
 
<hr />
 
Related: <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/the-superpower-in-every-leader.html">The Superpower in Every Leader</a> 
 
<hr />
 
 
It shouldn't surprise you then, to learn that already companies have begun to get ahead of this crisis by making gestures that acknowledge the difficult times ahead. 
 
These include Comcast and T-Mobile making unlimited data available to all customers; publishers like the Washington Post, New York Times, and The Atlantic all making their coronavirus coverage accessible behind the paywall; and Uber Eats suspending fees. 
 
In fact, the list was growing so quickly, I created a Google Doc to capture <a href="https://bit.ly/covid-good">Corporate Goodwill Efforts During the COVID-19 Outbreak</a>, and opened it up to the public to edit. 
 
In addition, Jeremiah Owyang and I collaborated on crowdsourcing another document of <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XB4-xLE58vxLfRgottOTKkHksKoFnwEiQf1muXk3LKs/edit?fbclid=IwAR0Vvu0hk31ExId6jgH7aGL74Ky5YWFDK1sq3l1RfMqXXcA0qCSQ84YJGwE">free resources such as software, classes, and online events companies</a>, to help people upskill as they may be facing difficult choices. 
 
 
While there may be pain ahead, so too will there be good. Humanity has battled war and weather, plagues and pestilences, and disasters and depressions, and we've emerged as renewed, resilient, and reinvented. 
 
There's every reason to believe that we'll emerge stronger together on the other side of this. 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is he who shows us the propriety of generosity and the deformity of injustice; the propriety of resigning the greatest interests of our own for the yet greater interests of others, and the deformity of doing the smallest injury to another in order to obtain the greatest benefit to ourselves. It is not the love of our neighbor, it is not the love of mankind, which upon many occasions prompts us to the practice of those divine virtues. It is a stronger love, a more powerful affection which generally takes place upon such occasions, the love of what is honorable and noble, of the grandeur and dignity and superiority of our own characters." — Adam Smith, 1759</blockquote>
 
Courage. Resilience. Kindness. Generosity. 
 
These are the traits of leadership and humanity that will see us through. 
 
-- 
 
This originally appeared in the March 18 issue of the <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/hashtagtimeless" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter. To get the edition that includes links, recommended books, and more, <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/" target="_blank">please click here</a>. 
 
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Pulling Together — Separately

"Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!" — Herman Melville, 1856 With those words ends the short story "Bartleby, the Scrive...

Going Viral

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-veg8sOGcia8/XmhSnOXs1FI/AAAAAAABMHY/HjzDRdHTXws7cx2GiMyNuMkl5IDLckkwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Michel%2BSerre%2B-%2BPeste%2BCours%2BBelsunce%2B1720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1280" height="458" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-veg8sOGcia8/XmhSnOXs1FI/AAAAAAABMHY/HjzDRdHTXws7cx2GiMyNuMkl5IDLckkwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Michel%2BSerre%2B-%2BPeste%2BCours%2BBelsunce%2B1720.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michel_Serre-Peste-Cours_Belsunce.jpg" target="_blank">Vue du Cours pendant la peste de 1720</a> by Michel Serre, 1721 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: It is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science." — Charles Darwin, 1871 
 
 
There was once a dreaded statement / request heard in marketing conference rooms across the corporate world: 
 
 "We need a viral video!" 
 
Now it's more likely to be: 
 
"We need to cancel our conference or event sponsorship because of coronavirus!" 
 
In each case, it's a reactionary statement, uttered after built up frustration or emotion has overtaken other thought processes. 
 
But the two approaches differ in one key area: the level of considered thought that went into each. 
 
With the viral video, it's a GMOOT request ("get me one of those!") that's trying to satisfy the lust for a shiny object. It’s the clarion call of the harried executive, looking for a quick win. 
 
It misses the point that most viral videos are more luck than anything else, and comes across more like a marketing get-rich-quick scheme. You can't shortcut the hard work that goes into developing a community that cares about you. 
 
 
With the many events that have been canceled in recent days, there's been a considerable amount of hand-wringing that's gone into the decisions around events like SXSW. But these hard decisions have been made precisely because we care about the communities we've developed. 
 
As the United States scrambles to update its emergency response to the virus, disruption will be the norm in the weeks ahead. It will affect business, school, and daily life. 
 
 
If you follow how viruses spread online versus how they spread in real life, there's a startling number of parallels there. <a href="https://flip.it/FsY3g7">Seth Godin laid out a few</a>: 
<ul>
<li>They're contagious;</li>
<li>They spread when you don't know if you have the disease;</li>
<li>There's a difference between a virus' impact and its virality; and others.</li>
</ul>
That last point can be visually understood in this illustration from the New York Times: 
 
<a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F466c3570-d6b4-4db0-8b02-021e006540b6_920x544.png"><img height="378" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F466c3570-d6b4-4db0-8b02-021e006540b6_920x544.png" width="640" /></a> 
 
 
 
The reaction we've seen has spanned the spectrum: from the panic-induced runs on toilet paper and hand sanitizer (isn't it amazing how we've suddenly learned the importance of hand-washing?) to the sceptics who view this as a media hoax (impressive that the media has been able to run up the death toll and quarantine multiple countries). 
 
The panic buying isn't helping, nor is the head-in-the-sand approach. 
 
COVID-19 doesn't care about your fears and it doesn't respond to angry tweets or ignorance. It just keeps doing its thing. 
 
If anything, at this time, what's more harmful than an epidemic is an <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/infodemic-when-unreliable-information-spreads-far-and-wide-11583430244?mod=djem10point&fbclid=IwAR2km1aI32sOvH8ddnjW2xyDYfWelbsFzD5ShYPpBmOJdrnNASLTrGC80ic%20">infodemic</a>: when unreliable information spreads far and wide. One of the most important things you can do is to seek out reliable sources of information. [See below for a section of resources.] 
 
But it’s coming. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/10/coronavirus-what-matters-isnt-what-you-can-see-what-you-cant/">This story about lily pads</a> illustrates how it seems like nothing for a while, then hits all at once. 
 
 
 
<h3>
The strongest weapon against a pandemic is the truth.</h3>
The fact is, we're not used to this kind of upheaval, because we've been protected from such disturbances in recent history. But it hasn't always been the case. 
 
<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/medicine/maps/contagion" target="_blank"><img height="473" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b9ac4d2-222a-470e-877c-6d558647ee31_2646x1959.png" width="640" /></a> 
 
In his History of the Peloponnesian Wars, Thucydides chronicled the plague that hit Athens in 430 B.C., wiping out one-third of the city. Without a recognized treatment, there was "utter hopelessness" that led to people losing "their powers of resistance." 
 
In those days, attending physicians knew they could be overruled by the chief resident: death. 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“In the face of the inevitable defeat, nobody was in the business of performing miracles; what they did perform, the patients as well as the doctors, were the acts of kindness tempered with courage, knowing…that the strength to confront suffering was to be found in the thought that you will not die because you are sick but because you are alive.” (“<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/medicine/god-machine">The God Machine</a>”—Lewis Lapham, 2009)</blockquote>
 
 
Daniel Defoe wrote a fictionalized account in A Journal of the Plague Year about London's famous bout with the Black Death in 1665. He noted cancellations of "Plays, Bear Baitings, games, singing of Ballads, Bucker play, or such like causes of Assemblies of People, be utterly prohibited." Londoners also practiced quarantines (called "Sequestration of the Sick"): 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"As soon as any Man shall be found…to be sick of the Plague, he shall the same Night be sequestered in the same House, and in case he be so sequestered, then, though he afterward die not, the House wherein he sickened should be shut up for a month."</blockquote>
 
The 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic was the most severe spread of disease in recent history, with death estimates ranging as high as 50 million worldwide. To give you a sense of relativity, that's more deaths than WWI and WWII combined. 
 
<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/not-even-soldiers-death">Watching the 1918 flu from a ship deck</a> in Willa Cather’s novel One of Ours, we realize how epidemics don't care what our priorities are. Such diseases are "recognized…as an ultimate intervention, an unpredictable factor that reverses plans and disrupts missions." 
 
Then, just as today, the virus doesn't care about your opinions. It only responds to action. 
 
 
 “A pestilence does not have human dimensions, so people tell themselves that it is unreal, that it is a bad dream that will end.” — Albert Camus, 1947 
 
 
Public health, epidemiology and medicine have made significant advances in the last century alone, as has our understanding of them. But there's still a sense of the unknown about an epidemic, which gives rise to fear. (Now would be a good time to review <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2020/02/when-fear-works-and-when-it-doesnt.html">our essay on fear</a> from a few weeks ago.) 
 
What's been fascinating to observe during this time is the leadership, creativity, and community-minded collaboration that's been happening from various individuals and entities. 
 
For example, we've seen companies like <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/employee-management/chipotle-offer-unlimited-pto-enhanced-parental-leave">Chipotle</a> and <a href="https://www.grocerydive.com/news/trader-joes-offers-employees-paid-sick-leave-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/573796/">Trader Joe's</a> offering unlimited paid time off and parental leave to its employees, who as hourly workers, are among the most at-risk financially. They need to be healthy in order to work. 
 
The tech sphere has been pitching in as well: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter all <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/6/21168395/coronavirus-tech-hourly-workers-pay-amazon-google-facebook">pledged to keep paying hourly workers</a>, even if they were told to stay home during the outbreak. 
 
A number of airlines stepped up to ease their rebooking policies and more. Delta in particular gave us a masterclass in executive communication, crisis communication and customer experience with <a href="https://news.delta.com/coronavirus-update-ed-bastian-now-and-always-were-ready-when-you-are">CEO Ed Bastian's heartfelt and thorough letter</a>. In it, he spoke of Delta's decade-long preparation, its cleaning process, and filtration system, in addition to other steps being taken for public peace of mind. 
 
<h3>
Crisis communication principles</h3>
<div data-pm-context="[]">
As far as crisis communications go during a time like this, there are a few essentials to remember:</div>
<ol>
<li>Always rely on credible sources. Whether looking for or providing information, be sure you have information that makes you more trusted.</li>
<li>Be honest. It's okay to be vulnerable in this time; people will understand. Honesty will help keep rumors to a minimum and build a sense of sympathy with and from your audience.</li>
<li>Make recommendations that matter. People need reassurance and they need to be kept from more harm. Reliable information and meaningful action can help them from doing more damage.</li>
<li>Use experts to share information. The last thing people need is an amateur mouthing off like they know everything. Let the adults in the room do their thing.</li>
<li>Consistency of messaging. If multiple spokespeople are saying different things, it's going to hurt your plan. Keep the messaging simple and consistent.</li>
</ol>
<div>
 
 
Drastic measures are necessary as we brace for this together. Such steps may feel like overreaction, but our collective action will help keep the number of cases from spiking and overwhelming our system. 
 
Just as the medical professionals who bravely show up at work with fortitude and compassion in times like these, all of us — leaders in particular — have the chance to lead with empathy. 
 
We should perform acts of kindness tempered with courage. 
 
Every day.</div>
<div>
 </div>
<div>
-- 
 
<h2>
Resources</h2>
Information is our best ally. In addition to corporate responses, individuals have stepped up. 
<ol>
<li>A 17 year-old <a href="https://ncov2019.live/data">created this site</a> to track the spread of COVID-19.</li>
<li>Christopher Penn has been doing a public service every day with his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cspenn/posts/10163487264335122">Lunchtime COVID-19 updates</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/">This site has a comprehensive set of cases</a> broken down by country with powerful graphs that tell the story of what's happening.</li>
</ol>
 
Please remember: practice social distancing and frequent and thorough hand washing. 
 
This originally appeared in the March 11 issue of the <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/hashtagtimeless" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter. To see the newsletter in its entirety, including links, recommended books, and more, <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/going-viral" target="_blank">please click here</a>. 
 
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Simplicity Itself

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-unJ1NzDtcjg/XlakwF0A4OI/AAAAAAABLxo/uct60_rb3Ksqa-js9O54mu6mB4ldoxp7gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/William%2BJ%2BBradford%2B-%2BOff%2Bthe%2BGreenland%2BCoast%2Bunder%2Bthe%2BMidnight%2BSun%2B1873.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="956" height="428" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-unJ1NzDtcjg/XlakwF0A4OI/AAAAAAABLxo/uct60_rb3Ksqa-js9O54mu6mB4ldoxp7gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/William%2BJ%2BBradford%2B-%2BOff%2Bthe%2BGreenland%2BCoast%2Bunder%2Bthe%2BMidnight%2BSun%2B1873.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_J_Bradford,_Off_the_Greenland_Coast_under_the_Midnight_Sun,_1873.jpg">Off the Greenland Coast Under the Midnight Sun</a> by William J. Bradford, 1873 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
"I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex." ― Oscar Wilde, 1891 
 
Last week, we talked about <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/when-fear-works-and-when-it-doesnt">fear</a> and how <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/when-fear-works-and-when-it-doesnt">leadership works better with inspiration than intimidation</a>. 
 
And our paying subscribers read about physical and organizational structures, what's spoken and unspoken, and that each affect how a leader is viewed. 
 
The connection between these two topics? How we treat others in our lives, whether they're employees, colleagues, friends, or family. 
 
None of this is rocket science. It comes down to maxims we've heard for millennia: the Golden Rule, listening more than speaking, and long-term thinking. 
 
These are some of the hallmarks of great leaders. 
 
But there's another ability of great leaders that's worth spending some time thinking about. Along with having good communications skills, they're usually good strategists. 
 
What lies at the intersection between these two strengths is a true talent: 
 
Making the complex seem simple. 
 
 
There's great power in simplicity: 
 
<ul>
<li>When you boil down a complicated problem to its core, you can help other people address an issue. </li>
<li>When you make a user experience more intuitive, it results in more widespread adoption.</li>
<li>When you use language that people can understand without pulling out a dictionary, people will trust and like you more.</li>
</ul>
 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"More and more, informal language is building trust, not destroying it." </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
― Ron Tite, 2019 (<a href="https://amzn.to/2VqaVr2">Think Do Say</a>)</div>
 
 
We've got a temptation to make things more complex than simple. Part of it is a self-preservation mechanism: like academics who use unnecessarily flowery language in peer-reviewed journals, it's a matter of elevating ourselves to seem smarter and "own" the topic. 
 
But when you're trying to motivate a workforce, inform investors, or connect with customers, they have one simple request: eschew obfuscation. 
 
That is, just tell me what you do, plain and simple. 
 
I was fortunate to serve fairly closely with a CEO whose style was all about simplicity. Not in a dumbed-down way, but in a friendly, collaborative sort of way. He ensured that everyone understood the company's mission and how they fit into the complex matrix of a global organization. 
 
He knew that it was his job to meet employees where they were – physically, and philosophically – and bring them to where he wanted them to go. 
 
That CEO was Alan Mulally, and his strategic plan for Ford Motor Company was called "<a href="https://www.slideshare.net/scottmonty/one-ford-strategy">One Ford</a>." It was quite simple: One Team, One Plan, One Goal – an exciting and viable Ford delivering profitable growth for all. 
 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7busMey67I/XlaldnrZgsI/AAAAAAABLxw/80qjuNB8CPAEoF7jQIESiHVz34t9OhK8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/one-ford-strategy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="638" height="466" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W7busMey67I/XlaldnrZgsI/AAAAAAABLxw/80qjuNB8CPAEoF7jQIESiHVz34t9OhK8QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/one-ford-strategy.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
 
Sure, the details below each section made it a little longer. But it was in plain language that fit on an I.D. card. Everyone could recite it, because the message was so simple, and because Alan spent so much time repeating it to everyone. 
 
Not too long ago, Alan told me, "If you want to be successful, you have to have a plan, and you have to communicate the plan."  
 
Alan knew that simple communication was the most effective. How refreshing when everything else around us is complicated. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
“One should use common words to say uncommon things.”  </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
– Arthur Schopenhauer, 1818</div>
 
 
In addition to the importance of simplicity and clarity in your communication, it also helps to be able to address challenges and obstacles the same way. When you're mired in the day-to-day details of running your business, sometimes it can be difficult to see the bigger picture. 
 
This is why some leaders like to bring in consultants with an outside perspective. A fresh look from someone with a different set of experiences can be a real eye-opener. 
 
This is the kind of work that I love doing. When a client brings me in, lays all the facts before me, and I have a chance to ask questions, there's a moment when I immediately see how to help them. A true light bulb moment. 
 
I like to think of such advisory work like dispensing common sense. 
 
The dilemma is that I can't say that I dispense common sense. Because everyone thinks they have common sense – and indeed they do. But when you're so close to a project or topic, it can be difficult to separate yourself from it enough to get the wider picture or <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/innovation-by-perspective">a different perspective</a>. 
 
Here's a perfect example of how this played out between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in "The Adventure of the Dancing Men": 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“So, Watson,” said he, suddenly, “you do not propose to invest in South African securities?” 
 
I gave a start of astonishment. Accustomed as I was to Holmes’s curious faculties, this sudden intrusion into my most intimate thoughts was utterly inexplicable. 
 
“How on earth do you know that?” I asked. 
 
He wheeled round upon his stool, with a steaming test-tube in his hand and a gleam of amusement in his deep-set eyes. 
 
“Now, Watson, confess yourself utterly taken aback,” said he. 
 
“I am.” 
 
“I ought to make you sign a paper to that effect.” 
 
“Why?” 
 
“Because in five minutes you will say that it is all so absurdly simple.” 
 
“I am sure that I shall say nothing of the kind.” 
 
“You see, my dear Watson”—he propped his test tube in the rack and began to lecture with the air of a professor addressing his class—“it is not really difficult to construct a series of inferences, each dependent upon its predecessor and each simple in itself. If, after doing so, one simply knocks out all the central inferences and presents one’s audience with the starting-point and the conclusion, one may produce a startling, though possibly a meretricious, effect. Now, it was not really difficult, by an inspection of the groove between your left forefinger and thumb, to feel sure that you did not propose to invest your small capital in the goldfields.” 
 
“I see no connection.” 
 
“Very likely not; but I can quickly show you a close connection. Here are the missing links of the very simple chain: 1. You had chalk between your left finger and thumb when you returned from the club last night. 2. You put chalk there when you play billiards to steady the cue. 3. You never play billiards except with Thurston. 4. You told me four weeks ago that Thurston had an option on some South African property which would expire in a month, and which he desired you to share with him. 5. Your chequebook is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key. 6. You do not propose to invest your money in this manner.” 
 
“How absurdly simple!” I cried. 
 
“Quite so!” said he, a little nettled. “Every problem becomes very childish when once it is explained to you.</blockquote>
 
There's the opportunity: to bring the simple magic that your work does, without devaluing what you do by revealing the methodology. Even some 2,000 years ago, Tacitus knew that everything unknown is thought to be amazing: 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Omne ignotum pro magnifico est." </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
― Tacitus, c. 120</div>
 
 
What if you could amaze people with simplicity? 
 
People don't expect the common and simple these days. 
 
They don't expect a handwritten note when they're barraged with emails and text messages. 
 
They don't expect that you'll remember their name when they're required to give three forms of I.D. to make a deposit at the bank. 
 
Sometimes, that's all it takes. 
 
Use language they can relate to. Remember their name. Just say hello. 
 
It really is that simple. 
 
 
This originally appeared in the <a href="http://scottmonty.substack.com/" style="color: #280170; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter for February 26, 2020. To see the newsletter in its entirety, including links, the recommended book and podcast, and more <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/simplicity-itself" style="color: #280170; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">please click here</a>. 
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Simplicity Itself

Off the Greenland Coast Under the Midnight Sun by William J. Bradford, 1873 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons) "I adore simple...

When Fear Works ― and When It Doesn't

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aEN5RHY73Yg/Xk6eV6AZOQI/AAAAAAABLsc/pdVroMFWfnsPaGEplqYsKAL29lswz2vfwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sebastiano%2BRicci%2B-%2BPerseus%2BConfronting%2BPhineus%2Bwith%2Bthe%2BHead%2Bof%2BMedusa%2B1705.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1089" height="528" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aEN5RHY73Yg/Xk6eV6AZOQI/AAAAAAABLsc/pdVroMFWfnsPaGEplqYsKAL29lswz2vfwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Sebastiano%2BRicci%2B-%2BPerseus%2BConfronting%2BPhineus%2Bwith%2Bthe%2BHead%2Bof%2BMedusa%2B1705.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/794/sebastiano-ricci-perseus-confronting-phineus-with-the-head-of-medusa-italian-venetian-about-1705-1710/">Perseus Confronting Phineas with the Head of Medusa</a> by Sebastiano Ricci, 1705 (public domain — The Getty )</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
"We promise according to our hopes, and perform according to our fears." ― La Rochefoucauld, 1664 
 
 
Have you ever felt real fear? 
 
Like the kind of fear that gives you a palpable sense of dread? That makes your chest tighten and your heart pound? 
 
I remember feeling like that when I first visited a lake in New Hampshire when I was 14 years old. 
 
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. 
 
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 more brave when we went to the beach on Cape Cod or Newport later in the summer. 
 
So when I first had the chance to head up to 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. 
 
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. 
 
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. 
 
Remember, I had only explored the great Underwater World of My Pool until this time. 
 
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 the vast expanse that lay in front of me. 
 
At that moment, I felt that tightening ― that sense of horror ― and immediately burst to the surface. Simply put, I was freaked. Out. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” ― Epictetus, c. 100</div>
 
 
Where does that sense of terror come from? 
 
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RysNc8VdmaQ/Xk1oSRHoQEI/AAAAAAABLsE/DeHGb1_VbtYOVa2VPT9KiUM8nYf973PJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Gustave%2BCourbet%2B-%2BThe%2BDesperate%2BMan%2B1843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1228" data-original-width="1500" height="522" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RysNc8VdmaQ/Xk1oSRHoQEI/AAAAAAABLsE/DeHGb1_VbtYOVa2VPT9KiUM8nYf973PJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Gustave%2BCourbet%2B-%2BThe%2BDesperate%2BMan%2B1843.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_D%C3%A9sesp%C3%A9r%C3%A9#/media/File:Gustave_Courbet_-_Le_D%C3%A9sesp%C3%A9r%C3%A9.JPG">The Desperate Man</a> by Gustave Courbet, 1843 (public domain - Wikipedia)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
 
It's certainly within our genetic programming to avoid danger. The old "fight or flight" response is well documented throughout the animal species. 
 
But that kind of irrational response to nothing: what is that? 
 
I think it's a combination of two powerful forces at work ― two forces that are beyond our command: 
 
We fear the unknown and we fear what we can't control. 
 
How positively and uniquely human is that? 
 
Humans have been blessed with consciousness, such that we know there are things we don't know (well, most of us, anyway). We're aware that there is more out there that may be looming, waiting for us. And it is terrifying. 
 
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. 
 
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. And it was terrifying to me. 
 
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. 
 
Last week, we talked about death (some charming topics lately, eh?). There's been a natural connection between fear and death for as long as humans have been aware of their mortality. 
 
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. 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"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." ― Michel de Montaigne, 1580</blockquote>
 
 
Yes, we know humans fear death ― more recently <a href="https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/americas-top-fears-2018/">government corruption has topped the list</a> ― but the manner of death that people commonly fear is interesting. 
 
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I'm thinking shark attacks and airplane crashes. 
 
Both scary things, right? But also both unlikely things. 
 
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. Why not? 
 
Because regardless of how uncommon these events are, they both have something in common: they're out of our control. 
 
You have no control over when or where the great white shark does its hunting. 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. 
 
At the same time, why worry about it? If you can't do anything to change it, it's wasted energy. 
 
And as Montaigne knew, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/17/montaigne-philosophy-death">when your fears of death consume you, you can't enjoy life</a>. 
 
 
When placed in situations with grizzly bears, mean horses or gunfighters, Theodore Roosevelt was afraid at first. And then, as he wrote in his Autobiography he discovered that he could become fearless through practice: "by acting as if I was not afraid, I gradually ceased to be afraid." 
 
It's another way of saying "fake it 'til you make it," but TR was spot on: practice the skills you want to grow. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." ― Mark Twain, 1894</div>
 
 
What about the things you do have control over? 
 
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. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"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." ― Lewis H. Lapham, 2017</div>
 
 
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 to make you afraid and angry. 
 
Why? There's power in fear. And 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. 
 
How are you motivating your team? 
 
In <a href="https://amzn.to/2wqxC3W">Only the Paranoid Survive</a> (1996), the late Intel executive Andrew Grove wrote about creating a passion for winning in the marketplace, and suggested that "fear plays a major role in maintaining such passion." 
 
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." He seemed to focus only on the threats and weaknesses in the classic SWOT analysis. 
 
This is almost as if to invite a corps of Cassandras to your team. If you recall from mythology, Cassandra was the Chicken Little of Troy: her constant (accurate) fears and predictions of the future were dismissed by all. 
 
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. 
 
Charles Schwab knew how to deal with people. In the classic <a href="https://amzn.to/2PaRWNs">How to Win Friends and Influence People</a> (1936), Dale Carnegie recalls Schwab's approach: 
 
"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." 
 
The world can be a scary place, certainly. It can also be a hopeful, helpful place. It depends on where you put your attention. 
 
 
Related: <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2018/11/leading-with-enthusiasm-not-fear.html">Leading with Enthusiasm, not Fear</a> 
 
This originally appeared in the <a href="http://scottmonty.substack.com/" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter for February 19, 2020. To see the newsletter in its entirety, including links, the recommended book and podcast, and more <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/when-fear-works-and-when-it-doesnt" target="_blank">please click here</a>. 
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Advice for Corporate Storytellers

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a-a8LC-XuEE/XiioIbEUsOI/AAAAAAABK7g/o4xrfFnzAXUbweGqajfoq_lqc-JwIr-ZACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Giovanni_Domenico%2BTiepolo%2B-%2BThe%2BStoryteller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="1600" height="378" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a-a8LC-XuEE/XiioIbEUsOI/AAAAAAABK7g/o4xrfFnzAXUbweGqajfoq_lqc-JwIr-ZACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Giovanni_Domenico%2BTiepolo%2B-%2BThe%2BStoryteller.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Domenico_Tiepolo_-_The_Storyteller_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" target="_blank">The Storyteller</a> by Giovanni Tiepolo, c. 1773 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
 
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Memory is necessary for all operations of reasoning." – Blaise Pascal (c.1658) </div>
 
 
 
It's tough living in the future, isn't it? 
 
There's so much focus on the latest platform, trend or technology. But true storytellers know that the medium isn't the message. 
 
I'm reminded of this quote by the Dalai Lama: 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I think technology really increased human ability. But technology cannot produce compassion." </blockquote>
 
It makes me realize we have so much of ourselves to share in the personal and corporate stories we tell, today and in the many tomorrows to come. 
 
 
Speaking of stories, some of the best jokes are told like stories. Did you ever hear a really good joke? 
 
Like, a really good joke, where you said to yourself, "Wow — I've got to remember this, so I can tell my friends and make them laugh as hard as I'm laughing now." 
 
Then, you see your friends and you try to retell the joke. But you aren't bringing it to life the same way. Maybe your gestures are off, the accent is different, or the embellishments aren't as detailed. 
 
Whatever the differences are, you still manage to hit all the points of the joke, but when you deliver the punchline, it just falls to the floor a lies there, helpless, looking up at you and pleading with you to just put it out of its misery already. 
 
What just happened? 
 
Something's missing in your story. 
 
 
<h2>
A Little History</h2>
"The old wheel turns, and the same spoke comes up. It's all been done before, and will be again." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
 
I'm a student of history and literature. When I admit this to my clients in the executive suite, it usually strikes them as odd, since so many of them expect consultants and advisers to come in quoting the latest platform trends. 
 
I watch the trends and understand their utility just fine. But I also study human behavior, which over the course of recorded history, has been remarkably consistent. You've undoubtedly heard clichés like "What's past is prologue" (from William Shakespeare's <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/tempest/3/" target="_blank">The Tempest</a>) or "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it." 
 
While history doesn't repeat, it does rhyme. And when we ignore the successes and foibles of those who have come before us, we not only fail to learn from them, but we also show our ignorance. 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child." </div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
— Cicero</div>
 
Why is history important? In <a href="https://amzn.to/2tv1viG" target="_blank">Varieties of Cultural History</a>, Peter Burke cites the ancient Greek historian Herotodus, noting that historians are guardians of memory. A collective memory is important in society — one that we'll come back to in future editions here. 
 
But he also pulls out a long-lost official title: Remembrancer. 
 
It's a beautiful term and an apt description for what storytellers or historians do: 
 
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-snB3-xXD-PM/Xiip70lFtzI/AAAAAAABK7s/UsXwh1dj0g0k2dK47eD1PpZuFbfRSj9dACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Herodotus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="243" data-original-width="736" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-snB3-xXD-PM/Xiip70lFtzI/AAAAAAABK7s/UsXwh1dj0g0k2dK47eD1PpZuFbfRSj9dACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Herodotus.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
 
 
Leaders and storytellers should be reading a variety of materials for inspiration. My own reading is eclectic, but it always informs my view of the present and future, particularly when it comes to executives, their teams, and business challenges. It gives me an outside perspective. 
 
In the most recent issue of <a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/memory/remembered-past" target="_blank">Lapham's Quarterly</a>, Lewis H. Lapham wrote a piece on memory called "The Remembered Past" in which he discerns between the recorded past and the remembered past: 
 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The recorded past is a spiked cannon. The remembered past is live ammunition —  not what happened two hundred or two thousand years ago, a story about what happened two hundred or two thousand years ago. The stories change with circumstance and the sight lines available to tellers of the tale. Every generation rearranges the furniture of the past to suit the comfort and convenience of its anxious present." [Emphasis ours - Ed.]</blockquote>
 
At the very least, knowing what's happened before we've come along will help us to make better decisions, whether it's in the campaigns we create or <a href="https://amzn.to/2v9Cn18" target="_blank">the book titles</a> we choose. 
 
 
<h2>
Why Should Brands Care?</h2>
 
When it comes to brands, why does it matter that we share stories about the facts rather than just the facts? 
 
Lapham's quote got me to thinking about how many companies tell stories, whether they're through press releases or feature-filled ads: they're largely about getting all of the facts out there — what happened. 
 
It's like trying to awkwardly retell a joke: simply checking all of the boxes on the elements of the joke doesn't necessarily result in a hilarious outcome. 
 
Telling people what happened is easy. More difficult is telling them how it happened. Or why it happened. 
 
And most importantly, making them care about it. 
 
 
<h2>
The Commoditization of Stories</h2>
How do you make people care when you’re dealing in commodities? And let’s face it: facts are a commodity. 
 
They're necessary and they ground us in reality. But in any instance, the facts are cut and dried. They're the same for everyone. 
 
Your brand, like it or not, is a commodity to most people. Odds are if they don't buy it from you, they can get the same thing (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) from someone else. 
 
But what can you give them that no one else can? 
 
Certainly, your products and services need to stand out somehow. Maybe you're the fastest, or most convenient, or have the best service. You have some kind of differentiator. 
 
But what about your storytelling ability? 
 
Part of what makes brands stand apart is the stories told about them. Whether it's the brand telling the stories, or its evangelists, stories move people. 
 
In order to move people, you need a good story, well-told. 
 
Sometimes, your company's story may need a little more work. 
 
 
 
<h2>
Elements of Well-Told Stories</h2>
In "The Wallet" episode of Seinfeld, Jerry is doing his stand-up routine at a club. He's talking about TV shows that end with "To be continued…" and he complains: 
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
"If I want a long boring story with no point to it, I have my life."</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
 </div>
How many press releases, white papers, or other pieces of "content" make you wonder: "Where is this going?" 
 
Yes, yes. We all know that good stories have a beginning, middle, and end. But the point there is to orient your audience. Let them know where they are in the flow. Create a sense of drama. 
 
The Scottish writer and theater critic William Archer knew a thing or two about audiences and expectations. He famously wrote: 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty."</div>
 
 
Anticipation and uncertainty are part of what we also call suspense. 
 
Creating suspense can seem daunting. Primarily because we think of suspense as it relates to Alfred Hitchcock, "the master of suspense." 
 
But it's not about being creepy or scary. It's about bringing your audience along in your story. 
Laying out a theme and showing empathy will draw them in. 
 
In doing so, you're allowing them to relate to you and the situation you're describing with your story. 
 
Once you've got that hook - and again, it's about creating a relatable situation or narrative that makes them care — you can begin filling in the details. 
 
As you do, these elements should create anticipation. 
 
One of my favorite stories about creating anticipation is from the divisive Howard Stern is from his 1997 movie Private Parts, when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G6xu-J_Dmc" target="_blank">a researcher is sharing the ratings information</a> about Stern's show with the station manager (lovingly nicknamed "Pig Vomit"): 
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Researcher: The average radio listener listens for eighteen minutes. The average Howard Stern fan listens for — are you ready for this? — an hour and twenty minutes. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Pig Vomit: How can that be? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Researcher: Answer most commonly given? "I want to see what he'll say next." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Pig Vomit: Okay, fine. But what about the people who hate Stern? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Researcher: Good point. The average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Pig Vomit: But… if they hate him, why do they listen? </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Researcher: Most common answer? "I want to see what he'll say next."</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9G6xu-J_Dmc" width="560"></iframe> </div>
 
 
It's astounding that haters can be so engaged, but it shows you what good storytelling can do when employing uncertainty and anticipation. 
 
 
As you're considering working with your team to tell your brand story differently, try approaching it differently. 
 
Like a comic telling a joke; or an artist painting a picture; or an architect designing a building. 
Scene, characters, and action are essential starting points; you need to sketch out where you're going; you need to build the framework that supports the bigger elements. 
 
Only then can you add the flourishes, details, and trim that make a memorable joke, painting or edifice. 
 
So as you rearrange the furniture of your stories and act as a remembrancer, taking into account the stories that have been told before, by your own brand and others, consider how you'll make someone care who otherwise has no passing interest in your brand. 
 
If you can get them to pass that along, you'll achieve what generations of historians and marketers alike have striven for. 
 
 
And the next time you see me in person, ask me to tell you a really good joke. 
 
 
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you'd like to hire me to speak to your group, I have a talk on <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/speaking.html" target="_blank">Transformational Storytelling</a> that has blown away audiences. <a href="mailto:speaking@scottmonty.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Let's chat</a>.</div>
 
 
This essay originally appeared as part of the <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/advice-for-corporate-storytellers.html" target="_blank">Timeless & Timely</a> newsletter. If you'd like the version with links to industry updates, interesting stories, and the recommended podcast and book of the week, <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/" target="_blank">please subscribe</a>.

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