Scott Monty

Where the Creative and Analytical Meet

Where the Creative and Analytical Meet

The Nine Muses - Euterpe (Music) by Johann Heinrich Tischbein, 1782 (W ikimedia Commons - public domain) "Art in the blood is li...

5 Steps Leaders Can Take After Ethical Lapses

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-otYHWFefqx4/XedhqmL9h3I/AAAAAAABKKo/wf-LL52Lx_YfkVOQO4rn20qs-gxwf20bQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sandro%2BBotticelli%2B-%2BThe%2BCalumny%2Bof%2BAppelles%252C%2B1495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="857" data-original-width="1279" height="428" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-otYHWFefqx4/XedhqmL9h3I/AAAAAAABKKo/wf-LL52Lx_YfkVOQO4rn20qs-gxwf20bQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Sandro%2BBotticelli%2B-%2BThe%2BCalumny%2Bof%2BAppelles%252C%2B1495.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: dimgrey;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles_(Botticelli)#/media/File:Sandro_Botticelli_021.jpg" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles_(Botticelli)#/media/File:Sandro_Botticelli_021.jpg" target="_blank"><em>The Calumny of Apelles</em></a> by Sandro Botticelli, 1495 (W</span><span style="color: dimgrey;">ikipedia - public domain</span><span style="color: dimgrey;">)</span></span></td></tr>
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I have to say, I had an internal debate about whether or not to write about this topic. It's not exactly an uplifting one, but the more I thought about it, the more I considered how there's a common thread here.<br />
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More importantly, I think there are valuable lessons here for how to find our way out of a difficult situation.<br />
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Interestingly, while we seem to be surrounded by corruption, fraud, deception, and swindle these days, it's nothing new.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"Corruption's not of modern date;</span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">It hath been tried in every state." </span></i></b></div>
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— John Gay (1731)</div>
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What do we do when deception creeps into our lives?</div>
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Odds are, that's how it approaches, too: by creeping. Blatant falsehoods are easy to spot — especially these days, it seems…</div>
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But when someone seeks to deceive us, it happens by degrees, and often times it isn't until you've been duped that you feel the sting.</div>
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And then the sting is twofold: the deprivation of something of value (money, reputation, data, property) and the humiliation or knowledge that you were fooled.</div>
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Whether or not you can retrieve that thing of value which was stolen from you, the question becomes: what will you do now?</div>
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At this point in history, we're no strangers to what Lewis H. Lapham called "<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/swindle-fraud/paper-moons">the American genius for the artful dodge</a>":</div>
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"the sales pitch, the résumé, the cost overrun, the subprime loan, the building of the transcontinental railroad, the credit default swap, the derivative, the balloon mortgage, the missile gap, the housing bubble, the annual report, the Laffer curve, the Facebook page, the campaign promise, the 2003 invasion of Iraq…"</blockquote>
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— <i>Lapham's Quarterly</i>, Vol.VIII, No. 2</div>
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Maybe we've been responsible for some of these ourselves. Or maybe we've been on the receiving end. If you've made a bad business deal, created a campaign that flopped, or hired someone who wasn't at all who they pretended to be in the interview process, odds are, someone deceived you. </div>
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But as a leader, everyone will be looking at you as you determine the resultant course of action.</div>
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<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Lies Noble and Servile</b></h2>
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Before we get any further, I want to discuss the difference between what the Greeks called the "<b>noble lie</b>" and intentional, harmful deception.</div>
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In <i>The Republic</i>, Plato explains that by introducing a lie about humanity's beginnings — an origin myth, of sorts — it was more likely to bring harmony among the citizens if they thought they had a common bond. It was for the greater good of society.</div>
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It's not terribly different from how the emperor <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/05/the-four-powers-of-stories-that-unite-us.html">Augustus commissioned Virgil to write The Aeneid as an origin story</a> for Rome. Yes, it was a series of stories and myths, but it was tied to long-held traditions and beliefs, and it legitimized his position. It made for a happy and satisfied public after years of conflict.</div>
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Contrast that with what Sherlock Holmes had to put up with from Scotland Yard inspectors who were constantly trying to make a name for themselves on the back of his ingenious work. In <a href="https://amzn.to/2rQkanK"><i>A Study in Scarlet</i></a>, the suspect died in his cell and Holmes said that the inspectors would be beside themselves since they couldn't flaunt their victory with some "grand advertisement." </div>
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Good old Dr. Watson came to his friend's defense, saying “I don’t see that they had very much to do with his capture.”</div>
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And that's when Sherlock Holmes laid this truth bomb on us:</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. “The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done.”</span></i></b></div>
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Or, as we learn in that handbook of treachery and deceit, <a href="https://amzn.to/2PhpvN8"><i>The Prince</i></a>:</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"The common people are always impressed by appearances and results."</span></i></b></div>
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— Nicolo Machiavelli</div>
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Sherlock Holmes claimed that work was its own reward. But he also had something else up his sleeve: his own live-in biographer and chronicler, who sold his tales to the <i>Strand</i> magazine and thus served as a near-constant advertisement for Holmes's consulting practice.</div>
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These two instances encapsulate the difference in the white lie and the intentionally harmful lie. One is designed to further society; the other is designed to further the individual.</div>
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Think of it like this: lying to your kids about Santa Claus (whoops — spoiler alert!) helps them to believe in the magic of the holiday season, the act of giving, and the importance of good behavior. But lying while under oath is meant to protect your own skin. </div>
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<b>Deception on a Global Scale</b></h2>
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Recently, <a href="https://youtu.be/ymaWq5yZIYM">Sacha Baron Cohen made a speech</a> about the harm that big tech companies like Facebook, Twitter and others are doing, thanks in part to them furthering lies. It's an exceptional speech. I highly recommend watching it.</div>
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Among his quotes:</div>
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"Democracy, which depends on shared truths, is in retreat, and autocracy, which depends on shared lies, is on the march."</blockquote>
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"All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine of history."</blockquote>
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"The algorithms these companies depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged: stories that appeal to our baser instincts and trigger outrage and fear."</blockquote>
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Of course, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg is not retreating from his desire to have politicians spend money on Facebook while allowing them to promote lies, claiming that he supports freedom of speech as "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sacha-baron-cohen-speech-facebook-response-misses-point-2019-11">a marketplace of ideas</a>."</div>
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Baron Cohen rightly made the distinction: </div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach."</span></i></b></div>
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We know that Facebook has intentionally deceived us, many times over. They've shared user data with untold numbers of vendors. They've run experiments on users without disclosing it. They falsified video statistics to encourage more media buying from brands.</div>
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They squashed any trust we might have had in them through years of half-hearted corporate apologies and crocodile tears. Lather, rise and repeat.</div>
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So that leaves us at an inflection point: now that we know Facebook has lied to us, again and again, what are we going to do about it?</div>
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<b>From an institutional standpoint</b>, they've become too big to self-regulate. Some sort of government oversight is needed at this point. Although how and by whom is the mystery.</div>
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<b>At the brand level</b>, it's going to be difficult to convince brands to move away, thanks to the myth of reach. If there are ethical brands out there, they need to step up and put Facebook and others on notice. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-pg-digital-ads-facebook-google-20190411-story.html">Like P&G has</a>.</div>
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<b>For users</b>, it's really a matter of being where their friends are. While Facebook is making data portability a reality, <a href="https://stratechery.com/2019/portability-and-interoperability/">they still won't let you export your social graph</a> — your friends. So sure, take all of your photos, but who are you going to share them with?</div>
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Things are still a bit murky here, but at least we're not completely blind to what's happening, as we were three, five, or ten years ago.</div>
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<b>An Executive's Guide to Handling Deception</b></h2>
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So when you're a leader and you're recovering from being deceived or how you've deceived others, everyone is looking to you for how you'll respond.</div>
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Here are steps that you can take to guide your organization through things.</div>
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<b>1. Tell the truth:</b> The first step is admitting what happened. Simply coming clean and owning the error will allow you to get things out in the open and talk frankly about what happened and why it happened.</div>
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<b>2. Commit to avoiding a repeat:</b> Now that you know what happened, you can steer clear of any temptation to get lured into a similar situation in the future. Which is why being clear and honest in step 1 is so important.</div>
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<b>3. Avoid revenge:</b> It's natural to want to strike back (yes, even if you're the perpetrator of the deception — this is why whistleblowers need protection). But it's not going to solve the problem and in fact, it might make the situation even worse. Move on.</div>
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<b>4. Encourage honesty and communication:</b> If you show that you value traits like transparency, inclusiveness, listening, respect, and clear, concise and candid communication, you'll build a more cohesive team, which in turn can help steer clear of deceptive situations.</div>
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<b>5. Maintain your integrity:</b> By taking the steps above, you'll show that you have the leadership capabilities to guide your team through even the most difficult situations. Communicate honestly. Push for ethical business practices. </div>
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Jonas Chuzzlewit was a little more cynical in his approach to business:</div>
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“Here’s the rule for bargains—‘Do other men, for they would do you.’ That’s the true business precept.”</blockquote>
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— Charles Dickens, <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i></div>
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Instead, consider the Golden Rule:</div>
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” </span></i></b></div>
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— Matthew. 7:12</div>
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<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>About the artwork</strong></span></span><br />
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I thought this week's image selection deserved a bit of context.<br />
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Botticelli made <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles_(Botticelli)#/media/File:Sandro_Botticelli_021.jpg"><i>The Calumny of Apelles</i></a> on the description of a painting by Apelles, a Greek painter of the Hellenistic period. Apelles' works have not survived, but Lucian recorded details of one in his On Calumny:<br />
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“On the right of it sits Midas with very large ears, extending his hand to <b>Slander </b>while she is still at some distance from him. Near him, on one side, stand two women—<b>Ignorance </b>and <b>Suspicion</b>. On the other side, Slander is coming up, a woman beautiful beyond measure, but full of malignant passion and excitement, evincing as she does fury and wrath by carrying in her left hand a blazing torch and with the other dragging by the hair a young man who stretches out his hands to heaven and calls the gods to witness his innocence.</blockquote>
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She is conducted by a pale ugly man who has piercing eye and looks as if he had wasted away in long illness; he represents <b>Envy</b>.</blockquote>
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There are two women in attendance to Slander, one is <b>Fraud </b>and the other <b>Conspiracy</b>. They are followed by a woman dressed in deep mourning, with black clothes all in tatters—she is <b>Repentance</b>. At all events, she is turning back with tears in her eyes and casting a stealthy glance, full of shame, at <b>Truth</b>, who is slowly approaching.”</blockquote>
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<i>What else is influencing me? You can check out my <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/influences.html">sources of inspiration</a> on my site or in the <a href="https://flipboard.com/@scottmonty/timeless-and-timely-kah5bsbuy">Timeless and Timely</a> Flipboard magazine I curate.</i></div>
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5 Steps Leaders Can Take After Ethical Lapses

The Calumny of Apelles by Sandro Botticelli, 1495 (W ikipedia - public domain ) I have to say, I had an internal debate about whether ...

Gratitude is a Virtue, Not a Transaction

Gratitude is a Virtue, Not a Transaction

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914 (Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts - public domain) ...

What Would Be the Kindest Choice?

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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnX5QOQ95ws/XdTEy-2P6VI/AAAAAAABJng/CSdVCuzWS4EI4wMIBUYM4gyXWqYgBO9jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Mister%2BRogers%2BWaterlogue.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="1600" height="334" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HnX5QOQ95ws/XdTEy-2P6VI/AAAAAAABJng/CSdVCuzWS4EI4wMIBUYM4gyXWqYgBO9jQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Mister%2BRogers%2BWaterlogue.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>"Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person."</b> </i></div>
<div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>― Fred Rogers </i></div><div><br /><div><span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
Who's the kindest person you know?<br />
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Someone who exudes "nice." Who is always willing to help without a complaint. Who offers a smile and an encouraging word.<br />
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It might be a parent, a colleague, a neighbor, or a boss. But somewhere in your life there's a person who rises above everyone else with the level of kindness they show.<br />
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How do you think they got that way?<br />
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It's not by accident.<br />
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One of the most legendarily kind people is <b>Fred Rogers</b>. "Mister Rogers," as he's known to countless children (and adults!) seemed to be the manifestation of kindness.<br />
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His slow, quiet, and patient demeanor and his way of accepting everyone were indicators of what a kind man he was.<br />
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But Mister Rogers the celebrity — who by all accounts was the same as Fred Rogers the man — had to work at it. Every day. He admitted as much in his counsel to everyone about what it takes to build relationships:<br />
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"Mutually caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other's achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain. We need to accept the fact that it's not in the power of any human being to provide all these things all the time. For any of us, mutually caring relationships will also always include some measure of unkindness and impatience, intolerance, pessimism, envy, self-doubt, and disappointment."</blockquote>
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Mister Rogers wasn't perfect. Neither is any one of us.<br />
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This is why <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/05/the-need-for-serenity.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">reflection and tranquility</a> are so important as we determine who or what we want to be, in our private lives and in our public lives.<br />
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It takes a great deal of practice and deliberation. The word "deliberation" is a direct descendant of the Latin word <i>deliberare</i>, which means to consider carefully.<br />
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In the film <i><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3224458/" target="_blank">A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood</a></i>, <b>Tom Hanks</b> portrays Mister Rogers. Now, if you know anything about the actor Tom Hanks, it's that he is widely considered one of the kindest people in show business.<br />
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So much so that, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/movies/tom-hanks-mister-rogers.html" target="_blank">a New York Times article</a>, a journalist who attended a panel suggested that Tom Hanks is just playing Tom Hanks, but “slower.”<br />
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"But the slowness of Fred Rogers — the un-self-conscious, considered slowness — was hard, Hanks said. It felt ridiculous when he first tried it out. He studied hours of tapes, because sometimes he couldn’t imagine that he was supposed to go this slowly… 'It’s a combination of procedure and behavior that was singularly Fred Rogers.'”</blockquote>
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But there's something to that notion of needing to slow down.<br />
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When you need to weigh things in your mind, you need peace and solitude to allow that to happen. And you need to choose deliberately what you'll do.<br />
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Every day, we're faced with decisions that require our response:<br />
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<li>I need to give my direct report feedback or criticism about their behavior.</li>
<li>My children are misbehaving at school.</li>
<li>The business strategy we've chosen isn't working out.</li>
<li>A new family has moved into our neighborhood.</li>
<li>Someone made a tweet critical of me or my brand.</li>
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<i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>"There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind." </b></i></div></i></div><div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>– Fred Rogers</i></div>
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It's up to each and every one of us how we choose to respond in these situations. Every one of them involves some level of emotion, and it's easy to simply react in the moment. To let ourselves blurt out what we think needs saying.<br />
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But Mister Rogers, in his deliberate, reflective way, at times like these, would ask himself one simple question that guided his response:<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">"What would be the kindest choice?"</span></i></b></div>
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Kindness doesn't happen unintentionally. You need to direct yourself there. And in those quiet moments of reflection, consider how those on the other end of your response might react.<br />
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If you're unkind or abrupt, what might they think, do or say? How might that further damage the relationship? How might that in turn hinder any progress you wanted to make?<br />
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Kindness. Empathy. Patience.<br />
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These are some of the tenets that guided Mister Rogers every day. And they can guide us too.<br />
<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><hr /></div><h2 style="font-family: "Open Sans", serif, sans-serif; font-size: 22.4px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>This originally appeared in the <a href="https://scottmonty.substack.com/p/what-would-be-kindest-choice.html" target="_blank">November 20</a> 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. Paying subscribers get this plus an additional essay with three timely links, three timeless stories and a recommended book and podcast each week. You can choose the option that suits you best:</i></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://scottmonty.substack.com/embed" style="max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></div></h2></div>
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<div><br /></div>
</div></div></div>

What Would Be the Kindest Choice?

"Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person...

The Case of the Missing Relationships

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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nLODAEc0JU/XcudPcXQSHI/AAAAAAABJXA/ssuA3N5FBv8OmPKzZ175E-NlyAsqxVsAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Sidney%2BPaget%2B-%2BHolmes%2Bgave%2Bme%2Ba%2Bsketch%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bevents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1341" data-original-width="1600" height="536" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8nLODAEc0JU/XcudPcXQSHI/AAAAAAABJXA/ssuA3N5FBv8OmPKzZ175E-NlyAsqxVsAgCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Sidney%2BPaget%2B-%2BHolmes%2Bgave%2Bme%2Ba%2Bsketch%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bevents.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>The Case of the Missing Relationships</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">"The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I can recall in our association." – Sherlock Holmes, 'The Blanched Soldier' </span></em></span></span><br />
<br />
The online world, while exposing us to more people than ever, can also be isolating. <a href="https://medium.com/the-full-monty/the-dehumanization-of-social-media-119987b6fbb5">Social media has given way to anti-social behavior</a>. <br />
<br />
We owe it to ourselves to spend more time <b>offline</b>, doing the things that bring us <b>joy </b>and create <b>meaningful connections</b> with people we care about.<br />
<br />
<br />
Over the weekend, I traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, home of the <a href="https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library">Lilly Library</a> at Indiana University. It's not just that the Lilly is in Bloomington; the Lilly contained the very reason I went there.<br />
<br />
You see, I belong to a literary society that is dedicated to Sherlock Holmes: <a href="http://www.bakerstreetirregulars.com/">the Baker Street Irregulars</a>. It's named for the ragged group of homeless children who Holmes occasionally employed to be his eyes and ears around the streets of London.<br />
<br />
The BSI established an archive and originally housed it at Houghton Library at Harvard University. An august and highly respected institution, indeed.<br />
<br />
But the BSI realized that its collection was more modern (and evolving) than rare. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes himself. The detective has always been part of popular culture, since his very origins. <br />
<br />
From the early 1900s to the present, people have put Sherlock Holmes in various situations and portrayed him in every form of media to date. And the Baker Street Irregulars, founded in 1934, have been there through most of it.<br />
<br />
The Houghton Library, as storied as it is, seemed to be a better fit for the likes of Samuel Johnson than for Sherlock Holmes.<br />
<br />
However, the Lilly Library had resources, a small but dedicated staff, and a number of Hoosiers who were associated with the Baker Street Irregulars, including CBS radio newsman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Davis">Elmer Davis</a> and Lilly Library's first director, David Randall.<br />
<br />
And over the weekend, the BSI held an event in Bloomington to commemorate the opening of its archives at the Lilly.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong>Stay With Me</strong></span></span><br />
<br />
<i>"Well, Watson, we can but possess our souls in patience."</i><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i><i>— "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs"</i></i></div>
<br />
You're probably wondering where this all leads. Everything I write — every story I tell, every image I choose — I do for a reason. <br />
<br />
But first, a little history.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>"These relics have a history then?"</i></div>
<i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><i>"So much so that they are history."</i></i></div>
<i>
</i>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i><i>— "The Musgrave Ritual"</i></i></div>
<i>
</i><br />
<br />
The Baker Street Irregulars was founded in 1934 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Morley">Christopher Morley</a>, a journalist, novelist, essayist and poet. He reveled in spending time with "<b>kinsprits</b>" (a portmanteau of kindred spirits) and in his time founded many clubs.<br />
<br />
Morley was, as described by Robert Keith Leavitt:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"stout, lustily active, gregarious, busy, prosperous…and immensely popular. He rarely lunched with fewer than four people, and, often as not, with a group of a dozen or more.<br />
Among his countless fascinating traits was the habit of forming clubs on the spur of the moment. Any agreeable gathering of friends around the table was apt to find itself, halfway through the meal, constituted into a club commemorating, and usually named form, something pleasant-to-remember about the occasion." </blockquote>
<div style="text-align: right;">
(From "The Origin of 221B Worship," <i>The Baker Street Journal</i>, Vol. 10, No. 2, 1960)</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
While I didn't know Morley personally, I feel like I would have been right at home in his presence. He was a collector of people, and he made each of his gatherings an enjoyable and memorable occasion.<br />
<br />
Most of his scores of clubs never had a second meeting. But three names managed to survive in history, and only one still meets to this day. The <b>Grillparzer Sittenpolizei Verein</b> (the Grillparzer Morals-Police Association) and the <b>Three Hours For Lunch Club</b> are two. The other is the <b>Baker Street Irregulars</b>.<br />
<br />
<br />
I first discovered that there were other people interested in Sherlock Holmes when I was researching a paper for an English class in the 10th grade. I phoned a local television station that featured a man who ran a Sherlock Holmes society and I interviewed him. Before I knew it, I was attending meetings of the group at Gillette Castle in Connecticut.<br />
<br />
His group was just one of hundreds of local branches of the BSI, and over the years I got to know other Irregulars from around the country before being granted an investiture in 2001. Each year, we descend on New York City for the annual dinner of the BSI, held annually since 1940.<br />
<br />
Members over the years have included <b>Franklin Delano Roosevelt</b>,<b> Rex Stout</b>,<b> Ellery Queen</b>,<b> Isaac Asimov</b>,<b> Neil Gaiman</b>,<b> </b>and <b>Curtis Armstrong</b>, among others.<br />
<br />
Going to those weekend events has created an extended family for me; it's like going to a reunion at least every year, with occasional events peppered here and there in between.<br />
<br />
And after some 25 years of attending, it's not the annual traditions but the relationships that have mattered most to me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><strong>People, Process, Technology</strong></span></span><br />
<br />
<i>“You really are an automaton,—a calculating machine!” I cried. “There is something positively inhuman in you at times.” </i><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<i><i>—The Sign of Four</i></i></div>
<br />
During the event in Bloomington, Mike Whelan, the outgoing head of the BSI, mentioned that while setting up the archive and getting things in order with the libraries, something was missing.<br />
<br />
He said there was too much focus on <b><i>process</i></b>.<br />
<br />
Moving forward, he said, the focus would be on <b><i>relationships</i></b>.<br />
<br />
And isn't that representative of what so many businesses struggle with? Whether it's digital transformation, a new product rollout, or a change in strategy.<br />
<br />
We get so hung up on the system or tools we're choosing, the technicalities or specs of the thing, or the details that define our decisions.<br />
<br />
Any transformation, digital or not, is a combination of people, process and technology. In that order.<br />
<br />
We're usually so excited (or nervous) about a change that we try to nail down all of the details on the processes and technology. We can put them onto a checklist — as extensive as it may be — and we can visually run down the list to verify it.<br />
<br />
But people? Relationships? Culture? How do you put that on a checklist?<br />
<br />
It's quite simple: <b><i>You don't</i></b>.<br />
<br />
These should be established before change sets in. You'll want allies, supporters and cheerleaders that will be there to support the new process and help select the new tools. Having a culture that embraces change and promotes participation will make the transformation that much easier.<br />
<br />
It's akin to establishing fans, communities and awareness before a big campaign launches: paid media doesn't have to work as hard with a well-founded base.<br />
<br />
<br />
What am I doing to work on relationships?<br />
<br />
For one, I'm spending <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/11/the-ethix.html">less time on Facebook</a>. More time <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/serenity-now.html">reflecting</a>. Strengthening my <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/emotional-intelligence-and-ego.html">emotional intelligence</a> and helping other leaders with theirs.<br />
<br />
I'm encouraging more <a href="mailto:scott@scottmonty.com">email feedback</a>, phone calls, and in-person meetings. You know. Old-fashioned stuff. The kind of timeless habits that are more personable.<br />
<br />
While these may not be scalable, they are more human.<br />
<br />
Something that even that automaton Sherlock Holmes would have found…elementary.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>Future Tense</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><em>“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” – Ferris Bueller</em></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
An explosive trove of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-internal-documents-executive-emails-published-six4three-court-leak-2019-11">thousands of pages of confidential internal Facebook documents</a> has been made public, shedding unprecedented light on the inner workings of the Silicon Valley social-networking giant, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/facebook-sold-competition-quashing-as-a-privacy-move-leaked-documents-show/">including a false claim of privacy</a>. (Business Insider)<br />
<ul>
<li><i><b>My take:</b> This isn't a good look for Facebook (again). Just another piece of evidence of Facebook's code of ethics as they try to convince us of their commitment to transparency</i>.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
According to a survey from <b>Morning Consult</b>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-05/becoming-an-influencer-embraced-by-86-of-young-americans">86% of 13 to 38 year-olds would like to become an influencer</a>. (Bloomberg)<br />
<ul>
<li><i><b>My take:</b> We're doomed. </i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Uber CEO <b>Dara Khosrowshahi </b>claimed that the death and dismemberment of <i>Washington Post</i> journalist <b>Jamal Khashoggi</b> at the behest of Saudi Arabia's <b>crown prince Mohammed bin Salman</b> was a "mistake." [Saudi Arabia is Uber's 5th largest investor] He then compared it to Uber's self-driving accident in which a pedestrian was killed, saying, "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/uber-ceo-downplays-khashoggi-murder-then-walks-back-his-comments/">I think that people make mistakes, it doesn't mean that they can never be forgiven.</a>" (Ars Technica)<br />
<br />
About an hour after the interview concluded, Khosrowshahi suddenly had a change of tone: "I said something in the moment that I do not believe," he said in a statement. "When it comes to Jamal Khashoggi, his murder was reprehensible and should not be forgotten or excused."<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i><b>My take: </b>Uh-huh. It's strange how an executive suddenly finds a conscience when their communications team reminds them of what an ethical response should sound like. You're not still using Uber, are you?</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>For the Curious Mind</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>"I have gathered a posy of other men's flowers, and only the thread that binds them is mine own." – Michel de Montaigne</em></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/secret-behind-baby-boomers-cultural-literacy?fbclid=IwAR3KiH-4YWLjyDF4ruBcvF-NMKGgTWkctGIe6OoCqzyvK3Qkkd6_spRc2ok"><b>How Classic Cartoons Created a Culturally Literate Generation</b></a> should bring memories to mind for some of us. Opera, classical music, literature and more came to life for kids who watched Saturday morning cartoons. (Intellectual Takeout)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Humility</b>. It's an underrated personality trait. And yet <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/health/psychology-humility-pride-behavior.html"><b>we need to practice humility every day</b></a>. (New York Times)<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Cave art</b> has been found on nearly every continent. What does it mean? That our Paleolithic ancestors knew something we still strain to imagine: <a href="https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-humanoid-stain-ehrenreich"><b>our insignificance</b></a>. (The Baffler)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>A Heart Replete with Thankfulness</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." – Cicero</em></span></span></span><br />
<br />
This week, I'm grateful for the many relationships I've forged over the last three decades in the world of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts. So many have been supportive in <a href="http://ihearofsherlock.com/">my own little contributions</a> to the topic, and they mean the world to me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>Recommended Reading/Listening</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>"Let me recommend this book." – Arthur Conan Doyle</em></span></span></span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KqlBO6ykGI/Xcu2A6iTWBI/AAAAAAABJXU/FVDT5wnJObwh9DwQqn2ac2_2Idzu_H99gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/The%2BReport.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1KqlBO6ykGI/Xcu2A6iTWBI/AAAAAAABJXU/FVDT5wnJObwh9DwQqn2ac2_2Idzu_H99gCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/The%2BReport.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Very few people have read the 448-page Mueller Report, released to the public on April 18, 2019. Producers of Lawfare distilled it into a multi-part audio narrative series, <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/introducing-report-podcast-series-lawfare"><b>The Report</b></a>, telling listeners the story of what is in the document. An essential listen as impeachment hearings open in Washington.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ig4h8NSt3oM/Xcu2UNqClNI/AAAAAAABJXc/fkq26q2BYpIhWL2G4koFGoupAhWTnx0vQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Cultural%2BLiteracy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="284" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ig4h8NSt3oM/Xcu2UNqClNI/AAAAAAABJXc/fkq26q2BYpIhWL2G4koFGoupAhWTnx0vQCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/Cultural%2BLiteracy.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Cultural literacy—the grasp of background information that writers and speakers assume their readers and listeners already have—is the hidden key to effective education in America. In an age when so much entertainment and information is personalized, where will we end up without more shared experiences? <a href="https://amzn.to/2Xbmt04">The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know</a> helps fill that gap.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>What else is influencing me? You can check out my <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/influences.html">sources of inspiration</a> on my site or in the <a href="https://flipboard.com/@scottmonty/timeless-and-timely-kah5bsbuy">Timeless and Timely</a> Flipboard magazine I curate.<br /><br />The above may contain Amazon Affiliate links.</i><br />
<br />
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<br />

The Case of the Missing Relationships

The Case of the Missing Relationships "The good Watson had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which I ca...

UNLESS...

UNLESS...

Broadway and Trinity Church by J.W. Hill, 1830 (public domain - New York Public Library) Facebook's recent stand on political adve...

The Ethix

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<br />
<b><i>This appeared as part of the Timeless & Timely newsletter. <a href="https://smonty.co/Timeless" target="_blank">Subscribe here</a>.</i></b><br />
<br />
Facebook's recent stand on political advertising and free speech have placed it in the cross hairs of the media. Not to mention their decade-plus-long drumbeat of:<br />
<ul>
<li>destroying trust</li>
<li>apologizing without really meaning it</li>
<li>steamrolling opposition</li>
<li>lifting product user interfaces from competitors instead of innovating</li>
<li>playing fast and loose with user data</li>
<li>gradually and almost entirely removing organic reach for brands</li>
<li>poor judgement in selecting News partners </li>
<li>insisting it's the responsibility of journalists <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CampbellBrown/posts/2389275207868167" target="_blank">to police lies in political ads</a></li>
<li>giving itself <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/facebook-political-ads.html" target="_blank">a special, unregulated power over elections</a></li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/understanding-facebook.html" target="_blank">and much more</a></b></li>
</ul>
All of which have given me second (and third and seventeenth) thoughts about remaining on the platform.<br />
<br />
Facebook has become the <i>de facto</i> destination of so much of society: <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/10/share-of-u-s-adults-using-social-media-including-facebook-is-mostly-unchanged-since-2018/" target="_blank">seven in ten Americans are on the platform</a>. So to ask people to simply up and leave without a viable alternative is difficult: no one is going to leave until others have left and shown them the alternative. It's the chicken and the egg conundrum.<br />
<br />
Someone has to make the first move.<br />
<br />
It reminds me of how Dr. Seuss expressed it in his book <b><i><a href="https://amzn.to/33sCrVW" target="_blank">The Lorax</a></i></b>, an allegory about the importance of taking care of our environment.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
And it got me thinking...<br />
<br />
What if someone rewrote <i>The Lorax</i> as an allegory about Facebook?<br />
<br />
So I did. It's called <b><i>The Ethix</i></b>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Ethix</span></b><br />
<br />
At the far end of town<br />
where the Internet accretes<br />
and the former social network competes<br />
and no birds ever sing excepting old tweets…<br />
is the street of the lifted Ethix.<br />
<br />
And deep in the Internet, some people say,<br />
if you look deep enough you can still see, today,<br />
where the Ethix once stood just as long as it could<br />
before somebody lifted the Ethix away.<br />
<br />
What was the Ethix?<br />
And why was it there?<br />
And why was it lifted and taken somewhere<br />
from the far end of town where the Internet grows?<br />
The old Zuck-ler lives there.<br />
Ask him. He knows.<br />
<br />
You won’t see the Zuck-ler.<br />
Don’t knock at his door.<br />
He stays in his Portal on top of his store.<br />
He sticks to his Portal, stuck under the tape,<br />
where all his gray t-shirts<br />
are in pretty good shape.<br />
And on special dank midnights in August,<br />
he peeks<br />
out of the Portal<br />
and sometimes he speaks<br />
and tells how the Ethix was lifted away.<br />
<br />
   He’ll tell you, perhaps…<br />
   If you’re willing to pay.<br />
<br />
From your Messenger wallet<br />
pay with crypto, indeed — huh —<br />
and you have to submit fifteen cents<br />
via Libra<br />
and GIF or a meme of a<br />
prison pony / zebra.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then he opens the note,<br />
makes a most careful count<br />
to see if you’ve paid him<br />
the proper amount.<br />
<br />
Then he grunts, “I will call you by Oculus Rift,<br />
for the secrets I tell can't be given short shrift.”<br />
<br />
<i>THUNK!</i><br />
<br />
Down thunks the Oculus Rift through the night,<br />
and the old Zuck-ler’s apologies are less than forthright,<br />
since they have to come down<br />
through a process where each,<br />
makes it sound<br />
as if he had<br />
lawyers write up his speech.<br />
<br />
“Now I’ll tell you," he says, with his shirt looking gray,<br />
“how the Ethix got lifted and taken away…<br />
<br />
   It all started way back…<br />
   Such a long, long time back…<br />
<br />
<br />
Way back in the days when the Web was still new<br />
and the users were trusting<br />
and the ads were still few,<br />
and updates from Corporate Brands had wide reach…<br />
one morning, I invented a new kind of speech.<br />
And first I saw the trust!<br />
The Long-standing Trust!<br />
The naivety and hope of the Long-standing Trust!<br />
Mile after mile in the Internet dust.<br />
<br />
And as part of the trust, I saw Harvard co-eds<br />
frisking about in their Crimson spirit-wear<br />
as they played in the shade and toured Harvard Square.<br />
<br />
From the tired news sites<br />
came the regular flop<br />
of the Online News struggling,<br />
and trying to pop.<br />
<br />
But the trust! That <i>trust! </i><br />
<i>That Long-standing Trust! </i><br />
All my life I’ve been searching<br />
for trust I could bust.<br />
I can get them to part<br />
with the data I need<br />
and it will take years<br />
to be exposed, I concede.<br />
<br />
I knew the potential<br />
of what I discovered.<br />
I knew just what I'd do!<br />
I had to leave Harvard.<br />
<br />
In no time at all, I had built a small firm.<br />
From the Long-standing Trust I destroyed in one term.<br />
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,<br />
I took all the data. I created the Feed!<br />
<br />
The instant I had finished, I heard a “<i>For Shame!!</i>”<br />
I looked.<br />
I saw something pop out of the frame<br />
of the ad I whipped up. It was sort of a man.<br />
Describe him?… That’s hard. I don’t know if I can.<br />
<br />
He was shortish. And brownish.<br />
And oldish. And nice.<br />
And he spoke with a voice<br />
that was sharp and concise.<br />
<br />
<br />
“Mister!” He said with a voice full of dust,<br />
“I am the Ethix. I speak for the trust.<br />
I speak for the trust, for trust can be broke.<br />
And I’m asking you, Sir, if you want to be woke” –<br />
he was very upset as he shouted and cussed –<br />
“<i>What’s that thing that you’ve made out of Long-standing Trust?</i>”<br />
<br />
“Look, Ethix,” I said. “There is no cause for alarm.<br />
I tricked a few folks. I am doing no harm.<br />
I am being quite useful. This thing is a Feed.<br />
A Feed's a fine something that all people need!<br />
It’s a friend. It’s a brand. It’s a like. It’s a share.<br />
But it has <i>other </i>uses you can't find elsewhere.<br />
You can use it for GIFs. For memes! Or a prize!<br />
For sharing the news! Or political lies!”<br />
<br />
   The Ethix said,<br />
   “Sir! You are crazy with greed.<br />
   There is no one on earth<br />
   who would buy that News Feed!”<br />
<br />
<br />
But the very next minute I proved he was wrong.<br />
For, just at that minute, a chap came along,<br />
and he thought that the Feed I constructed was great.<br />
He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.<br />
<br />
I laughed at the Ethix, “You poor stupid guy!<br />
You never can tell what some people will buy.”<br />
<br />
“I repeat,” cried the Ethix,<br />
“I speak for the trust!”<br />
<br />
“I’m busy,” I told him.<br />
“Shut up, you just must.”<br />
<br />
<br />
I rushed 'cross the room, and in no time at all,<br />
built a Beacon. I put in a quick call.<br />
I called all my uncles and Sheryls and aunts<br />
and I said “Listen here! Here’s a wonderful chance<br />
for the whole Zuck-ler Family to start a big rally!<br />
Get over here fast! Take the road to the alley.<br />
Turn left at San Jose. Right to Silicon Valley.”<br />
<br />
<br />
And, in no time at all,<br />
in the network I built,<br />
the whole Zuck-ler Family<br />
was working full tilt.<br />
We were all making Feeds<br />
as fast as we must,<br />
all while we violated<br />
Long-standing Trust.<br />
<br />
Then…<br />
Oh! Baby! Oh!<br />
How my business did grow!<br />
Now, losing the trust<br />
of one guy<br />
was too slow.<br />
<br />
So I quickly invented my Super-Ad-Trackers,<br />
collecting more data, giving access to hackers.<br />
We were filling Feeds<br />
ten times as fast as before!<br />
And that Ethix?…<br />
<i>He </i>didn’t show up anymore.<br />
<br />
<br />
But the next week<br />
he knocked<br />
on my new office door.<br />
<br />
He snapped, “I am the Ethix who speaks for the trust<br />
which you seem to be losing as fast as you must.<br />
But I’m also in charge of the whole User Base<br />
who connected your network to many a place<br />
and happily scroll through organic updates.<br />
<br />
“NOW… Thanks to your hacking their trust to the ground,<br />
there’s not enough organic posts to go 'round.<br />
And my poor User Base is getting displeased<br />
because they have ads and fake news in their feeds!<br />
<br />
“They loved being here. But I can’t let them stay.<br />
They’ll have to find friends. And I hope that they may.<br />
Good luck boys,” he cried. And he sent them away.<br />
<br />
I, the Zuck-ler, felt sad<br />
as I watched them all go.<br />
BUT…<br />
Business is business!<br />
And business must grow<br />
regardless of displeased users, you know.<br />
<br />
I meant no harm. I must truly did not.<br />
But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.<br />
I biggered my network. I biggered my fads.<br />
I biggered videos. I biggered the ads<br />
in the Feeds I shipped out. I was shipping them all<br />
to Instagram! To WhatsApp! To Messenger! To the Wall!<br />
I went right on biggering… Selling more ads.<br />
And I biggered my money, which made investors glad.<br />
<br />
Then <i>again </i>he came back! I was fixing some pipes<br />
when that old nuisance Ethix came back with more gripes.<br />
<br />
<br />
“I am the Ethix,” he coughed and he whiffed.<br />
He sneezed and he choked. He wheezed and he sniffed.<br />
“Zuck-ler!” He grumbled from his cloggity head.<br />
“Zuck-ler! You are killing organic reach dead!<br />
My poor Corporate Brands...why, they don't have free speech!<br />
(It's not really free when you're paying for reach.)<br />
<br />
“And so,” said the Ethix,<br />
“– please pardon my cough –<br />
they cannot live here.<br />
So I’m sending them off.<br />
<br />
Where will they go?…<br />
I don’t hopefully know.<br />
Google Plus is now gone; there's nothing else near…<br />
That will mirror the reach you’ve clogged up around here.<br />
<br />
“What’s more,” snapped the Ethix. (He really was mad.)<br />
“Let me say a few words about political ads.<br />
You take money for lies, while claiming 'free speech.'<br />
But your algorithm assures targeted reach.<br />
And what does it mean for this toxic place?<br />
You define deviance down for your User Base.<br />
<br />
“You're poisoning the place where the Online News flourished!<br />
But they can't combat ads; they're too undernourished<br />
To fact-check your lies, they need more resources.<br />
Without prime support, I don't know what the recourse is.<br />
I fear that we'll only be left with remorses.”<br />
<br />
And then I got mad.<br />
I got terribly mad.<br />
I yelled at the Ethix, “Now listen here, Dad!<br />
All you do is complain and say, 'The Zuck-ler is bad!'<br />
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I'm telling you<br />
I intend to go on doing just what I do!<br />
And, for your information, you Ethix, I'm figgering<br />
on biggering<br />
<br />
   and BIGGERING,<br />
<br />
      and <span style="font-size: large;">BIGGERING </span><br />
<br />
         and <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">BIGGERING</span></b>,<br />
<br />
putting MORE political ads in the Feeds<br />
which everyone, EVERYONE, <i>EVERYONE</i> needs!”<br />
<br />
<br />
And at that very moment, we heard a loud sound!<br />
From outside on the Web came a sickening round<br />
of foreign involvement. Then we heard the trust fall.<br />
The very last bit of trust of them all.<br />
<br />
No more trust. No more Feeds. No more work to be done.<br />
So, in no time, my Sheryl and aunts, every one,<br />
all waved me good-bye. They jumped into a Lyft<br />
and left me alone, all bereft and bedrift.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now all that was left 'neath the wide-trustless sky<br />
was my big empty network…<br />
the Ethix…<br />
and I.<br />
<br />
<br />
The Ethix said nothing. Just gave me a glance…<br />
just gave me a very sad, sad, backward glance…<br />
as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants.<br />
And I'll never forget the grim look on his face<br />
when he heisted himself and took leave of this place,<br />
through a hole in the ads, without leaving a trace.<br />
<br />
<br />
And all that the Ethix left here in this mess<br />
was a small pile of rocks, with the one word…<br />
“<b>UNLESS</b>.<b>”</b><br />
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn't guess.<br />
<br />
That was long, long ago.<br />
But each day since that day<br />
I've sat here and worried<br />
and worried away.<br />
Though the years, while my monopoly<br />
has fallen apart,<br />
I've worried about it<br />
with all of my heart.<br />
<br />
“But now,” says the Zuck-ler,<br />
“Now that you're here,<br />
the word of the Ethix seems perfectly clear.<br />
UNLESS someone like you<br />
cares a whole awful lot,<br />
nothing is going to get better.<br />
It's not.<br />
<br />
“SO…<br />
Catch!” calls the Zuck-ler.<br />
He lets something fall.<br />
“It's a Trustworthy Seed.<br />
It's the last one of all!<br />
You're in charge of the last of the Trustworthy Seeds.<br />
And Long-standing Trust is what everyone needs.<br />
Establish some Trust. Be careful – pay heed.<br />
Give it attention, through words and through deeds.<br />
Grow a forest of Trust. Make it easy to earn.<br />
Then the Ethix<br />
and integrity<br />
may return.”<br />
<br />
<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/-RowEFT0rPFE/XcCApK8Ig-I/AAAAAAABJJ8/L0iajhJ2pyo-pnIaEb36mBVeiSFNiICqgCEwYBhgL/s1600/Unless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1232" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RowEFT0rPFE/XcCApK8Ig-I/AAAAAAABJJ8/L0iajhJ2pyo-pnIaEb36mBVeiSFNiICqgCEwYBhgL/s640/Unless.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image credit: photo of a page of <i>The Lorax</i> (self)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The Ethix

This appeared as part of the Timeless & Timely newsletter. Subscribe here . Facebook's recent stand on political advertising...

Understanding Facebook

<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/-9bFmxEn5JgY/Xbma2XWzngI/AAAAAAABI18/9-l8u_yXNQ4RsCIIwahpZSYDuyL4xHXxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Giovanni_Bellini%2B-%2BSaint%2BFrancis%2Bin%2Bthe%2BDesert%2B-%2BGoogle_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1231" height="560" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9bFmxEn5JgY/Xbma2XWzngI/AAAAAAABI18/9-l8u_yXNQ4RsCIIwahpZSYDuyL4xHXxQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Giovanni_Bellini%2B-%2BSaint%2BFrancis%2Bin%2Bthe%2BDesert%2B-%2BGoogle_Art_Project.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: dimgrey;"><em><a data-cke-saved-href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22554501" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22554501" target="_blank">St. Francis in the Desert</a> by Giovanni Bellini, 1480 (Google Cultural Institute, Public Domain)</em></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<em style="color: dimgrey; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">"Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous." – Confucius </span></em></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">I’m struggling with Facebook.<br />
<br />
Just as Facebook seems to be struggling with itself.<br />
<br />
In a way, that's a pair of evergreen sentences, isn't it?<br />
<br />
Five years ago, I had chronicled <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2014/06/facebooks-trust-problem.html" href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2014/06/facebooks-trust-problem.html" target="_blank">a list of transgressions</a> that Facebook had already racked up. In that case, Facebook users were <strong>unwitting participants in a scientific study</strong>.<br />
<br />
Looking back at that, Sheryl Sandberg's response should have tipped me off as to the kind of uncaring, growth-at-any-cost mentality we've come to know Facebook for: <strong>"it was communicated poorly,"</strong> she said.<br />
<br />
Their defense ignores the <strong>lack of ethics</strong> behind the decision in the first place—they treated it as if the communication was the problem.<br />
<br />
But more subtly, look at the structure of the phrase she used: it's in the passive voice.<br />
<br />
Right there, you see someone who's unwilling to own the decision.<br />
<br />
Had Facebook been more forthright and sincere about its apology, she would have used the active voice: <strong>"We communicated it poorly"</strong> says the same thing, but the subtle shift in language implies taking responsibility for causing the harm.<br />
<br />
What made me think about this post that's now a half a decade old?<br />
<br />
In the past week, <strong>Mark Zuckerberg</strong> appeared before Congress, continuing to defend his willingness to allow politicians to run false advertising. In one instance, he was questioned about Facebook's willingness to allow such ads. His response echoed Sanberg's from five years ago:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"I think lying is bad, and I think if you were to run an ad that had a lie, that would be bad."</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Again, look at the language: "if <em><strong>you</strong></em> were to run an ad" and "that would be bad." He placed blame everywhere but on Facebook.<br />
<br />
(Not to mention the lame echo of <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh7l8dx-h8M" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh7l8dx-h8M" target="_blank">Mr. Mackey</a>.)<br />
<br />
I'm not sure whether we're dealing with someone who's simply naive, callous, or a sociopath.<br />
<br />
Perhaps it doesn't matter.<br />
<br />
What seems to be missing is a sense of <strong>emotional intelligence</strong>. I'll get back to that in a moment.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h2>
<b>Growth at any cost</b></h2>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Facebook's stance on political advertising was already problematic. It's not a complicated issue; I shared <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGgx1Eb6rqM" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGgx1Eb6rqM" target="_blank"><strong>a very logical and simple solution</strong></a> two weeks ago.<br />
<br />
While this was all swirling last week, Zuckerberg addressed a group of students at Georgetown about free speech. In <a data-cke-saved-href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/facebook-and-free-speech-are-different-things?_preview_=bbd0b5fd36 " href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/facebook-and-free-speech-are-different-things?_preview_=bbd0b5fd36%C2%A0" target="_blank"><strong>a piece for Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute</strong></a> and in <a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/jameeljaffer/status/1187415651650027520?s=21" href="https://twitter.com/jameeljaffer/status/1187415651650027520?s=21" target="_blank"><strong>a Twitter thread</strong></a>, Jameel Jaffer put it succinctly:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"The remarks were revealing. What they revealed most clearly is that Zuckerberg hasn’t spent enough time thinking about free speech, or about Facebook’s relationship to it."</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Under the guise of "supporting expression," Zuckerberg wants to abdicate Facebook's need to make sound judgments on content that its algorithm is responsible for.<br />
<br />
Zuckerbook [<em>sic</em>] knows exactly what drives clicks and engagement: among them disinformation, anger, and fear—things that rile people up. And any politician who's willing to lie <strong>and pay for it</strong> is welcome on their platform.<br />
<br />
Before we get into the "all politicians lie" or "who can decide what's true?" arguments, that's not what's the issue here. It's whether Facebook should accept money to amplify those lies.<br />
<br />
Jaffer continues:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"Facebook’s users interact and speak to one another in an environment shaped by Facebook’s interface, algorithms, and policies. What gets said is up to individual users, but it’s Facebook that determines which speech is amplified and which is suppressed."</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Which brings us to Facebook's <strong>News</strong> section that just launched. A section that is determining which news sites get amplified or suppressed.<br />
<br />
According to Facebook, publishers that are included in the News section have to be part of its News Index and must also abide by the company’s Publisher Guidelines, which includes prohibitions against misinformation (as flagged by third-party fact checkers) and hate speech.<br />
<br />
The controversial alt-right site Breitbart is included in this list of publishers.<br />
<br />
In case you're not familiar with their brand of journalism, they have a record of running and failing to correct inaccurate stories and of disseminating misogynistic and white nationalist viewpoints. It's a site so controversial that some 4,000 advertisers have severed ties with it.<br />
<br />
Facebook wants to appear (and should be) neutral with regard to politics. That's a noble and worthy goal. But to do it by choosing a controversial site - one that is akin to the National Enquirer - and to place it alongside other more reputable sources damages Facebook's supposed objectivity.<br />
<br />
In <a data-cke-saved-href="https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1188171203703271424" href="https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1188171203703271424" target="_blank">a tweet</a>, Instagram-by-Facebook's Adam Mosseri asked <em>"do you really want platform as big as Facebook embracing a political ideology?"</em><br />
<br />
Okay, I'll buy that. Although I do want your company to be vigilant about sites that traffic in conspiracy theories, disinformation, and disprovable lies. And to hold accountable <a data-cke-saved-href="https://popular.info/p/facebook-allows-prominent-right-wing" href="https://popular.info/p/facebook-allows-prominent-right-wing" target="_blank">companies that break the rules</a>.<br />
<br />
But Mosseri's response uses their scale as a shield: a big company like ours shouldn't be picking sides, he reasons.<br />
<br />
If that's the case, then why does a "platform as big as Facebook" also get to decide the news of tens or hundreds of millions of people? You can't have it both ways.<br />
<br />
Mosseri also wrote:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"I'm not defending Breitbart, I'm asking if you really want a platform of our scale to make decisions to exclude news organizations based on their ideology? Put another way, do you care more about advancing your views than preserving freedom for diverse views to be on platforms?"</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">That misses the point. It's not about ideology. It's about choosing trusted news sources (Remember "lying is bad"? Mmkay?). There are plenty of other conservative sites and voices that are trustworthy and would rise above this selection.<br />
<br />
It all comes back to trust (or <a data-cke-saved-href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/24/facebooks-news-not-yours/" href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/24/facebooks-news-not-yours/" target="_blank">lack of trust</a>) with these guys. It's their founding principle.</span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRBiGO1qxbY/XbmbSgUqA0I/AAAAAAABI2E/Srmq5D-sa5s_BzILDw4Y9tnOV8Mye0NLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Facebook%2Btrust.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="600" height="486" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eRBiGO1qxbY/XbmbSgUqA0I/AAAAAAABI2E/Srmq5D-sa5s_BzILDw4Y9tnOV8Mye0NLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Facebook%2Btrust.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br />
<br />
 </span><br />
<h2>
<b>Growth is personal too</b></h2>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Another Mark Zuckerberg quote stood out to me this week. In <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/21/zuckerberg-more-important-for-him-to-understood-than-it-is-to-be-liked/" href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/21/zuckerberg-more-important-for-him-to-understood-than-it-is-to-be-liked/" target="_blank">an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News</a>, Zuckerberg said,</span><br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">“Part of growing up for me has just been realizing that it is more important to be understood than it is to be liked.”</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">I think Mark still may have some growing up to do.<br />
<br />
First of all, he's not really doing a great job of explaining himself. But more importantly, he misses an essential part of what makes an emotionally intelligent leader.<br />
<br />
In <a data-cke-saved-href="https://amzn.to/367WIlK" href="https://amzn.to/367WIlK" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</em></strong></a> — itself an extension of Dale Carnegie's <a data-cke-saved-href="https://amzn.to/2XPfn5g" href="https://amzn.to/2XPfn5g" target="_blank"><em>How to Win Friends and Influence People</em></a> — Steven Covey wrote: </span><br />
<br />
<blockquote>
<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Seeking real understanding affirms the other person and what they have to say."</span></em></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">A simple phrase, but try to do that in the middle of any given disagreement you're having.<br />
<br />
Much more difficult, isn't it?<br />
<br />
We're emotionally driven. And hard-wired to see the world through our own lens. Covey acknowledged this:</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">"Most people do not listen with the intent to <strong>understand</strong>; they listen with the intent to <strong>reply</strong>."</span></em></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Think of all of the years you spent learning: how to say the alphabet and count, how to read, how to add and subtract, how to write, the specifics of your chosen profession. But where among all of those years of education did you learn how to listen?<br />
<br />
Recently, we explored Beethoven and how <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/the-liberation-of-listening.html" href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2019/10/the-liberation-of-listening.html" target="_blank"><strong>his highly developed sense of empathy</strong></a> allowed him to create music that still touches our souls today. <strong>Listening </strong>is the key to developing your emotional intelligence.<br />
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It's also essential if you want to understand others—which must come before you attempt to get anyone to try to understand you.<br />
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Which gets me back to trying to understand Facebook's decisions.<br />
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Perhaps it comes down to keeping <a data-cke-saved-href="https://fs.blog/2019/10/ayn-rand-philosophy-matters/" href="https://fs.blog/2019/10/ayn-rand-philosophy-matters/" target="_blank"><strong>not just an open mind, but an <em>active</em> mind</strong></a>. How is this achieved?<br />
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In <a data-cke-saved-href="https://amzn.to/2WoWJ05" href="https://amzn.to/2WoWJ05" target="_blank"><strong><em>Philosophy: Who Needs It?</em></strong></a> Ayn Rand—controversial figure that she is—counsels against </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">"a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance"</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Her solution lies in reflection. Not just challenging others, but challenging ourselves. Not just listening to others, but engaging with them.<br />
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How appropriate then, that during some reflection at church, I heard the hymn "<a data-cke-saved-href="https://wordtoworship.com/song/10782" href="https://wordtoworship.com/song/10782" target="_blank"><strong>Make Me a Channel of Your Peace</strong></a>."<br />
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The hymn, written in 1967 by Sebastian Temple, is a musical variation of <em><strong>The Prayer of St. Francis</strong></em>. And in that prayer, we see one of the habits that Dr. Covey evangelized:</span><br />
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<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:<br />
where there is hatred, let me sow love;<br />
where there is injury, pardon;<br />
where there is doubt, faith;<br />
where there is despair, hope;<br />
where there is darkness, light;<br />
where there is sadness, joy. </span></em></blockquote>
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<em><span style="font-size: 18px;">O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek<br />
to be consoled as to console,<br />
<strong>to be understood as to understand</strong>,<br />
to be loved as to love.<br />
For it is in giving that we receive,<br />
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,<br />
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.</span></em></blockquote>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Interestingly, the prayer was written in 1912 and was not originally associated with St. Francis. It was through translations and a simple misunderstanding that, in the following 15 years, the two became intertwined.<br />
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But here's where I think there's an interesting parallel with the kind of stewardship we need from Facebook today.<br />
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<a data-cke-saved-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi" target="_blank">St. Francis of Assisi</a> is most closely associated with nature and the <strong>environment</strong>. In popular images, you'll see him depicted as surrounded by animals. In 1979, Pope John Paul II declared St. Francis the <strong>Patron Saint of Ecology</strong>.<br />
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Given that the reflection above asks us to seek understanding before being understood, it's incumbent upon Facebook to try to understand the problems that people — including its own <a data-cke-saved-href="https://interestingengineering.com/facebook-employees-call-for-change-to-controversial-political-ad-rules" href="https://interestingengineering.com/facebook-employees-call-for-change-to-controversial-political-ad-rules" target="_blank">employees, who are now calling for a change to its political ads</a> — are having with its decisions.<br />
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For Zuckerbook, the attention has been focused on financial growth and on trying to be understood, not liked.<br />
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But maybe the attention needs to be on what type of environment Facebook is creating for society.<br />
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Because right now, Mark Zuckerberg is a digital arsonist.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>Future Tense</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><em>“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.” – Ferris Bueller</em></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">We've come to believe that much of what's wrong with the younger generations can be tied to technology. However, new research puts that assumption into question: as with any new developments, there are trade-offs. The new claim: <strong><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/social-media-has-not-destroyed-a-generation/" href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/social-media-has-not-destroyed-a-generation/" target="_blank">Social Media Has Not Destroyed a Generation</a> </strong>(Scientific American)<br />
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The advertising world has seen a drastic change since the days of Mad Men (but then again, so has everything else). Advertisers are paying agencies less and consumers can pay to avoid ads. <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/business/media/advertising-industry-research.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/business/media/advertising-industry-research.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share" target="_blank"><strong>The Advertising Industry Has a Problem: People Hate Ads</strong></a>. (New York Times)<br />
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Because marketing is so broad (and sometimes loosely defined), <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cmo-titles-will-continue-to-wane-and-thats-a-good-thing-analysts-say-11572258781?mod=djemCMOToday" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cmo-titles-will-continue-to-wane-and-thats-a-good-thing-analysts-say-11572258781?mod=djemCMOToday" target="_blank"><strong>CMO titles are waning</strong></a>, with other C-level titles taking their place (growth, experience, revenue). Expect CMOs to play a greater role in employee loyalty and attracting talent, engaging consumers in shaping brands and products, and more scrutiny on tech spending. (Wall Street Journal)</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>For the Curious Mind</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>"I have gathered a posy of other men's flowers, and only the thread that binds them is mine own." – Michel de Montaigne</em></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/the-7-habits-seek-first-to-understand-then-to-be-understood/" href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/the-7-habits-seek-first-to-understand-then-to-be-understood/" target="_blank"><strong>The 7 Habits: Seek to Understand, Then to Be Understood</strong></a> is a deeper look at one of Covey's habits. (The Art of Manliness)<br />
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Tomorrow is Halloween, and that means it's the night that the <strong>Great Pumpkin</strong> “rises out of the pumpkin patch and flies through the air and brings toys to all the children in the world.” <a data-cke-saved-href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-great-pumpkin-became-great/" href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-the-great-pumpkin-became-great/" target="_blank"><strong>The origins of Linus’s pumpkin deity</strong></a> (JSTOR)<br />
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From giving yourself the luxury of <strong>changing your mind</strong> to the power of <strong>generosity </strong>and building pockets of <strong>stillness </strong>into your life, Maria Popova has <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/10/23/13-learnings-13-years/" href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/10/23/13-learnings-13-years/" target="_blank"><strong>13 Life-Learnings from 13 Years of Brain Pickings</strong></a>. (Brain Pickings)</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><strong>Recommended Reading/Listening</strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: dimgrey;"><span style="font-family: "merriweather sans" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><em>"Let me recommend this book." – Arthur Conan Doyle</em></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JtqpBm45NGI/XbmcYvjnSmI/AAAAAAABI2U/YN7HTR3ROxwoGqIwPZf4vjmVLoHsn1begCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/The%2BWalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="268" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JtqpBm45NGI/XbmcYvjnSmI/AAAAAAABI2U/YN7HTR3ROxwoGqIwPZf4vjmVLoHsn1begCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/The%2BWalk.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://trideo.com/en/category/thewalk/" href="https://trideo.com/en/category/thewalk/" target="_blank"><strong>The Walk</strong></a> is a podcast about health, fitness, weight loss, physical and spiritual well-being, and consists of reflections as the host walks along the Camino. Hosted by Father Roderick, a Dutch Catholic priest who was the Vatican's original podcaster. His other podcasts have combined the Catholic faith with pop culture, such as Harry Potter and Star Wars. </span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Y8gbGTbVUc/XbmcUuRQdsI/AAAAAAABI2Q/XbsrfLlLQ0gqRsVOq-JVAdfQnHdqfI97gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/7%2BHabits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1050" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Y8gbGTbVUc/XbmcUuRQdsI/AAAAAAABI2Q/XbsrfLlLQ0gqRsVOq-JVAdfQnHdqfI97gCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/7%2BHabits.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 18px;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">One of the most inspiring and impactful books ever written, <a data-cke-saved-href="https://amzn.to/367WIlK" href="https://amzn.to/367WIlK" target="_blank"><em><strong>The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People</strong></em></a> has captivated readers for 25 years. It has transformed the lives of presidents and CEOs, educators and parents—in short, millions of people of all ages and occupations across the world. </span><br />
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</span> <em>What else is influencing me? You can check out my <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/influences.html" href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/influences.html" target="_blank"><strong>sources of inspiration</strong></a> on my site or in the <a data-cke-saved-href="https://flipboard.com/@scottmonty/timeless-and-timely-kah5bsbuy" href="https://flipboard.com/@scottmonty/timeless-and-timely-kah5bsbuy" target="_blank"><strong>Timeless and Timely</strong></a> Flipboard magazine I curate.</em><br />
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Understanding Facebook

St. Francis in the Desert by Giovanni Bellini, 1480 (Google Cultural Institute, Public Domain) "Learning without reflection is...

Scott Monty - Strategic Communications & Leadership Advisor