United We Stand

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dtQ4M9WO7rY/YGQS_Y8bREI/AAAAAAABSlE/Ik3KsXTZtcMDzOdhhu-coTVxOkRBb3tiQCLcBGAsYHQ/s918/Diego%2BRivera%2B-%2BDetroit_industry_north.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="918" height="264" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dtQ4M9WO7rY/YGQS_Y8bREI/AAAAAAABSlE/Ik3KsXTZtcMDzOdhhu-coTVxOkRBb3tiQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h264/Diego%2BRivera%2B-%2BDetroit_industry_north.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Industry_Murals">Detroit Industry, North Wall</a></em><span style="text-align: left;">, 1932-33, fresco by </span><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Diego_Rivera" style="text-align: left;">Diego Rivera</a><span style="text-align: left;">. (public domain - </span><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Institute_of_Arts" style="text-align: left;">Detroit Institute of Arts</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes every man an opportunity to make a living.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— John D. Rockefeller Jr., 1941</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p>We seem more connected—in the digital sense and in the sense of having common interests—than ever before.</p><p>Whether you’re a student, a professional, or a retiree, you’re dealing with the effects of separation (from the office, from family, from friends, from old experiences) and fatigue.</p><p>We can all relate.</p><p>But recently, thanks to a number of new apps in the audio space, I’ve noticed that there’s a disparity: new technologies are exclusively available on iOS, not Android.</p><p>We’re not as connected as we might think. In fact, there’s quite a bit that separates us.</p><p>Given the many challenges we face on any given day, unity is essential.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>― George Orwell, 1945</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>For isn’t it through connection, collaboration, and communication that we accomplish more together?</p><p>Not just through physical proximity or brainstorming sessions, either. The simple act of showing empathy can propel us much further toward our goals than we might estimate.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Strange then, that we find ourselves at a crossroads where we seem more divided than unified. We’re connected without being united.</p><p>On the economic front, during this pandemic we have people on the one end of the spectrum struggling to pay rent when <strong><a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22356742/billionaires-amazon-jeff-bezos-rich-philanthropy-coronavirus-election">billionaires have ended the year far wealthier than they started</a></strong>.</p><p>And even with that public ledger displayed for anyone to see, tallying profits and losses in a global economic and moral accounting system, Jeff Bezos’ company is in the black financially, but in the red ethically.</p><p>For in Alabama, the votes are being tallied from the vote of Amazon workers to unionize. Over the last month, Amazon has waged a war against unionization, even <strong><a href="https://flip.it/PDHRE0">posting anti-union messages in the bathroom stalls at warehouses</a></strong>.</p><p>Completely ironic, given Amazon workers having to find <strong><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7amyn/amazon-denies-workers-pee-in-bottles-here-are-the-pee-bottles">alternative ways to relieve themselves</a></strong>.</p><blockquote><p>“But organizers say the union effort is not a fight over a $15 or $16 wage — though Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made nearly $75 billion in 2020. It is a matter of morality, of just who will make money off their labors. It’s a question of good and evil, about what is righteous, and just, and fair. For these workers and the organizers who have traveled from across the South to support their unionization effort, this is their David and Goliath story. What they want is dignity.” (“<a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22320009/amazon-bessemer-union-rwdsu-alabama">An unholy union</a>,” by Kim Kelly, March 21, 2021, <em>Vox</em>)</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>There’s no question that Amazon is a juggernaut. A ubiquitous part of our collective experience—another thing that unites us.</p><p>You have to wonder what Jeff Bezos thinks about the experience he gives his employees. Perhaps he believes the Amazon culture and benefits make unionization unnecessary. Or maybe he simply doesn’t care.</p><p>Often, we make out our perceived enemies as one-dimensional, cast in a mold of evil geniuses with nefarious intentions. It makes it easier to dismiss their arguments and dig into our own.</p><p>But what we’re left with is confirmation bias. Every bit of information we discover about them is either tossed if it doesn’t fit our narrative, or neatly packed away to be used as fodder for further detrimental discourse.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>It’s one of the reasons I’m so fascinated with David Murray’s book <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3fsAxxr">An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half</a></strong></em> —more on David below.</p><p>With the brevity of so much online communication (not to mention the lack of nuance and context in text-based platforms), we miss the opportunity to have discussions, debates, and discourse.</p><p>We seem to have lost the ability to try to understand the other.</p><p>Given the above scenario with Amazon and the knowledge that we need to exhibit some empathy, let’s try a thought experiment.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><h2><strong>What Would You Do?</strong></h2><p>Suppose you’re a business owner. You started your family business some 30 years ago with an idea that was common, but you found a way to innovate in a way to leave the competition behind.</p><p>You bring your son on, who’ll eventually inherit the business, and he helps you with the transformation.</p><p>You realize that the backbone of any company is its employees. Employees who are treated well and given opportunities will become loyal employees. Loyalty means happy employees, and happy employees mean better productivity.</p><p>You double daily wages, you give $10 million in profits to employees one year, you reduce the number of hours they have to work. As part of this arrangement, you ask them to abstain from alcohol, to avoid domestic violence, to keep their homes clean, and contribute to a savings account.</p><p>It might seem a little intrusive, but you're interested in the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of your employees. In fact, you even create a division within HR that’s dedicated to this purpose.</p><p>The result? Productivity shoots up between 40% - 70%. Profits grow 20%. Employees are more focused, and your company sees a wave of people applying for work.</p><p>You’re proud of the firm you established and grew, and you know that no employer takes better care of your employees than you.</p><p><br /></p><p>What would you do if union organizers showed up and wanted to form a union so employees could engage in collective bargaining?</p><p>How would you feel after everything you’ve done to make this one of the best places to work? What would your response be to this kind of ingratitude?</p><p>You might have a difficult time seeing why they needed these new arrangements. You might fight the unionization efforts tooth and nail.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, that’s exactly what one business leader did, after 30 years in business. More than any other business leader, he created the middle class. He made it possible for mothers and children to stay home from work because a single member of the family could make enough money to support them.</p><p>I’m sure you recognize this story by now.</p><p><strong>Henry Ford</strong> put the world on wheels in more than one way—in transportation as well as in prosperity.</p><p>So you might understand why he had a hard time seeing eye to eye with his employees on the question of a union.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course, sending the Ford Security division to confront the union organizers in 1937 was a mistake. Security chief Harry Bennett and his good squad violently assaulted the organizers, then tried to lie about the fracas, blaming the union instead.</p><p>The trouble was, there was a Detroit News photographer there who captured the entire event. Once the graphic images reached the public, the <strong><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-ford-motor-company-won-a-battle-and-lost-ground-45814533/">Battle of the Overpass</a></strong> was a public relations nightmare for Henry Ford and he conceded.</p><p>As we wait for the votes to be tallied in the latest unionization effort, the Battle of the Overpass is a powerful reminder of how vehemently dug in we can allow ourselves to be at times.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>For any leader, the very basis of the job is to bring all stakeholders together and communicate the need to work toward a common goal. [<strong><a href="https://ctt.ac/25984">Tweet this</a></strong>]</p><p>There may be disparate needs and ideas, but fundamentally, we all want the same thing.</p><p>At Ford, we defined it as “Profitable growth for all.” Everyone understood that phrase. How we got there, to each person, was a different story. But we knew we had to collaborate and communicate to make it happen.</p><p>Working together. Unity.</p><p>Your people are so much stronger together than apart.</p><p><br /></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"></pre></div><div><hr /></div><h1><strong>Coming up</strong></h1><p>In Friday’s edition of the newsletter for premium subscribers (<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">here’s how to become one</a>), we’ll be talking more about organizational communication and what employees need.</p><p>I’d also like to invite you to join the next episode of <em><strong>Timeless Leadership </strong></em>on <strong>Thursday, April 1 at noon EDT</strong>, where we talk about the virtues and principles that make great leaders. It all happens on <a href="https://www.firesidechat.com/scottmonty">Fireside Chat</a>.</p><p>This week, my guest will be <strong>David Murray</strong>, who wrote <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3fsAxxr">An Effort to Understand</a></strong></em> and who heads the global Professional Speechwriters Association. He's an award-winning journalist, and the editor and publisher of <em>Vital Speeches of the Day</em> magazine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJ_s8A8c-GQ/YGQTEkhVNwI/AAAAAAABSlI/brYPHXYG4i8GgXkQjAFmrrcoaezEppyBACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/david-murray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RJ_s8A8c-GQ/YGQTEkhVNwI/AAAAAAABSlI/brYPHXYG4i8GgXkQjAFmrrcoaezEppyBACLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/david-murray.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br /><p>Together, we’ll explore the concept of understanding and its role in companies, society, and leadership.</p><p>And if you’re a premium member, you’ll have access to the podcast recording of the discussion afterward. I hope you understand what a good deal that is.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /><br /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. And now, we're adding more audio content to the list! Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://scottmonty.substack.com/embed" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

United We Stand

  Detroit Industry, North Wall , 1932-33, fresco by  Diego Rivera . (public domain -  Detroit Institute of Arts ) “I believe in the dignity ...

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Do the Decent

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDQNH19zCkY/YFtDNlOLZ3I/AAAAAAABSeA/vw8OsLCP6is2s6wwO9Hnk5ZJImef09lJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1179/Luigi%2BSciallero%2B-%2BThe%2BGood%2BSamaritan.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1179" height="556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GDQNH19zCkY/YFtDNlOLZ3I/AAAAAAABSeA/vw8OsLCP6is2s6wwO9Hnk5ZJImef09lJQCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h556/Luigi%2BSciallero%2B-%2BThe%2BGood%2BSamaritan.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Good_Samaritan_by_Luigi_Sciallero,_1854,_oil_on_canvas_-_Accademia_Ligustica_di_Belle_Arti_-_DSC02356.JPG">The Good Samaritan</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Luigi Sciallero, 1854 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en" style="text-align: left;">CC0 1.0</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” </strong></em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Henry James, 1902</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p>Angelo Siciliano was born in the Calabria region of southern Italy. When he was ten years old, little Angelino (as he was called) moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York.</p><p>It was there that Angelino discovered how cruel the world could be. A small, sickly child, he had a delicate frame and wasn’t able to withstand the rigors of exercise—even ascending the stairs to his family’s ground floor apartment made him winded.</p><p>And so the bullies piled on, as bullies often do.</p><p>One day, on a class trip to the Brooklyn Museum, he was enduring the daily torment that plagued him. So he sat alone on a stone bench in the main hall, waiting—as he did most days—for this day to end.</p><p>And while he was sitting there, his gaze wandered to a statue across the hall. A sculpture of the mythological figure Hercules: the divine champion of the weak and a great protector.</p><p>With no father figure to look up to, as the scrawny Angelino started at Hercules, he decided right there and then that he would become what he saw.</p><p>He didn’t have money for an expensive gym, so he devised a way to make his muscles struggle against each other. We call these isometric exercises now. He watched the strongmen at Coney Island and asked them about their diet and exercise regimens.</p><p>Over time, Angelo grew his body and grew his confidence. He went from scrawny to brawny, the delicate features transforming into a well-sculptured physique that embodied strength.</p><p>Gone was the 97-pound weakling who had to endure sand being kicked in his face, either figuratively or literally.</p><p>The lack of kindness and empathy—attributes that bullies consistently seem to lack—that had been shown to little Angelo became the driving force that caused him to change his outlook, his habits, and even his name.</p><p>For Angelino Siciliano, the boy who was tormented daily by Brooklyn bullies, mapped out a way to find inner and outer strength for himself. And he shared that path with millions of other boys who would see his ads in comic books and magazines.</p><p>Only they would know him as <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Atlas">Charles Atlas</a></strong>.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>The Value of Kindness</strong></h2><p>How much does kindness cost you? Or listening? Or compassion? Or empathy?</p><p>These may seem like softer, intangible assets — immeasurable to the analysts, but invaluable to your customers and employees.</p><p>Amid the digital hustle-bustle, think of the impact of exhibiting some of these qualities.</p><p>We all have the ability to express kindness, yet it can seem a struggle at times. We might be on edge because of a lost contract. Or because of an argument we had with someone about whom we care deeply.</p><p>Or maybe we just don’t make kindness a priority.</p><p>Kindness is a choice.</p><p>Every single day, we have a choice. Should we do or say something kind when unprompted? Or should we take advantage of a situation and be cutting and caustic?</p><p>When we see so much laid bare online, the temptation is there to pile on. When we’re accustomed to the knee-jerk reaction that the internet brings (non-ironic use of <em>jerk</em> there), our kindness muscle begins to atrophy.</p><p>And just like Charles Atlas, we need to exercise those muscles.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“A sense of fundamental decencies is parcelled out unequally at birth.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />It’s kind of sad when we celebrate what should be accepted as normal, isn’t it?</p><p>Like when people get excited about receiving praise or a handwritten note.</p><p>Or when they talk wistfully about a leader who treated people with kindness and compassion.</p><p>Why aren’t we simply doing things that were once expected? Things that were once the price of existence? And doing them because they’re the right thing to do—not because we want something.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Mark Twain</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />Early in my career at Ford, I was at a conference in Paris, and I remember meeting someone for the first time with whom I had corresponded with online for a few years.</p><p>We chatted for a bit, catching up on all that had happened in the previous five years since we first connected online. New jobs, new cities, family life, observations on the industry, and the like.</p><p>When we were done, she wound up the conversation with astonishment:</p><blockquote><p>“Scott, I’ve been talking nonstop for 10 minutes, and during that time you put your phone away and gave me your undivided attention. Who <em>does</em> that?”</p></blockquote><p>Her reaction still sticks with me, over a decade later. All I did was listen to her as she talked. But that gesture of undivided attention—that little gesture of making the conversation with her more important than anything else—blew her away.</p><p>While I was glad that we met and spoke, I was left with this feeling of melancholy: wistful that attention, consideration, and kindness were now considered exceptional rather than the norm.</p><p>The simple act of showing kindness and consideration is a powerful strategy.</p><p>Each of us has it within our power to behave in such a way that our customers, employees, colleagues, and friends see us as a kind and decent person or company.</p><p>How marvelous it would be to leave them gratified rather than astonished.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>Coming up</strong></h2><p>In Friday’s edition of the newsletter for premium subscribers (<a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">here’s how to become one</a>), we’ll be discussing kindness and decency, and why it matters for today’s leaders.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlJ3fCa-3A0/YFtIkgtwjaI/AAAAAAABSeI/oI50ugUbLg4fjpsKmvn6JJbJvkQN-WHRwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2000/Timeless%2BLeadership.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2000" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HlJ3fCa-3A0/YFtIkgtwjaI/AAAAAAABSeI/oI50ugUbLg4fjpsKmvn6JJbJvkQN-WHRwCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/Timeless%2BLeadership.png" width="200" /></a></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe","text":"Join the growing list of Premium Members","class":null}">I’d also like to invite you to join me for free on <strong>Thursday, March 25 at noon EDT</strong> for the live episode of <em><strong>Timeless Leadership</strong></em>, where we talk about the virtues and principles that make great leaders. It all happens on <a href="https://www.firesidechat.com/scottmonty">Fireside Chat</a>.</p><p>This week, my guest will be <a href="https://www.davedelaney.me/">Dave Delaney</a>, a keynote speaker, corporate trainer, podcaster, and creator of the NICE Method™. He hosts the Nice Podcast and writes the Nice Maker Newsletter. I couldn't think of a nicer guy for this episode.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3UXTp39jV5M/YFtIssBWHII/AAAAAAABSeM/2gy4X4scZXcjhHFiVn_HkrqZpwZAyzT1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s625/Nice%252Bguy%252C%252Bkeynote%252Bspeaker%252C%252BDave%252BDelaney.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3UXTp39jV5M/YFtIssBWHII/AAAAAAABSeM/2gy4X4scZXcjhHFiVn_HkrqZpwZAyzT1wCLcBGAsYHQ/w160-h200/Nice%252Bguy%252C%252Bkeynote%252Bspeaker%252C%252BDave%252BDelaney.png" width="160" /></a></div><br /><p>Together, we’ll explore the concept of kindness and its role in leadership. Do nice guys finish last? Join us for the discussion.</p><p>And if you’re a premium member, you’ll have access to the discussion afterward. Sounds pretty nice, if you ask me.</p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /><br /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">👉 Premium Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. And now, we're adding more audio content to the list! Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://scottmonty.substack.com/embed" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p>

Do the Decent

The Good Samaritan  by Luigi Sciallero, 1854 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons  CC0 1.0 ) “Three things in human life are important. The fi...

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Are You Feeling Lucky?

<p style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4kyeb9ScZU/YFImr8zKIUI/AAAAAAABSaw/0Ejg_NLPGpEZiESxfC5lhyNtWYWsLJwFwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1271/Balthazar%2BNebot%2B-%2BAllegory%2Bof%2BFortune%2B-%2BGoogle_Art_Project.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1271" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4kyeb9ScZU/YFImr8zKIUI/AAAAAAABSaw/0Ejg_NLPGpEZiESxfC5lhyNtWYWsLJwFwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h516/Balthazar%2BNebot%2B-%2BAllegory%2Bof%2BFortune%2B-%2BGoogle_Art_Project.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balthazar_Nebot_-_Allegory_of_Fortune_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg#/media/File:Balthazar_Nebot_-_Allegory_of_Fortune_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg">Allegory of Fortune</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Balthazar Nebot, c. 1730 (public domain - Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, via Google Art Project)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table> </p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“An ancient writer says, very truly: that there are three great powers in the world: sagacity, strength, and luck. I think the last is the most efficacious.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />Luck, in many ways, is the opposite of control.</p><p>In fact, we have less control than we think. Swirling around each of us are innumerable variables, each independent of the other, and intersecting with our lives when we least expect it.</p><p>These variables contribute to our failures and our successes, but we’re not in a position to control them.</p><p>We can’t control what people will think, nor can we regulate elements that are external to us. Our emotions and our comportment are entirely within our own power; how we express them will send a signal to the world about how we wish to be perceived.</p><p>As life greets us with many twists and turns, we find ourselves in situations we didn’t cause and that we can’t control. In many ways, it can feel terrifying.</p><p>At the same time, it can feel liberating. Because the only thing we can control is how we react.</p><p>And that very action—deciding how we’ll react—is what will make our luck.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“We can’t control the variance. We can’t control what happens. But we can control our attention and how we choose to deploy it.” </strong></em></strong></em></div><p></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Maria Konnikova, 2020</em></p><p><em><br /></em></p><div><hr /></div><p>Call it luck, call it fortune, call it chance or superstition, it’s all the same: circumstances that are outside of our realm of influence. But if we put ourselves in the proper mindset, we can tilt ourselves one way or another, as a sail catches wind.</p><p>In his 1851 essay “<a href="https://amzn.to/2Q61Hj4">The Wisdom of Life</a>” (hey, how’s that for a healthy ego?), Arthur Schopenhauer wrote:</p><blockquote><p>“A man’s life is like the voyage of a ship, where luck acts the part of the wind and speeds the vessel on its way or drives it far out of its course. All that the man can do for himself is of little avail; like the rudder, which if worked hard and continuously may help in the navigation of the ship; and yet all may be lost again by a sudden squall. But if the wind is only in the right quarter, the ship will sail on so as not to need any steering.”</p></blockquote><p>Have you noticed some people who seem to fall into good fortune? Who never have headwinds?</p><p>It may seem that way, but odds are they’ve faced difficulties. What sets them apart is how they reacted. If they’re resilient, they kept pushing on, tacking and jibing as the prevailing winds changed.</p><p>When they finally arrive at port, the waters are calm as the boat finds its slip, it seems like it’s been smooth sailing for them. But they know how they had to change course in order to arrive safely.</p><p>When you look at the success of Joseph P. Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy clan bootlegger, early Hollywood mogul, and diplomat, you would think he was born on Easy Street.</p><blockquote><p>“On the Wall Street of the 1920s, Catholics were borderline cases and often found it harder than Jews to enter high finance. Snubbed by Protestants, they turned to stock market speculation by default, and Jazz Age plungers were disproportionately Irish. Armed with ticker tape and telephones at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Joe Kennedy made a fortune in stock pools.” (Ron Chernow, <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3s0eh1m" target="_blank">The House of Morgan</a></i>, 1989)</p></blockquote><p>But in those early days, Jack Morgan refused to see him because of his dual stigma of being a  speculator and a Catholic.</p><p>In the years following the stock market crash, Kennedy because chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: a powerful role, and an influential one too, given Jack Morgan’s snub of Kennedy a decade before.</p><p>Kennedy enjoyed another twist of fate: when he became United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James (UK) from 1938-1940, the ambassador’s official residence was at Princes Gate—the former home of Junius Spenser Morgan and J.Pierpoint Morgan (Jack’s grandfather and father) in London.</p><p>In those early years, Kennedy had no ability to change Morgan’s decision or his prejudice. He did, however, have the ability to change the company with whom he would associate and the kind of work he preferred to do.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“Fortune always will confer an aura</strong></em></div><em><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>Of worth, unworthily; and in this world</strong></em></div><strong><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>The lucky person passes for a genius.”</strong> </em></div></strong></em><p></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Euripides, c. 429 BC</em></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />In retrospect, decisions we make with respect to our direction can seem like folly or pure genius. The reality is, we do the best with the information we have at the time.</p><p>When I decided to join Ford, I knew the company needed to make a comeback and I foresaw the rise of social media in the general public. I predicted the intersection of the two would be a great boon to Ford.</p><p>While my prediction was correct, what I didn’t know at the time was the looming financial meltdown and government bailout for some of the auto industry that would result. Ford managed to burnish its reputation during that time.</p><p>I retrospect, I looked like a genius, but it was partially due to luck.</p><p>The lesson: be well-informed, be curious, and trust your instinct in order to be prepared for whatever Dame Fortune sends you.</p><p>Fortune is a fickle thing, gossamer-like in nature. It’s impossible to catch and fold it neatly in our pocket. Glimpsed one way, it can seem strong and certain. But it can also fall apart at the touch.</p><p>Once we realize that, we can gently stretch or bend it to our advantage, ever so slightly.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h1><strong>Stay tuned</strong></h1><p>In Friday’s edition of the newsletter for premium subscribers (<a href="https://timelesstimely.com/subscribe">here’s how to become one</a>), we’ll be discussing merit, and how luck plays into our thinking on equality.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe","text":"Join other discerning Premium Members","class":null}"><a class="button primary" href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Join other discerning Premium Members</a></p><p>Meanwhile, I’d like to invite you to join me on <strong>Thursday, March 18 at noon EDT</strong> for the inaugural live episode of <em><strong>Timeless Leadership</strong></em>, where about the virtues and principles that make great leaders.</p><p>My very first guest will be <strong><a href="https://lauragassnerotting.com/">Laura Gassner Otting</a></strong>, best-selling author of <em><a href="https://amzn.to/38QprOI">Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life</a></em>, which debuted at #2 on the <em>Washington Post</em> bestseller list.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4m1FDjvc3A/YFIlkatCQOI/AAAAAAABSao/MQhDyPKqnP8ECN7Wy7fOUV1Av4sOYungwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/LGO%2Bheadshot%2Bbw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4m1FDjvc3A/YFIlkatCQOI/AAAAAAABSao/MQhDyPKqnP8ECN7Wy7fOUV1Av4sOYungwCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h426/LGO%2Bheadshot%2Bbw.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Laura is a serial entrepreneur who has started and sold a successful international executive search firm, built philanthropic and political action committees from scratch, and was a White House appointee on the team which created the national service project, AmeriCorps. Laura is like a punch in the face wrapped in a warm hug.</p><p>And I’m lucky to have her on the show.</p><p>The show will be hosted on <strong>Fireside Chat</strong> (which you can download with this VIP audience link: <a href="https://f.chat/f141">https://f.chat/f141</a>). You can find <a href="https://firesidechat.com/scottmonty">my profile</a> here.</p><p><br /></p><h2><strong>Why Fireside?</strong></h2><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n6qRS8ajjBg/YFIlrWR9iQI/AAAAAAABSas/Q_lL80Y9PZUX07PKx_9btGmyOfBfZnUlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s768/fireside-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n6qRS8ajjBg/YFIlrWR9iQI/AAAAAAABSas/Q_lL80Y9PZUX07PKx_9btGmyOfBfZnUlgCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/fireside-logo.png" width="200" /></a></div>Fireside Chat is a new podcast platform for the next generation — a socially responsible space for us to come together in real-time, so we can collaborate and create meaningful moments (which are also recorded so you don’t have FOMO).<p></p><p>Their community values are the essence of Timeless Leadership: <strong>respect</strong>, <strong>empathy</strong>, <strong>community</strong>, and <strong>fun</strong>.</p><p>They take culture seriously there, and the focus is on <strong>quality </strong>conversations.</p><p>When he launched the first of his “fireside chats” on March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created important moments of intimacy through audio. He connected directly with listeners all across America.</p><p>You’ve heard my voice, but this kind of Fireside Chat isn’t just about me. Because with Fireside, <em>you’ll</em> have a voice as well. I want you to engage me in live conversations. Discussions. Debates. Discourse.</p><p>You know, the way humans used to talk to each other before the internet came along. We’ll be doing this in a public forum, just as the Romans used the Forum for public engagement over two thousand years ago.</p><p>Thanks, and I hope I’ll see you there. Or on the internet.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-71-563" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77dac60f-7de4-434a-aa31-8fb73c44e1de_563x71.png" style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: min(12.611%, 71px); width: 100%;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77dac60f-7de4-434a-aa31-8fb73c44e1de_563x71.png","height":71,"width":563,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":5308,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77dac60f-7de4-434a-aa31-8fb73c44e1de_563x71.png" style="max-height: 71px; max-width: 563px;" /></a></figure></div><p></p><div class="footnote" id="footnote-1"><br /></div>

Are You Feeling Lucky?

Allegory of Fortune  by Balthazar Nebot, c. 1730 (public domain - Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, via Google Art Projec...

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Look for the Helpers

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LMay-9_GpLo/YEkZfaRr4iI/AAAAAAABSSU/WHDMEsarTn0fDCrPJTX4rq5WQ3-gvBXgACLcBGAsYHQ/s1180/Boudica_statue%2B-%2BWestminster%2B%25288433726848%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1180" height="556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LMay-9_GpLo/YEkZfaRr4iI/AAAAAAABSSU/WHDMEsarTn0fDCrPJTX4rq5WQ3-gvBXgACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h556/Boudica_statue%2B-%2BWestminster%2B%25288433726848%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boadicea_and_Her_Daughters#/media/File:Boudica_statue,_Westminster_(8433726848).jpg">Boudica Statue</a>, Westminster</em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Paul Walter, 2013 (public domain, Wikipedia - </span><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" style="text-align: left;">CC by 2.0</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="captioned-image-container" data-pm-context="[]"><figure><figcaption class="image-caption"><br /></figcaption></figure></div><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“No man is an island entire of itself; every man</strong></em></strong></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— John Donne, 1624</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />It feels good to be independent, doesn’t it?</p><p>To look at a project or opportunity, assess your abilities and past achievements, and think, “Yeah, I can do this. I don’t need any help.”</p><p>In reality, none of us achieves what we do or gets where we are completely on our own.</p><p>From childhood on, we look for ways to be free of the confines and constraints that others put on us.</p><p>I remember a time — I must have been all of five or six years old — when I so frustrated by the rules my parents made, I announced that I was running away (haven’t we all had a moment like this?) to my grandparents. Because all grandparents seem to operate without the same rules and restrictions of parents.</p><p>My mom sat and watched as I packed my little suitcase, trying to contain her dueling feelings of amusement and anguish. As I exited the door in a huff, I headed to the end of the driveway before abruptly stopping. I turned around, my anger fading into desperation, and said,</p><p>“I don’t know how to get there. Can you give me directions?”</p><p>In our fervid desire for autonomy—at any stage of life—we eventually realize that we still need each other if we want to succeed. Humans are a social species. Even the most valiant among us cannot survive alone, nor have we arrived at our current circumstances without the help of others.</p><p>In the ancient world (and even in the modern world, until relatively recently), the power of women was through association with powerful male family members. Women only came to power during a crisis: an invasion or when a royal family was depleted of its male members.</p><p>Such was the case of the thousands of “<strong>Rosie the Riveters</strong>” in World War II, who took over the manufacturing jobs when their fathers, brothers, uncles, and husbands were called to the front lines. They answered the call.</p><p>Such was the case of <strong>Boudicca </strong>(alternatively spelled Boudicca or Boadicea) in ancient Britain.</p><p>The Romans first invaded the island in 43, and Boudicca’s husband Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, was an independent ally of Rome. The Iceni lived in what is present-day Norfolk, to the northeast of London.</p><p>Prasutagus died and left his kingdom jointly to Rome and to his two daughters in his will. According to <strong>Tacitus </strong>in <em>The Annals</em>, this was</p><blockquote><p><strong>“an act of deference which he thought would place his kingdom and household beyond the risk of injury. The result was contrary – so much so that his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, his household by slaves; as though they had been prizes of war.”</strong></p></blockquote><p>Boudicca was flogged, her two daughters raped, and the leading men of the Iceni had their land stripped from them.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>“Did they hear me, would they listen, did they pity me supplicating?”</strong> </em></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1864</em></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />So, driven not only by the need for personal vengeance, but the need to make it clear that her people wanted independence, Boudicca led a rebellion against the Romans from 60–61. The result was some 70,000 to 80,000 Romans and Roman-supporting Britons, before Boudicca’s forces suffered defeat and she poisoned herself.</p><p>The lesson here is not only this fierce fight for independence and Boudicca’s ability to work with the Iceni toward a mutual goal, but also this: given her defeat, Boudicca’s story might be lost to history if it weren’t for those who took the time to call out her heroism.</p><p>Those like Tacitus, who lived 100 years later, and <strong>Alfred, Lord Tennyson</strong>, who wrote the poem “<a href="https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/boadicea/">Boadicea</a>” 1800 years later, or <strong>Thomas Thornycroft</strong>, whose statue <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boadicea_and_Her_Daughters">Boadicea and Her Daughters</a></em> was placed on Westminster Bridge in 1902.</p><p>The last two of these—Tennyson and Thornycroft—lived during the reign of <strong>Queen Victoria</strong>, another powerful woman who herself oversaw an empire at its height of expansion. The allegory of a queen of long ago who stood up to oppression (her name translates to “victory,”) made a natural parallel to Victoria.</p><p>England’s first ruling queen in over 200 years, Victoria was a prominent figure with a reign that spanned six decades. Her influence and power were reminders that women play important roles in our society, and they should not be overlooked.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“When I was a boy I used to think that STRONG meant having big muscles, great physical power; but the longer I live, the more I realize that real strength has much more to do with what is NOT seen. Real strength has to do with helping others.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Fred Rogers, 2003</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br />After September 11, a quote from Mister Rogers surfaced that frequently gets reused, particularly during national tragedies: “Look for the helpers.” It comes from this longer quote:</p><p></p><blockquote><strong>“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”</strong></blockquote><p></p><p>The helpers in our lives are often women: mothers, sisters, aunts, wives. They provide nurturing environments. They protect us. They fight for us. They labor tirelessly on our behalf, whether leading multinational companies, negotiating agreements, holding political office, fighting for the resources they need to teach, or putting food on the table.</p><p>Too often, they’re overlooked. Yet they shouldn’t be. Nor should they be celebrated only on International Women’s Day or Mother’s Day.<br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”</strong>  </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1943</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/things-not-seen","text":"Further Reading: Things Not Seen","class":null}"><br /></p><p>We see what we want to see (related reading: "<a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/2020/08/things-not-seen.html" target="_blank">Things Not Seen</a>").</p><p>And as leaders, we can make others see what needs to be seen.</p><p>Look for the helpers, certainly. And make sure everyone knows who they are.</p><p><br /></p><p><i><b>P.S. I've unlocked <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/the-dignity-of-work" target="_blank">The Dignity of Work</a>, previously available only to premium subscribers. See what you think.</b></i></p><p><br /></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/coin-of-the-realm-audio-version","text":"Coin of the Realm","class":null}"></p><h2><hr style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;" /></h2><h2><strong>Preview of Friday’s curated content</strong></h2><p>Yes, we ought to be looking for helpers and acknowledging our interdependence, but there are times when leaders need to be alone and reflect. That’s what we’ll cover on Friday.</p><h4><strong>A timely link:</strong></h4><p>The chairman of PwC is focused on bringing more overlooked people to leadership positions. Longstanding white males in the firm have raised objections. How does he deal with that pushback? <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Subscribe for the answer</a></strong></em><strong>.</strong></p><h4><strong>A timeless story:</strong></h4><p>Solitude means being alone, and leadership necessitates the presence of others—the people you’re leading. When we think about leadership in American history we are likely to think of Washington, at the head of an army, or Lincoln, at the head of a nation, or King, at the head of a movement—people with multitudes behind them, looking to them for direction. And when we think of solitude, we are apt to think of Thoreau, a man alone in the woods, keeping a journal and communing with nature in silence. What can solitude have to do with leadership? <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Unlock it by becoming a premium subscriber</a></strong></em><strong>.</strong></p><h4><strong>This week’s book recommendation:</strong></h4><p>Throughout history, leaders have used solitude as a matter of course. Martin Luther King found moral courage while sitting alone at his kitchen table one night during the Montgomery bus boycott. Jane Goodall used her intuition in the jungles of central Africa while learning how to approach chimps. Solitude is a state of mind, a space where you can focus on your own thoughts without distraction, with a power to bring mind and soul together in clear-eyed conviction. To find solitude today, a leader must make a conscious effort. This book explains why the effort is worthwhile and how to make it. <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Discover which book this is in the members-only edition by subscribing today</a></strong></em>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 image2-71-563" href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5295185b-d893-4db8-a6f6-780bce3beb57_563x71.png" style="height: 0px; padding-bottom: min(12.611%, 71px); width: 100%;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5295185b-d893-4db8-a6f6-780bce3beb57_563x71.png","height":71,"width":563,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":5308,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5295185b-d893-4db8-a6f6-780bce3beb57_563x71.png" style="max-height: 71px; max-width: 563px;" /></a></figure></div><div><hr /><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://scottmonty.substack.com/embed" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p></div><div><br /></div><div class="captioned-image-container"></div>

Look for the Helpers

  Boudica Statue , Westminster  by Paul Walter, 2013 (public domain, Wikipedia -  CC by 2.0 ) “No man is an island entire of itself; every m...

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Coin of the Realm

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_2dkpIqVWQ/YEAGys9YDwI/AAAAAAABSKY/Ffq5oWoAoaAUczS1BwYAhrsH7upC2kIlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/William%2BHarnett%2B-%2BThe%2BBanker%2527s%2BTable%2B1877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="1280" height="430" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h_2dkpIqVWQ/YEAGys9YDwI/AAAAAAABSKY/Ffq5oWoAoaAUczS1BwYAhrsH7upC2kIlgCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h430/William%2BHarnett%2B-%2BThe%2BBanker%2527s%2BTable%2B1877.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Banker%27s_Table_MET_DT2047.jpg">The Banker’s Table</a></em><span style="text-align: left;"> by William Harnett, 1877 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“In a highly literate, fragmented society, “Time is money,” and money is the store of other people’s time and effort.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Marshall McLuhan, 1964</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>How much time do you spend thinking about money?</p><p>Unless you work in finance or are in debt, probably not a whole lot. Money is like air: it is around us, and is generally there to meet our needs. We tend to think about money when its absence is felt.</p><p>Money, like language, is a construct. It’s something we invented as shorthand for a transfer of goods, services, and ideas.</p><p>That shorthand has allowed the world to flourish, from an agriculture-based society to one that embraced the arts, science, and industry. And at each turn, money has been there to support and even drive change.</p><p>We’re seeing lots of change happening now, from cryptocurrency to NFTs (more on that below),  opportunities that may seem like a secret language, alternatively whispered among the cognoscenti and shouted from the digital street corners by trend setters.</p><p>As always, let’s pause the constantly-updating present and take a brief look at history to put this in perspective.</p><p>And please read through the entire thing, as I’ll explain how I’m going to give you a chance to get some of the latest digital currency.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>The History of Money</strong></h2><p>As we look back at the history of money, there are three major transformations that have changed how we interact: the invention of coins, the introduction of paper money and the banking system, and electronic currency.</p><h4><strong>I.</strong></h4><p>Money as we know it was introduced in Asia Minor some 3,000 years ago. Prior to that time, people used what they had at hand—sea shells, grain, animals—as a form of currency. Real power was based on agriculture, conquest, and religion.</p><p>The area of Lydia was an agricultural community that didn’t have enough resources to support the army. They made up for it by selling luxury goods to people in the Persian Empire, eventually  using nuggets of gold and silver as part of their trade, creating the first bimetallic monetary system in 550 BC.</p><blockquote><p>“Before the coin, kingdoms derived their power from agriculture and conquest; rulers needed nothing more to govern than a strong army and a credible priesthood. The dissemination of coins established markets and created a whole new source of energy that spread around the world and gradually destroyed the great tributary empires of history. Money took away power from priests and armies; it had the transformative ability to turn gold into democracy. With this commercial innovation, Lydia became the richest country in the classical world and the name of its king, Croesus, a synonym for great wealth.” (“<a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/about-money/prometheus-unbound">Prometheus Unbound</a>” by Jack Weatherford, <em>Lapham’s Quarterly</em>, Vol. I, No. 2, Spring 2008)</p></blockquote><p></p><p>They flattened the nuggets to demonstrate their purity, thus creating the first coin. Coinage was the great equalizer.</p><p>Prior to that, people had to be forced (via armies) or persuaded (via religion) to see things the same way. Each was a loose and resource-intensive way of enforcing a common view; it required constant upkeep and repetition to ensure acquiescence.</p><p>Money became a common language.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><br />“When it’s a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”</strong> </em></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Voltaire</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p><br /></p><p>Incidentally, it took another century and a half before coins would become personalized. In 412 BC, Tissaphernes became the first individual whose image appeared on a coin. He used his own coin to pay Spartans to align with him against Athens. (Barclay, H.V. <em><a href="http://affiliates.abebooks.com/DV0PAb">A Guide to the Principal Coins of the Greeks</a></em>. London: 1959)</p><p>Talk about personal branding.</p><p><br /></p><h4><strong>II.</strong></h4><p>It would take another two millennia before we saw any appreciable difference in monetary systems.</p><p>From the Renaissance through the Industrial Age, the banking system based on paper currency would evolve and dominate our lives. Great banking families like the Medici, Rothschilds, and Morgans gave rise to a social order that moved commerce from land ownership and agriculture to stocks, bonds, currencies, and corporations.</p><p>Suddenly, the flow of money was not limited to those with the largest armies, but favored those who used their wits. Brains outstripped brawn.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><br />“Money, not morality, is the principle of commercial nations.”</strong> </em></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>—Thomas Jefferson, 1810</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><h4><strong>III.</strong></h4><p>The final transformation of money is the rise electronic currency. In this system, money has neither form nor figure; trades happen at the speed of an electron, moving from one side of the globe to another, without the two parties even seeing each other.</p><p>At the start of the 20th century, the global monetary system was based on the gold standard; by the end of the century, there were nearly 200 national currencies. And in the last five years, we’ve seen the introduction of cryptocurrencies.</p><p>It’s interesting to see this pattern of evolution, sped up as we’re hurled into the future: two thousand years from one appreciable monetary change to the next, then five hundred, then a century.</p><p>What we’re about to witness will happen comparably in the blink of an eye.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>Another pattern of three</strong></h2><p>Over the last two decades, we’ve seen a series of democratizations: first, the democratization of conversation, through the rise of the internet and specifically social media. Everyone has a voice.</p><p>Next came the democratization of work: the gig economy and app culture meant that we had access to gig work and the fruits of this non-unionized labor from Silicon Valley upstarts. We’re awash in 1099s now.</p><p>And the next phase we’re entering is the democratization of money. Through cryptocurrency and blockchain, we have a form of currency that, while it may be more difficult to understand (certainly by those who are used to folding bills and jangling coins in their pockets), is backed by documented transactions.</p><p>You may have heard of NFTs (non-fungible tokens).  These can be things like digital trading cards, collectibles, objects in online games, patches of land in virtual worlds, cryptocurrency wallet names, and other digital tokens.</p><p>Why is so much money being spent on things that don’t exist in our physical world?</p><p>Some buyers see it as a speculative investment, while for others it’s a hobby, just like the physical collectibles market. But the pandemic no doubt lit a fire under this market; we increasingly live online. Over the last year, we’ve spent more time than ever in front of screens.</p><p>If you spend all day at home on your computer, it might not make sense to own a gold watch or luxury handbag that no one will see. Why not buy something that your friends online can see and that adds value to your online life, or the life of a creator?</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><br />“Trust, goodwill, integrity—these were the strengths always cited by business clients. This was only part of the story, but it mattered a great deal that the bank always paid its bills promptly, honored its commitments, and stood by its clients during emergencies.”</strong> </em></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Ron Chernow, 1989</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><h2><strong>A Matter of Trust</strong></h2><p>Before I look at this future of currency, I want to call up an old-fashioned concept: what Junius Morgan (father of J. Pierpont Morgan) called the Gentleman Banker’s Code. Its precepts could be summed up in a famous exchange between Senator Samuel Untermyer and Pierpont:</p><blockquote><p><em>Untermyer</em>: Is not commercial credit based primarily upon money or property?<br /><em>Morgan</em>: No, sir, the first thing is character.<br /><em>Untermyer</em>: Before money or property?<br /><em>Morgan</em>: Before money or anything else. Money cannot buy it. . . .Because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom</p></blockquote><p>Given the lack of trust and integrity that seems rampant in the present world, and our impersonal online interactions, your reputation speaks volumes about who you are and what people think about you.</p><p>Through my daily interactions with people, both online and off, I’ve tried to build a reputation that’s worthy of me: one bound by integrity, trust, deep thinking, and a sense of calm and orderliness.</p><p><br /></p><div><hr /></div><p><em><strong><br /></strong></em></p><div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><em><strong>“Without the accumulation of capital, the arts could not progress.”</strong> </em></strong></em></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Charles Darwin, 1871</em></div><em><br /></em><p></p><div><hr /></div><p>The next wave of currency is the <strong>Creator Coin</strong>. It’s a way to show support for those who are putting something of value into the world while at the same time building a market together.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VX8b1KnqTY8/YEAGRuiipOI/AAAAAAABSKQ/Z3NzKX2zf-E1uIqjymHilx14y2t8vChcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Coin.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VX8b1KnqTY8/YEAGRuiipOI/AAAAAAABSKQ/Z3NzKX2zf-E1uIqjymHilx14y2t8vChcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Coin.png" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p></p><p>I’m partnering with Rally to launch my own digital currency called <strong>Timeless Coin</strong> (symbol: <strong><a href="https://rally.io/creator/MONTY/">$MONTY</a></strong>). I chose Timeless because the concept of currency has been with us for thousands of years and will likely remain, regardless of the form that it takes.</p><p><strong>I’m distributing the first coins as a reward to all my fans! All you have to do is make an account at <a href="https://rally.io">Rally.io</a> and <a href="https://forms.gle/YLYoN4pZtcR1X1Rm8">fill out this linked form</a>. The first 50 entries get 10 coins.</strong></p><p>Over time, I’ll be introducing rewards and uses of Timeless Coin. Some ideas:</p><ul><li><p>Support the Timeless & Timely newsletter with a purchase of $MONTY</p></li><li><p>Holders of >50 $MONTY will have access to the Premium Member version of the newsletter, distributed every Friday.</p></li><li><p>Personal audio or video advisory sessions with me to help you with leadership or communications issues.</p></li><li><p>Sponsorship of the free (most widely-distributed) version of the Timeless & Timely newsletter for one week with the purchase of 500 $MONTY.</p></li><li><p>Rewards of additional coins for Premium Members.</p></li></ul><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://rally.io/creator/MONTY/","text":"Get some $MONTY","class":null}"><a class="button primary" href="https://rally.io/creator/MONTY/">Get some $MONTY</a></p><p>It takes a great deal of effort for any content creator to keep the pace up, week after week. At times, it can feel like a lonely effort.</p><p>But when we create things together, when we each contribute something to a growing marketplace, there’s great satisfaction in knowing a community is behind something.</p><p>For isn’t that what we all want? To be part of something bigger than ourselves.</p><p>To mint new opportunities for ourselves and others, in our own realm.</p><p><br /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><h1><strong>Preview of Friday’s curated content</strong></h1><p><em><strong>“Money is human happiness in the abstract.”</strong> — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1851</em></p><p>In Friday’s newsletter for Premium Subscribers, we’ll be exploring the connection between money and happiness, and our curated content will have more about NFTs and how we think about worth.</p><h3><strong>A timely link:</strong></h3><p>People are spending millions of dollars on a new kind of rare object which only exists in the online world. This includes a collector who spent over $6 million on a 10-second video. <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Link for premium subscribers</a></strong></em>.</p><h3><strong>A timeless story:</strong></h3><p>What should be the role of money and markets in our societies? A market economy is a tool. But a market society is a place where almost everything is up for sale. In this insightful talk, an eminent philosopher gives his view on the intersection of markets and civic life. <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">Unlock it by becoming a premium subscriber</a></strong></em>.</p><h3><strong>This week’s book recommendation:</strong></h3><p>It has been called the most ambitious history ever written about American finance. A fascinating portrait of one family’s private saga and the rarefied world of the American and British elite in which they moved—a world that included Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, Franklin Roosevelt, Nancy Astor, and Winston Churchill. <em><strong><a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe">See which book this is by becoming a paid subscriber</a></strong></em>.</p><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br />👉 Members receive an additional related essay, plus curated links and stories, and audio and book recommendations every Friday. Join the club by signing up below:</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="320" scrolling="no" src="https://scottmonty.substack.com/embed" style="font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; max-height: 450px; max-width: 100%;" width="480"></iframe></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></p>

Coin of the Realm

  The Banker’s Table  by William Harnett, 1877 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons) “In a highly literate, fragmented society, “Time is money...

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