Scott Monty

The Good Must Associate

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP4E3KgrA2EWbCC5hQ74YoA1MROBNsjxuuzYz6uuwsLlTsrMCeZn5pNqe4yEpasdVp_fWDrcY779BmR2ESuKpeNJjabkYKhyscsFpORdDIOX2jIq-WkRd6BAvVI7o_R0Ng4alrT08DQlVvntPSZ2NEhIjSjX5QWy0OwxnhLLm0AV0w5Hlqsc-D4IH/s1200/Jean-Baptiste%20Wicar%20-%20Virgil%20Reading%20the%20Aeneid%20to%20Augustus%20Octavia%20and%20Livia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="1200" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlP4E3KgrA2EWbCC5hQ74YoA1MROBNsjxuuzYz6uuwsLlTsrMCeZn5pNqe4yEpasdVp_fWDrcY779BmR2ESuKpeNJjabkYKhyscsFpORdDIOX2jIq-WkRd6BAvVI7o_R0Ng4alrT08DQlVvntPSZ2NEhIjSjX5QWy0OwxnhLLm0AV0w5Hlqsc-D4IH/w640-h452/Jean-Baptiste%20Wicar%20-%20Virgil%20Reading%20the%20Aeneid%20to%20Augustus%20Octavia%20and%20Livia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><figcaption class="image-caption" data-pm-slice="1 1 ["captionedImage",null]"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia</em> by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, 1790-1793 (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil#/media/File:Virgil_Reading_the_Aeneid.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> - public domain)</span></figcaption></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong></strong></p><blockquote><strong><em>“The common people are always impressed by appearances and results.” </em></strong></blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Nicolo Machiavelli, 1532</em></p><p><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">The world has a fascination with megalomaniacs.</p><p>Men (yes, it is <em>always</em> men) who have accumulated power and enjoy wielding it, treat the world as their sandbox, with toy soldiers waiting to do their bidding.</p><p>“You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war,” William Randolph Hearst told artist Frederic Remington, who was his man in Havana in 1897.</p><p>Hearst, the powerful publisher of major U.S. newspapers such as the <em>New York Journal </em>and San Francisco <em>Examiner</em>, was pushing to free Cuba from Spanish control, and he knew that public opinion could be swayed by the press.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zEOPsUCpzRQkh-C9a7e42j-IOM9bWb6tH9VpnKSuvol-pXoyl7FerSz4zMqR_9jfZKoR857hXKL_Z4_eEWs7ye-6CAI_br0RWPpe6YGEdOizvJzpPYGTl8bhRmOP8em_O-ZT3oU-wQxvTbFcrbXqhqNKnzfmGk7IYg4C1CN13sCRyxqK99owT-cJ/s1024/Kurz%20&%20Allison%20-%20Destruction%20of%20the%20U.S.%20battleship%20Maine%20in%20Havana%20Harbor%20Feby%2015th,%201898.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1024" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-zEOPsUCpzRQkh-C9a7e42j-IOM9bWb6tH9VpnKSuvol-pXoyl7FerSz4zMqR_9jfZKoR857hXKL_Z4_eEWs7ye-6CAI_br0RWPpe6YGEdOizvJzpPYGTl8bhRmOP8em_O-ZT3oU-wQxvTbFcrbXqhqNKnzfmGk7IYg4C1CN13sCRyxqK99owT-cJ/w640-h508/Kurz%20&%20Allison%20-%20Destruction%20of%20the%20U.S.%20battleship%20Maine%20in%20Havana%20Harbor%20Feby%2015th,%201898.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><figcaption class="image-caption" data-pm-slice="1 1 ["captionedImage",null]"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>Destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, Feby 15th, 1898</em> (<a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/pga.03907/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Library of Congress</a> - public domain)</span></figcaption></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">So when the world’s richest man buys a media entity, there is naturally some interest. It was the case with Jeff Bezos buying <em>The Washington Post</em> in 2013 and with Elon Musk’s intent to purchase Twitter this week.</p><p> We tend to think that these billionaires who, not satisfied with stopping at being the richest person or one of the richest people in the world — changed the way we shop and changed the way we think about cars — must continue to bend the world to their will, but this time through the power of information.</p><p><br /></p><h2 data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><strong>Why did I do it? Power.</strong></h2><p>I was immediately reminded of the 1997 James Bond film <em>Tomorrow Never Dies</em>, in which Elliott Carver, the owner of a global media empire, launched a satellite network and plotted to pit China and the United Kingdom against each other through artifice, while sitting poised to write the headlines for his entities.</p><p>The richest man in the world attempting to control how the world communicates was literally the plot of the film.</p><p>In his public speech on launch day, his vision sounded humanitarian to the uninformed, and like propaganda to those who knew him best</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“Why did I do it, you ask? The answer is simple: power. The power to illuminate the far corners of the globe, not for higher profits, but for higher understanding between the people of this great planet. What do I expect in return? Worldwide domination. Complete, total worldwide domination. But not over governments or religion or ideology. Over tyranny and isolation and ignorance.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Later, in the classic supervillian-admits-plot-to-Bond speech, Carver says:</p><blockquote><p><strong><em>“Words are the new weapons satellites, the new artillery Caesar had his legions, Napoleon had his armies. I have my divisions: TV news magazines… The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.”</em></strong></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>This is fiction from 25 years ago, but it rings true to what we know from history and current events.</p><p><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">As we look for the present in the past, we find the past in the present.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2>An invented origin story</h2><p>Julius Caesar may have had his legions, but when Augustus became the first emperor of Rome, he had his own scribe.</p><p>Rome was forever in the shadow of Greece, that bastion of civilization and philosophy. Romans were more engineers than philosophers, creating the infrastructure that allowed cities to thrive. And Greece had its origin story in the <em>Iliad</em> — the classic tale of the Trojans kidnapping Helen, and the vicious dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles.</p><p>That epic poem was known for centuries throughout the Mediterranean. Every Greek and Roman citizen knew its content and its significance. And Augustus knew that the secret to every good society was an origin story.</p><p>So, what did he do? He commissioned the poet Virgil to craft a national epic that would speak to Rome's illustrious beginnings, make the connection between Augustus and the gods, and serve as a common point of pride for all Romans. Thus the <em>Aeneid</em> was born.</p><p>In sum, it was a great piece of propaganda for Rome, giving it a founding father (Aeneas) at the same time another founding father (Augustus) was making drastic improvements to the empire.</p><p>And thus, we recognize how powerful a media entity can be — by changing discourse or the story, it can change the course of history.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>They’ll never take our freedom</strong></h2><p>Thus, we have Elon Musk and his acolytes, with their demand for free speech. Of course, they also want to be free from consequences, which is risible, given their willingness to punish those who disagree with their stance.<br /><br /></p><hr /><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><blockquote><em>“How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.”</em></blockquote></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>—Søren Kierkegaard, 1843</em></div></em><p></p><hr /><br /><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">They make a good case for Twitter being a public square. It is very much a place of public discourse, where, unless someone has hidden their tweets, everything happens out in the public.</p><p>If Twitter is such a public utility, then we ought to expect it to be treated as such. Which doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. Quite the opposite.</p><p>You can’t expect to have a place of public discourse that is bound by chaos.</p><p><br /></p><h2 data-pm-slice="1 2 []"><strong>We’re tired</strong></h2><p>At this point (and I’ve heard this from many people on Twitter), people are tired. They’re tired of the arguing, the need to fact-check and battle disinformation — even the ability to be heard.</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-for-information-exhaustion-and-what-to-do-about-it-149615" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Three reasons for information exhaustion</strong></a> are: uncertainty, polarization, and misinformation.</p><p>And yet, in the last 24 hours, I have witnessed example after example of people leaving Twitter. Not pledging to leave, but actually leaving.</p><p>The sale hasn’t even gone through yet.</p><p>In a knee-jerk reaction to a new potential owner whom they find personally distasteful, they’re fleeing. Never mind that they’re making this announcement on Facebook, another platform ruled by a megalomaniac with total control over a platform — who, by the way, is so <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-fascinated-by-augustus-future-of-facebook-2018-9" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>fascinated with the autocratic Augustus</strong></a> that he even has his hair cut like him.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>And so, we see many people who are pushed over the brink by the Elon news, making a rash decision before anything even changes. Perhaps we should remind ourselves <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-fascinated-by-augustus-future-of-facebook-2018-9" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>what Abraham Lincoln did</strong></a> when he was angry with General George Meade after the latter refused to pursue the Confederate army.</p><p>It just seems to me, that leaving hastily in a pique of rage will lead to a brain drain. Nothing has changed yet.</p><p>So, in the wake of this potential purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, when you’re exhausted from the information glut, what can you do? According to that article from <a href="http://’" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> above, there are three things:</p><ol><li><p><strong>Provide as much reassurance and consistency as you can</strong></p></li><li><p><strong>Find common ground to bring people together</strong></p></li><li><p><strong>Share information that can be trusted</strong></p></li></ol><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>There are very real concerns about harassment: there’s plenty of it on Twitter at present, and a change in ownership may result in an even more lenient attitude. No one on any platform — even one that claims to value free speech — should be victimized by harassment.</p><p>But if we abandon things entirely, we lose our voice there. As Edmund Burke wrote,</p><p><strong></strong></p><blockquote style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”</em></strong></blockquote> <p></p><p><em> </em></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">If you don’t furnish the tweets, someone else will.</p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><figure><a class="image-link image2" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" rel="nofollow" style="color: #007abe; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":141,"width":800,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":19165,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" height="141" original="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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" style="border: 0px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 95%; padding: 4px; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out 0s;" width="800" /></a></figure></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">P.S. The topic this week was not what I expected it would be; but what <span style="background-color: transparent;">I’m seeing is part of a trend — one that pokes its head up in this edition. If you stay tuned, you’ll see how it gets paid off in next week’s climax (if the fates allow), which will be available for premium subscribers only.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /><hr /></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; 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;"><br /></h2><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, stories, and audio and book recommendations every other week. 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The Good Must Associate

Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia by Jean-Baptiste Wicar, 1790-1793 ( Wikipedia - public domain) “The common peopl...

Plans, Disrupted

Plans, Disrupted

The Disruption by David Octavius Hill, 1843 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons “The best-laid schemes of mice and men Go oft awry...

Who Among Us?

<p><strong><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2gqf_ACT-oZAFQ9Olf5KbcAJXha2DfPnjhZlh1yYRuru4LA0m4UjQQdiMzRdBxiRq35oLdQvr1YHN_653iGA1cylAGMSiz7IZ5hgrIEiBpfUdUkFM_1B5u1ajySnlm4bVaAqv76dXaz2hrrSJ5V3S5Ku4O7GjD9OCMKqFORsNxks0p3lUJQY1PVR/s5193/Leonardo%20Da%20Vinci%20-%20The%20Last%20Supper,%201498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2926" data-original-width="5193" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR2gqf_ACT-oZAFQ9Olf5KbcAJXha2DfPnjhZlh1yYRuru4LA0m4UjQQdiMzRdBxiRq35oLdQvr1YHN_653iGA1cylAGMSiz7IZ5hgrIEiBpfUdUkFM_1B5u1ajySnlm4bVaAqv76dXaz2hrrSJ5V3S5Ku4O7GjD9OCMKqFORsNxks0p3lUJQY1PVR/w640-h360/Leonardo%20Da%20Vinci%20-%20The%20Last%20Supper,%201498.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;">The Last Supper</em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1498 (public domain - </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper_(Leonardo)" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><em><br /></em></strong></p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><strong><blockquote><em>“No man can serve two masters.”</em></blockquote></strong></div><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Matthew 6:24</em></div></em><p></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>With Passover and Easter looming this weekend, it seems only natural to turn to some religious literature for inspiration.</p><p>I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not terribly religious, but I recognize the truths of the teachings of various spiritual leaders, and due to my upbringing, I’m the most familiar with the Bible.</p><p>This isn’t meant to be a sermon, but rather an observation of a type of leadership that is as profound as it is simple.</p><p>And the way I arrived at this topic is what you might call oblique.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>In the last season of the <em>Timeless Leadership</em> podcast, I had a wonderful conversation with Jim Rafferty, author of <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/leader-by-accident?s=w" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><strong><em>Leader By Accident</em></strong></a>, during which he talked about his “Scoutmaster Minute” — a monologue he gave at each troop meeting.</p><p><br /></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="381" data-dashlane-rid="dd03ae0bab6c9a8e" data-form-type="" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="//play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/22012880/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/ffffff/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>In preparing those, Jim would find inspiration from a variety of sources and in turn, would inspire the scouts in his troop.</p><p>Similarly, I try to read widely and listen closely to as many pieces of content as I can, all attuned with an ear toward leadership. And I keep a running journal of topics worthy of developing into these little missives.</p><p>Some of them are nothing more than an idea for a title or a phrase, and some of them don’t even make it to the OneNote folder; some are jotted on index cards or note paper on my desk.</p><p>I’ve had one lying around for a while: “<em>Who Shall We Turn To?</em>” scrawled across it.</p><p>So when I was at church on Sunday and heard the phrase  “<em>Who among us?</em>” from the pulpit, my ears perked up, and (I’ll admit it) my attention was suddenly focused. Not an exact fit, but close enough.</p><p><br /></p><p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">The scene is during Passover, or what we now call the Last Supper, when Jesus joined his disciples, shared a meal with them, and predicted their betrayal of him.</p><p>Now, as an aside, I recently recorded a new episode of <em><a href="http://pod.link/timeless" target="_blank">Timeless Leadership</a></em> with legendary leadership development author and consultant <strong>Ken Blanchard</strong> on the topic of servant leadership, so the concept was on my mind. (That episode airs later this week.)</p><p>So as the story of the Last Supper continued, we find a wonderful demonstration of that very concept of the servant leader:</p><blockquote><p> <strong>“The kings of the Gentiles rule over their subjects, and those in authority over them are called ‘friends of the people.' But that's not the way it will be with you. Instead, the greatest among you must become like a person of lower status and the leader like a servant. So which one is greater, the one who is seated at the table or the one who serves at the table? Isn’t it the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”</strong> <em>— Luke 22: 25-27</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>The Gospels are known for approaching the same scenes with different descriptions. In John’s version of the Passover meal, Jesus washes the feet of all of his disciples, helping them to understand this profound act of humility and service:</p><blockquote><p><strong>“If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other's feet. I have given you an example: just as I have done, you also must do. I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.”</strong> <em>— John 13: 14-16</em></p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>It’s an honor to serve</strong></h2><p>The first time I expressed to Alan Mulally what an amazing job he was doing as CEO of Ford Motor Company, I was taken aback by his response.</p><p>Typically you’d expect someone to retort with the perfunctory “Thank you.”</p><p>But Alan replied, <strong><em>“It’s an honor to serve.”</em></strong></p><p>That simple phrase encapsulated Alan’s approach to leadership: service.</p><p>One of the other phrases I would come to hear him repeat during our time together was <strong><em>“To serve is to live.”</em></strong></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Servant leaders understand the dual nature of their role:</p><ol><li><p>The leadership aspect, focused on vision, planning and execution, involving others in the development of that direction together.</p></li><li><p>The servant aspect, focused on working side by side with people and helping them to achieve those agreed-upon results.</p></li></ol><p>All of this requires constant and consistent communication with your people. If we don’t hear from our leaders, we tend to develop our own narratives, and they can be terribly misguiding.</p><p>When you’re on a journey of servant leadership, you need to have a plan and communicate about the plan — its progress, its deviations, and its successes. Listening, communicating, and giving feedback along the way.</p><p>And to do that well, you need to be attentive to and invested in your people.</p><p>Leaders who serve others — employees, customers, and all stakeholders — are by far the most successful.</p><p>The exact opposite of this, tyrants, will be our topic next week — the very people who don’t understand that it is impossible to serve two masters. </p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a class="image-link image2" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" rel="nofollow" style="color: #007abe; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":141,"width":800,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":19165,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" height="141" original="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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" style="border: 0px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 95%; padding: 4px; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out 0s;" width="800" /></a></figure><figure>P.S. If you'd like the full version of this, together with recommended links and stories that only paying subscribers get, you can find it <a href="#">at the end of this rainbow</a>.<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">🌈</span></figure><figure style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;"> </span></figure></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; 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;"><br /></h2><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, stories, and audio and book recommendations every other week. 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Who Among Us?

The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, 1498 (public domain - Wikipedia ) “No man can serve two masters.” — Matthew 6:24 With Passover and ...

To Read Is to Live

<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsoByFM6reOcHLb6ZAKiqSGLx4v2zXzQVfoXU9eL8x0MTawlPfVMP-VRijjkCkxpSmDXpFCOZ30Ktbg-fAVNaX_kN5lnvOt9GFhL0kCFenVpz1c-sDGh4rCyOFdpVAFE8wqJbC1o082u-h2gm5IiKWVUbtuasFjgcf999iHBYifqfPchqhDH7I9UM/s2560/Rudolf%20von%20Alt%20-%20The%20Library%20in%20the%20Apartment%20of%20Count%20Lanckoronski%20in%20Vienna,%20Riemergasse%208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1846" data-original-width="2560" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsoByFM6reOcHLb6ZAKiqSGLx4v2zXzQVfoXU9eL8x0MTawlPfVMP-VRijjkCkxpSmDXpFCOZ30Ktbg-fAVNaX_kN5lnvOt9GFhL0kCFenVpz1c-sDGh4rCyOFdpVAFE8wqJbC1o082u-h2gm5IiKWVUbtuasFjgcf999iHBYifqfPchqhDH7I9UM/w640-h462/Rudolf%20von%20Alt%20-%20The%20Library%20in%20the%20Apartment%20of%20Count%20Lanckoronski%20in%20Vienna,%20Riemergasse%208.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;">The Library in the Apartment of Count Lanckoronski in Vienna, Riemergasse 8</em><span style="text-align: left;"> by Rudolf von Alt, 1881 (public domain - </span><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rudolf_von_Alt_-_The_Library_in_the_Apartment_of_Count_Lanckoronski_in_Vienna,_Riemergasse_8_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a><span style="text-align: left;">)</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong></strong></p><blockquote><strong><em>“Verba volant, scripta manent.” [“Spoken words fly away, written words remain.”]</em></strong></blockquote><em><div style="text-align: right;"><em>— Latin proverb</em></div></em><p></p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Leaders know that if you want people to remember what you say, put it in writing.</p><p>We’re fortunate to live in a time when we can consult the oracle at Google, finding myriad answers to the puzzles of life that confound us — where a great speech given by a leader of the past is no more than a Wikipedia article or YouTube video away.</p><p>But the reason we can easily peruse the clever oratory of Marcus Tullius Cicero or the simple brevity of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is that we have them in writing.</p><p>The treasure chest of humanity’s history is the written word. Somewhere along the way, <em>Homo sapiens</em> determined that we needed a record of our thoughts, processes, and events.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><h2><strong>The Library as a Center of Knowledge</strong></h2><p>When Ptolemy I founded the Great Library of Alexandria circa 272 B.C., little did he know that it would eventually grow to house as many as 700,000 texts. From the standardized text of Homer’s poems to scientific knowledge, the library came to represent Alexandria as the intellectual capital of the world, and many philosophers, scientists, historians, and other leading Greek intellectuals gravitated there.</p><p>This idyllic setting for intellectuals was disrupted within 150 years, thanks to the instability of the Ptolemy dynasty, which fell to the clarion call of nationalism and began to emphasize the Egyptian aspect of their nation over the Greek influence.</p><p>When Ptolemy VIII rose to the throne following the murder of Ptolemy VI, the new ruler purged those who opposed him and supported his predecessor; many Greek scholars had already begun to leave Alexandria for safer countries, and Aristarchus the sixth head librarian, fled to Cyprus.</p><p>After that, the position of head librarian was treated as a political appointment rather than an intellectual position, with Ptolemy filling the role as a reward to those most loyal to him. He appointed Cydas, one of his palace guards, as head librarian, further diminishing the position.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, the political climate grew less stable in Alexandria, further weakening the region and leading to its invasion by Roman forces in the following century.</p><p>Alexandria was no longer the center of knowledge as the library’s contents were dispersed.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><hr /><p> </p><blockquote><p><strong><em>““Read to live,” says Flaubert somewhere in his letters, and I take him at his word. Books I regard as voyages of discovery, and with an author I admire I gladly book passage to any and all points of view or destination—to Rome during the lives of the Caesars, to Shakespeare’s London, to Berlin and Harlem in the 1920s. I don’t go in search of the lost gold mine of imperishable truth. I look instead to find the present in the past, the past in the present. To discover within myself the presence of a once and future human being.”</em></strong>  </p></blockquote><p style="text-align: right;"><em>— Lewis H. Lapham, 2020</em></p><p> </p><hr /><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{"url":"https://www.timelesstimely.com/subscribe","text":"Read to live","action":null,"class":null}"><br /></p><h2><strong>Leaders and Libraries</strong></h2><p>Why does all of this matter to leaders? Why should we care about a center of learning or documenting our thoughts, visions, and plans?</p><p>The hallmark of a great leader is strong communication. <a href="https://www.timelesstimely.com/p/words-matter?s=w" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Words matter</a>.</p><p>Being able to move people with your spoken words, whether in front of <a href="https://www.scottmonty.com/p/speaking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">an audience at a conference</a> or from a video screen, is a talent.</p><p>But the feelings that are stirred fade, leaving a vague sensation or perhaps even misheard phrases in their place. Reinforcing oratory with a written record leaves a permanent mark on the mind.</p><p>This is particularly apt, as we can’t predict when people will have time to reflect on our words or when the mood might strike them to look something up. Everyone consumes media at different paces and in different settings.</p><p>And yes, one of those settings might be a library. It could be a home library or a public library, but the intention is the same: to have a <em>sanctum sanctorum</em> where we can retreat with our thoughts and our reading material, to become absorbed for a while.</p><p>E.B. White once made the most lovely observation about libraries in a letter to the children of Troy in 1971:</p><blockquote><p>“A library is many things. It’s a place to go, to get in out of the rain. It’s a place to go if you want to sit and think. But particularly it is a place where books live, and where you can get in touch with other people, and other thoughts, through books. If you want to find out about something, the information is in the reference books---the dictionaries, the encyclopedias, the atlases. If you like to be told a story, the library is the place to go. Books hold most of the secrets of the world, most of the thoughts that men and women have had. And when you are reading a book, you and the author are alone together---just the two of you. A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort. A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people---people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.”</p></blockquote><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>As you’re thinking about the next Zoom call or engaging in the latest barrage of Slack or Discord messages, consider the ethereal nature of those interactions.</p><p>How might you aim for the permanence of your ideas and words? How could you leave your story in the minds, in the hearts, and on the lips of the people you wish to inspire?</p><p>Think back to what we once had in Alexandria. </p><p>Give your audience a chance to build a repository of their own, comprised of knowledge amassed from thinkers of all sorts, cataloged, and categorized for easy reach, from within their minds or from their shelves.</p><p>Let the written word remain.</p><div class="preformatted-block"><label class="hide-text" contenteditable="false"></label><pre class="text"> </pre></div><p>Thanks, and I’ll see you on the internet.</p><div class="captioned-image-container" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><figure><a class="image-link image2" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" rel="nofollow" style="color: #007abe; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="sizing-normal" data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png","fullscreen":null,"imageSize":null,"height":141,"width":800,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":19165,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" height="141" original="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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" 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%2F72bac573-9902-4f3b-a2d1-6671a0ef7f0e_800x141.png" style="border: 0px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 95%; padding: 4px; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out 0s;" width="800" /></a></figure><figure style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">P.S. One piece of bonus material this week: Here is </span><a href="https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/theodore-roosevelt-reading-list" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;" target="_blank">a Theodore Roosevelt Reading List</a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium;">: book recommendations from a constant reader. </span></figure></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><hr /></div><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #333333; 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;"><br /></h2><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, stories, and audio and book recommendations every other week. 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To Read Is to Live

The Library in the Apartment of Count Lanckoronski in Vienna, Riemergasse 8 by Rudolf von Alt, 1881 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons )...

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