The Boston Globe had an article the other day that I thought worth following up on by posting its main points here. It is a good time to read about and ponder them because I expect most of you will while your time away in unproductive activity in front of the TV this Sunday because the Patriots, Red Sox, and Debate games are being played. (The latter may be cancelled if one of the teams does not show up.)
If you consider this during commercial breaks then your day may be more productive.
I once read a wise and wealthy man talk about his way of making money. I firmly believed this is the way to do things although I caution that we must not make money our sole goal. Charles Russell a preacher’s grandson had it correct when he said “the only real happiness on this earth is spiritual and intellectual, that in the pursuit of the material there is literally nothing but ashes and bitterness, vacuity and sorrow.”
The man who did earn much wealth said how he did it was to put all his eggs into one basket and watch them very closely. In others words he suggested putting your full energy and thought into doing one thing and concentrating all your full efforts on working at it. Whether it be buying a stock, as he did, or working in your profession or job, make that the one thing most important to you. Obviously it runs smack dab up against the idea of diversification or going with the crowd.
So I was struck by the advise of Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger. He spoke about the five qualities he saw necessary in a good leader.
“1. High quality standards.” Obviously if you put your eggs in one basket the eggs have to be the best you can find and the basket strong enough to securely hold them.
2. Courage. Yes, it is risky to put everything at risk at a throw but you must be willing to do it if you want to escape the madding mob milling mindlessly in circles.
3. Curiosity. While watching the basket you might find new things that may be better than what you have so while watching your eggs closely also see what else is happening outside the basket.
4. Focus. That’s another way of saying keep a close eye on the basket.
5. Decisiveness. You have to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em. That’s why you are putting all your effort into one thing so that you will know as much or more about it than any other person. When the time comes to change something then act decisively and promptly
Iger had different explanations than I gave above. He was talking about leading others while I am concerned with you leading yourself though the qualities necessary in both cases are the same.
Enjoy the games. May your favorite teams win.
Spartacus is not just a historical figure. He is all the oppressed, where ever they are. Spartacus was a mortal man, who became, an immortal symbol. Spartacus is every man who struggles against bourgeois capitalism, its, cops, and, its’ prisons. He is all of us who have experienced the short end of the stick.
You learn a lot of pithy adages when you are down, and, I have a favorite:
“The hunter don’t like it, when the rabbit gets the gun.”
Spartacus was a Thracian slave. Plato depicted the Thracians as having blue eyes and red hair. Perhaps an infusion of Celtic blood? Was Spartacus’s rebellious nature genetically Celtic, in part?
When Jesus spoke to the Galatians, he was speaking to Celts.
The Romans did not discriminate in whom they made slaves.
After the Roman Empire fell, the Arabs for the next millennium and beyond became the greatest slave-traders in history.
Tonight’s presidential debate, I predict, will focus on ancient Greco-Roman civilization, its art, medicine and philosophy.
Henry:
Spartacus is a former vacuum cleaner hustler from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. He started from nothing, just a high-school education, at best, and, became such a proficient jail house lawyer, that, his work sprang a Red&White from a twenty yr. bit (Oxford FCI). He was so much revered for this law library exploit that HA tatted him in. Now, you know something about Spartacus.
There are no more intensely politicizing experiences than prison and war. Punish harder, I dare you.
Henry:
You just don’t get it. They were all Spartacus.
Khalid:
Love your ‘The East is Red’ note.
Mao gave the world 100 million dead by the time he passed. And in the 40 years since then, China has replaced him with Jack Ma and nearly 600 other billionaires, and an estimated seven million plus mere millionaires.
I lost my ‘Little Red Book’ around 1970, but now have a nice set of plastic cuff-links with Mao’s stern visage on them. Dustbin of history indeed!
Henry:
You’re not listening.
IWOC/IWW is organizing the incarcerated. There’s hunger and work strikes going on in prisons all across the country. The media seems hesitant to report on it.
Behind bars, in the netherworld, the army of revolution is being born. I did my part, the seeds I planted, nourished in my absence, have grown and flowered. Oh my Brothers! The East is Red!
Stoke the fire in your bellies. Keep your eyes on the prize. There is only one enemy.
Spartacus, check-in.
You do know enough history to perhaps recall the fate of Spartacus and his gangs?
He escaped, like most ‘leaders’ manage to do, to live another day, another place.
But 6,000 survivors of the revolt captured by the legions of Rome were crucified. They lined the Appian Way from Rome to Capua. 132 miles. A mighty lesson.
Khalid:
The voice that means little is the one that comes from the prisons where the worst of the worst are confined. Let them have their revolutions as long as it stays in the walls.
Liberating the revolution is the objective. Prison is chock-full of cheese-eaters. Despite all the rats, the Wobblies have managed to organize an action that has hit Fed, State, and, private joints, simultaneously. Excellent! The three man cell-system has been mastered. My Dogs, you are no longer puppies.
Matt, nice take on an article I passed on. Thanks