Aesop Cover

“Kill the Boy, Jon Snow.” Friends of All, Enemies of All. No. 31. The Bats, Birds and Beasts – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridge Series

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Adopted by Steve Jobs.

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The Birds and the Beasts were at war.

The Bats played both sides, in that, when they saw the Birds winning, they were Birds, since they could fly. When the Beasts were winning, they were Beasts, for they were very much like mice.

But, the war finally ended, each of the Birds and the Beasts remembered that the Bats were their respective enemies. As punishment, the Bats were condemned to live in the darkness, blind, flying only at night.

Moral of the Story. Friends of all, enemies of all.

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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue

Related Articles: Bad Bargains, Power, and Vulnerability By Temptation – No. 13. The Wolf and the Crane – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series; Mutual Loyalty. No. 21. The Two Travelers and the Purse – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series

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Why We Loved It: This fable teaches us that there is a risk of being an opportunist with our positions, or even a risk in vacillating in our position to try to please everyone. Everyone cannot be pleased, all at the same time, and this fable teaches the comeuppance of self-interest by clever feign. [1]

To be technical, by the Western Cardinal Virtues, this fable exposes a flaw in both Wisdom and Discipline: It is a failure of wisdom because the action failed to determine the “dutiful good” to be achieved in a binary choice (to be bird or mouse) [2], and failed to foresee the result. It was a failure of discipline by want of the applied courage and temperance to assert a determined position and to take appurtenant risk, in short: implied vanity and cowardice. But, such as truth is truth, expressed differently at different times, Eastern Confucius said as much, “To see what is right, and to not do it, is want of courage, or of principle.” [3]

Here, Aesop teaches that the risk will be satisfied and the pain will come, either way. [4] This is the hard role of leadership dilemmas. [5] The true leader takes the risk.

There is an adage in politics, Do what you think is right, because, no matter what you do, half the people will agree with you and the other half won’t. Although the math might not always be true, the principle is to be ourselves, because it’s probable that we are not alone and some others will align with us. So, be bold, take the position, and lead the charge or support a charge. Taking a side has risks, and so does not taking a side. There is a risk of being loyal to someone or a cause, and there is a risk of not being loyal to anyone or any cause.

Now, there are two leadership concepts that have been almost universally adopted by the widespread leadership intelligentsia that I have not been persuaded yet to adopt as nominative terms: 1) “Emotional Intelligence,” being all the rage today; and 2) “servant leadership,” which goes by a legion of names, and is also all the rage today.

As to “emotion intelligence,” my position is explained, with such faults such as they are, in The Demise of Wisdom by Emotional Intelligence…But Arise Hope, with Intelligent Emotions [6] This is not an attack on the essential principle, but only on the name itself that biases the teaching of the essential principle. As stated in that post, any form of applied Wisdom, as the captaining rudder in the ship of the human being, which does not understand the winds of Emotion, is a ship of a fool. [*1] Wisdom rudders emotional winds, or the ship will not go where the captain intends, but rather only where the wind pushes. Control the emotional winds, or be controlled by them. Some people simply cannot do it: they don’t see it, or they can’t do it. Alas, too little rudder, or too strong of winds. Therefore, I have adopted Wisdom in my own leadership teachings, which I will suggest completes the subject more precisely and clearly. A lost pedagogical message, perhaps.

For similar reasons, I have not adopted “servant leadership.” If leadership training is not by application of virtue, then it is not within the scope of leadership training as a proper virtuous pedagogical objective. Therefore, we might suggest that all leadership, as an inspiration to that virtuous objective, is servant leadership. The issue is not the “servant leader,” the only issue is the “virtuous leader.” Every virtuous leader serves others and is thereby a servant leader. It’s that simple. The term “Servant Leader” is simply a book-selling coined term that displaces implicit virtue into a vertical silo when the virtue is properly horizontal grounding.

Now, we think on this issue carefully, really carefully: Let us say that we are teaching the leaders of the future, perhaps children, perhaps adults. A child comes to you and says, “I want to be a leader. I want to have emotional intelligence, and I also want to become a servant leader. Can you teach me?”

Now try to answer that “want-to-be leader” as a sage:

First, you will say, like Socrates, “My dear child, your desire to be a leader is, in truth, an implicit self-interested pride and vanity. Yes, your desire directed to self is really a child’s vice, like Aesop’s ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’; that is, it superficially fools many people with a vice clothed in the appearance of virtue. [7, 8] Indeed, what you desire for yourself is like ‘Aesop’s Bat,’ putting yourself first. It is enough and sufficient that you should see what is the dutiful good for others, and if not being otherwise satisfied, then to do it yourself. The ‘good’ as your only primary objective. No more, no less. You will be self-served or self-sacrificed, as leader or as follower, or all alone, as circumstances will determine in the course of fulfillment.” [*3, *5]

Second, the child says, “And, master, what of ’emotional intelligence’ and ‘servant leadership’?” The sage will again, like Socrates, answer thus, “You have heard these terms from perhaps well-intentioned people who are misguided away from the primary objective of what is framed as leadership study. False teachings by feign, perhaps unwitted. The essence of the truth is that wisdom uses emotion as its power, such as the wind; thus, the coined phrase is sitting on its head, and we might turn it over rightfully into ‘Intelligent Emotions.’ And, further, if you desire selflessly to serve others as a leader, which is the most noble of intentions, it is enough, once again, to determine what is right and the ‘good’ and then to do it. No more, no less. Others will be served as they may determine, by your effort, but that is incidental. You must do what is good, whether as a leader, a follower, or all alone. You are greatly misled to seek leadership. Much of leadership is to be alone, and, such as it is for some, much of your leadership may occur after you die.” [9]

“Dux verus solus esse discit.” (“A true leader learns to be alone.”)

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[1] VI. Simulation and Dissimulation; Or, The Art of the Lie. – Back to Basics Abridgement Series [#GRZ_190]

[2] The Political Leadership Narrative; Or, “Don’t Worry, This Won’t Hurt a Bit.” [#GRZ_207]

[3] The Two “Master Virtues” – The Executive Summary [#GRZ_209]

[4] The Two Doors of Life: Pleasure and Pain; The One-Two Choice, Say Sages Aesop, Gracian, Jesus and Socrates [#GRZ_136]

[5] The Lincoln Leadership Dilemma; Or, The Primary Objective [#GRZ_176]

[6] The Demise of Wisdom by Emotional Intelligence…But Arise Hope, with Intelligent Emotions [#GRZ_161]

[7] The Price for Deception; Or, What Goes Around. – No. 98. The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [#GRZ_98_98]

[8] The Importance of Aesop to Socrates [#GRZ_100]

[9] The Three Noble Cardinal Rules of Wisdom [#GRZ_189]

“Nulla id est in officio, sed tu.” (“There is no I in duty, only you.”); “Iter hominis per totum tempus: Parum gubernaculum, nimium ventum.” (“The journey of man throughout time: Too little rudder, too much wind.”); “Dux verus solus esse discit.” (“A true leader learns to be alone.”) ~ grz



© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.

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