We appear to live in a period of transition. One age fades into the mists of time, and another rises, bright and bold, ready to take the reins of history and face down the old obstacles to its promising new destiny. Things, we are told, will never be the same. But there are certain powerful themes that span the epochs, that strike deep chords . . .
The star academic, part of the galaxy of high speed intellectuals at a prominent university, had gotten hold of what was being presented as a “big idea.” He professed, with the peculiarly misplaced condescension that this sort often affect, only to the most profound humility, but he knew he had this right, and that those who disagreed with him had it wrong. But, then, there was the problem of why they disagreed with him. . .
We’ve always had an uneasy fascination with people who seem able to ignore the rules to which the rest of us so eagerly conform. They step over the lines with what appears to us to be a spectacularly cool-headed daring, striding with bland directness straight to their goal. Natural out-of-the box thinkers – natural leaders, in fact, perceiving goals that are unclear to us, blazing paths to them that ultimately become the new highways down which we soon find ourselves placidly herded. . .
When you are in charge, however imposing your principle duties may seem, the most difficult problem you face is often the struggle to maintain perspective. That is, to remain focused on those duties, rather than to allow the hopes pinned on their accomplishment to deteriorate into hopes abjectly pinned on you . . .
Some years ago I worked with a fellow who came from a reasonably privileged background, had enjoyed a fashionably elite education, and who was clearly on – and viewed himself fully entitled to be on – the fast track to dizzying heights in his career. For all that, he wasn’t a particularly unpleasant guy – just unabashedly self-aggrandizing. And he plainly thought that everyone was that way – or, at least, everyone who mattered.
Sometimes, we all make this error . . .
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