(Take a History Freak. Surround him with the world's top leaders, athletes and business gurus for a over decade. Here's what you get.)
We've heard of stories of a young leader going to an elderly statesmen seeking wisdom, but rarely do we think of dictators getting together and talking about how to better oppress their people- or more than that, how we can learn from them. Sometimes the best way to learn how to do something better is to learn how others have done it poorly.
You may have never heard about Herodotus, the man Cicero called "The Father of History", but I'm sure you've heard of some of the stories he's passed down to us. If you've ever heard of a thing called the Marathon, or the Battle of Thermopolaye, (recently made into the movie '300'), you can send Herodotus a thank you note. But Herodotus also took an interest in some lesser known leaders and events, including Periander of Corinth. Periander had taken over from his father, a tyrant who had ruled Corinth with an iron fist for 30 years before passing away. Initially Periander was a kinder, gentler dictator, so to speak, than his father had been. Periander was a pretty smart guy, too. He is considered one of the Seven Sages of Greece with his most famous saying being 'Practice is everything. This is often misquoted as being practice makes perfect." He even invented the first railroad, called the 'Diolkos', which ran for 1,300 years. It was horse drawn, and carried ships across the isthmus of Corinth, saving sailors the long and dangerous trip around the Peloponese- kind of an ancient overland Panama Canal. Because of this money-generating innovation, he was able to abolish taxes for his own people. However dissent still rose up against him. With his father gone, he looked around for someone older in the same position from whom he might learn- a kind of knowledge sharing of best practices between dictators. He decided to send one of his messengers to Thrasyboulus, the tyrant of Miletus, to see how he'd become so successful and stable in crushing rebellion and keeping himself in power. Or, as Periander put it, to find out "what mode of government it was safest to set up in order to rule with honor". The messenger arrived in Miletus and asked his master's question, but received no response.
Instead, Thrasyboulos led the messenger out of the city and began to walk through a field of corn, simply refusing to answer the messenger's repeated questions. Instead, Thrasyboulos "went breaking off and throwing away all such ears of corn as overtopped the rest. In this way he went through the whole field, an destroyed all the best and richest part of the crop; and then, without a word, he sent the messenger back."
As you can imagine Periander was waiting on pins and needles for his servant to get back and report. But the messenger could only say that the famed Tyrant of Miletus had not uttered a word, had apparently lost all his senses, and exhibited bizarre behavior by destroying his own property. In short, he might have said, "That dude is crazy!" Periander had the messenger back up and report Thrasyboulos' actions, and immediately grasped their significance. In order to stay in power and have complete control, he needed to repress or destroy the best and brightest citizens. From that time forth, he ruled 'with the very greatest cruelty', executing or banishing the leading men of the city and taking their wealth, stripping the leading women of the prized clothing and jewelry, and shipping away their children. He even killed his own wife and banished his son. His primary goal had become ensuring his position, not helping in the growth of his city or its people.
So you've got to ask yourself, was Periander a good leader? On one had, he did become very rich, both through the income from the Diolkos railway and from the riches taken from leading citizens. He managed to keep his position and stay in power for several decades. Most leaders do want to become rich and powerful. Upon his death, however, it became obvious that he certainly did not 'rule with honor', as he claimed. With the best of his people gone, there was no room for growth, a power and knowledge vacuum was created, and Corinth was severely weakened.
We can take Periander's story and flip it around to show us how to be a good leader. As a leader, do you go around to your best and brightest, to your 'tall stalks of corn', and help build them up and grow, or do you tear them down and throw them away. Are you open enough to bring together people who are smarter and better than you in some areas in order to be successful, or do you avoid them or scare them away?
How can you build others up this week?
