Brain Food #579
The invisible leader
Thoughts of the day
Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu has written one of the oldest treatises on how to lead a noble life, with numerous translations of the Tao Te Ching still making their way across bookstores and libraries centuries later. Amongst those, there also exists Ursula Le Guin’s version, who has offered her own ‘translation’ (though it is, in reality, a poetic reinterpretation of other translations).
Although fundamentally religious, the Tao Te Ching contains richly meaningful passages on desire, ambition, even leadership. In her footnotes on poem 17, Le Guin references the ‘invisible leader’. Indeed, there is a certain, long-lost charm and a considerable amount of respect to be found in humility, and not taking credit for work that someone may have contributed to, or even inspired.
Our best work is done when someone is invested in what they do, and when they are trusted with doing something remarkable. Like a great film that comes to fruition through the work of a charismatic director, who is always (normally) sitting behind the camera, true leadership is inspiring and enabling others to be their best. Even Le Guin felt the freedom to take the work of someone before her, and turn it into her own. Lao Tzu’s influence exists through the work he left behind, and the work left behind by others.
Le Guin worked on her interpretation of Tao Te Ching throughout her life, slowly adding to it, until she published it in her seventies, which offers its own form of reassurance regarding life’s endless potential, and not having to rush through it all.
Acting Simply
True leaders
are hardly known to their followers.
Next after them are the leaders
the people know and admire;
after them, those they fear;
after them, those they despise.
To give no trust
is to get no trust.
When the work's done right,
with no fuss or boasting,
ordinary people say,
Oh, we did it.
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