Leadership Lessons from my Uncle Robert

My Uncle Robert is a quiet, unassuming man. Very practical and a very strong in his beliefs and steadfast in his way. Not one to be trifled with, Uncle Robert is a very fair and focused man. He is one of the four most important men in my life.

He has lived through the great upheavals of the 20th Century; the Great Depression, the Dustbowl, the Internet and yet still conducts his business with determined vision, a steady hand, and great concern for his employees and their production. This has allowed him to maximize the use of his own facilities and his reputation is such that he has the use of the property of others with few questions asked. 

He treats his employees with great care. He sees that they have what they need, are well supplied and that their environment is as good as he can possibly make it. He’s always there to help, coax, and defend them when necessary and values their production no matter how small. Yet he has no tolerance for the unproductive. 

As a young man, I would look forward to the summers when I could work for him. It was truly a rewarding and fun experience. Uncle Robert was a man of patience and timing when it came to his business. Now, understand that Uncle Robert never had more than one or two people working for him at any particular time except during the summers when he would have somewhere around fifteen of us kids, cousins all, scattered across his operation. Yet his employees made him one of the most prosperous men in the community. 

You see, Uncle Robert is a farmer. The employees I write of are not necessarily those individual people but the individual seeds and the individual plants that brought forth individual products.

He knows the proper time to plant and that once planted you have to have patience. You have to wait to see which individuals survive the process. When the first shoots spring forth is only one indication of the process. Some will come up later than others and still others simply will not survive the process. The life of the organization is just not in them.

Those that do survive he cultivates. He sees to their needs. He insures their environment is all that it can be for them to thrive and produce. He keeps track of their production process, makes sure they are well supplied and values each and every little thing they produce. He knows that individual production is the key to the overall harvest. He also know what his return will be, because he knows what he planted; he reaps what he sows. We all do.

Are you cultivating or curtailing? Do you prune or do you prevent? 

If you don’t like what you’re reaping, change what you’re sowing.

Thinking new thoughts

The changes in communication in the U.S. have led to dramatic changes worldwide. We have, since the beginning, been a nation of change.

Founded by those seeking religious freedoms, the colonies gave rise to private ownership of the printing press. For the first time in history people had a voice that could challenge authority and those who rebelled against King George used it with great effect. A half century later the development of photography and it's ability to be published in newspapers changed our view of the world. Following that the telegraph changed publication by distribution from a central point of information that was deemed important to a mass public. Again our view of our world grew and changed. This brought about an time which has been called the "era of yellow journalism" as publishers worked through the ethical dilemmas and basic foundations of what should be appropriate for publication on a massive scale. Again our perspectives changed.

In the first half of the 20th century, radio was gaining prominence as an entertainment and information medium. Industrialized production of films opened our eyes to new sights. The development of the field of public relations during WWI brought us new perspectives and influences based on the perceived needs of the nation. Radio began to place shift following WWII with the development of transistors and new applications to radio sets. Television was in its infancy and broadcast networks had visions of becoming major industries giving rise to major "news production" capabilities and facilities. The government informed the public with "public service announcements."

A half-century later the rise of cable and then satellite TV brought more channels, more entertainment, more news and information. The public Internet was born. The proliferation of personal computers opened an avenue for the development of the public Web and our views of our world changed again.

"Socrates - GLAUCON

And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: --Behold! human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets.

I see.

And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent.

You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.

Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?

True, he said; how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?" -- Plato's Republic (Jowett translation)