Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was my kind of guy. I keep a list of people I would like to have lunch with. It will probably never happen, since many of the people on the list have been dead for several hundred years, but if it ever did happen, my buddy “Desi” would get an invitation. Other people at our table might include Voltaire, T.S. Elliot, Will Durant, Julia Child or Ayn Rand, so I’m sure the conversation would be lively. Come to think of it, I would definitely invite Julia Child. I’m a terrible cook.
Erasmus, a Renaissance Dutch humanist, included the phrase, “festina lente”, in his compilation of Greek and Latin proverbs entitled “Adagia”. The phrase means, “Make haste slowly”, a seeming contradiction. There are many proverbs in “Adagia” that come to us from the ancient societies, such as “call a spade a spade”, but let’s be content with discovering what we can with “festina lente”.
“Festina lente” was Erasmus’ personal motto. He may have acquired it from Augustus or Titus, since it was also a favorite of theirs. Aristotle also thought it was important. The Medici family adopted it. They can all come to lunch with us, too. Isn’t it interesting that so many historically notable people managed to land on the same phrase, as a thing important enough to be incorporated in their personal philosophy? It would appear to be worth some examination.
Augustus was a great general and he liked the phrase, because he thought rashness in a military commander was dangerous. He was known for saying, “That is done quickly enough which is done well enough”. He knew that leaders had to be decisive and timely in their actions, but he also knew the importance of carefully considering all variables, before execution of a plan. He said in his writings that a careful commander was worth much more than a bold commander. You can find the same idea in the writings and histories of the other “lunch guests” that I mentioned above. The Medici made every bit as incisive a mark in the worlds of politics and world financial markets as Augustus did on the battle field. Their accomplishments were the result of the same kind of introspection, analysis, focus and ultimate drive. In each case, you will find ideas, writings or actions that went against current, popular assumptions, but ultimately advanced the human condition. People who have made a difference in history seem to have understood the importance of first considering and then acting.
Clearly, it is an idea that has survived the ages, but I wonder if it applies to our lives, today.
We seem to be absolutely enamored of great speed, today. We have learned to regard our world in terms of nanoseconds. I recently flew from Minneapolis to Oakland, with a stop in Denver. The gentleman sitting next to me was frustrated, almost angry, because he thought the plane would be landing later than scheduled, which meant he might miss his connection to Dallas, which meant he would have to reschedule a meeting. There was a time not so long ago, when a missed stage coach was not a serious problem, because they knew there would be another one next month. Now, if we miss our turn in a revolving door, it throws our entire day off. Checking messages on our home answering machine at the end of the day was once considered “staying in touch”. Now, friends and associates become irate if we do not instantly grab our cell phone, the moment it chirps at us. Have you ever driven on a California freeway and watched people darting in and out of various lanes, hitting the accelerator and then the brake to grab an open spot in the traffic flow, fifty feet ahead of where they were? Marketing experts tell us they have fifteen seconds to grab the average consumer’s attention. We watch TV with a remote in one hand and a thumb poised over the channel selector, in case we suddenly get bored and instantly require new input. Books on tape has become a viable business, so we don’t have to stop doing important stuff, in order to “read” the latest hot novel.
I don’t have any problem with speed. In fact, I love it. I love to drive fast (unless you’re a cop, in which case, I’m joking). I love to maintain a fast pace throughout my day and I usually do three things at once. I would love to get a ride in a military jet, just to know what it feels like. But it occurs to me that certain, important elements of the human experience can be easily lost, in our raging need for speed.
There was an important piece of legislation, recently that has become known as Obamacare. It was rushed through the entire process of crafting the bill, introduced in the middle of the night and voted on the next day. It carries a price tag of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and most of that will have to be borrowed. When opposing legislators complained to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that they needed time to read, assimilate and debate the more than 2,000 pages in the bill, her response was that there was no time to read it. It had to be passed right now and we would “have to pass it, in order to find out what’s in it”. What a silly thing for a national leader to say. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying I’m opposed to Obamacare. I’m saying I’m opposed to the process. Neither Augustus, nor Desiderius would approve.
I spent over four decades in retail management and I worked for many different senior managers, including executive vice presidents and CEO’s. Among them were several, who thought it was important to drive us, relentlessly, to ensure a high level of productivity. I remember one meeting of 300 field managers, who had all traveled to a hotel to attend a 6AM meeting. The CEO actually announced at the beginning of the meeting that he had called it for 6AM to show us all how much more effective we could be, if we started earlier and stayed at work longer. I was unimpressed. The whole theme of the meeting was “more speed”. There was never enough time to thoroughly examine a plan or course of action, so plans in those organizations were always hasty ad hoc things that usually didn’t produce very productive results and were usually quickly replaced by another hasty, ad hoc plan.
During my career, I managed a group of several hundred retail outlets, staffed by perhaps 2,000 employees. It was my responsibility to establish and pursue strategies that would create growth and profitability in the organization. Initially, I spent my time in high level meetings working out details and writing sophisticated programs, that resulted in not much of anything. At some point, I learned that all the cash registers and customers with check books were in the stores, so I decided to take some time to check that part of the organization out. I learned something important and amazing. I went to a store and just started working. For two hours, nothing happened. Then, employees got comfortable with my presence and started to talk to me. They told me what was wrong with the company, what they needed that they didn’t have and what the customers were saying about us. I learned valuable lessons and the strategies sort of wrote themselves, after that. When it came time to initiate a new strategy, it was focused, aligned with company goals and meaningful to everyone on the team and it was embraced and implemented quickly. The Medici got rich, because they knew that. Alexander won battles, because he knew that. And, now you and I know that.
When our government officials come up with an idea for a new law, I want them to give me time to think about it and talk to them about it. I want them to give people who disagree with me time to talk to them about it. I want them to debate it with each other and argue passionately about it. I want people who hate a given idea to try to totally shred it. If it survives, it will be a stronger concept and then, I want them to act on it with haste. Festina lente.
I’ve talked about taking time to consider before acting (the “lente” part), so I should pay some attention to the other half of the phrase – the acting. This is the part that created greatness in my chosen lunch guests. There is a thing called “analysis paralysis”. It is practiced by people who love to analyze things to death and spend all their time getting ready to get ready to do something, but never actually do it, because there is always more analysis that needs to be done. The difference between those people and great people is knowing when meaningful preparation has been completed and when it is time to act (the “festina” part). And then to act decisively, without looking back, until the objective is obtained.
When I have all my lunch guests seated and served, I believe I will use this idea as an ice breaker, just to see what happens. I doubt there will be anyone at the table who disagrees with the power of “festina lente”. It may be that you disagree. If you do, we can talk about it, but if you think the ideas I have jotted down here are so much hooey, you might remember one thing: the hare lost; the tortoise won.