How can Solon’s wisdom help us today?

As you know by now, I am a big fan of Barbara Tuchman’s writings about history. If I had more time, I would probably get all the books she wrote and digest them deeply. For our main subject of creating success, better leadership, and talent development, I like to use lessons learned from the past.

We often hear that nobody wants to re-invent the wheel, but the tendency to actually look into history and learn from it doesn’t seem to be well developed.

Solon was one of the early leaders in ancient Greece. Barbara Tuchman talks about him in her books. I like to offer you some of the lessons learned and the story behind it to reflect on. It will bring you a perspective to consider and possibly integrate into your own management, leadership, or self-development endeavors.

Solon, when assuming the lead position in Greece enjoyed the unusual distinction of being acceptable to both the poor and the rich. By the rich, according to Plutarch, because he was a man of wealth and substance, and by the poor, because he was honest. In the body of laws he proclaimed, Solon’s concern wasn’t partisanship, but justice, fair dealing between strong and weak, and a stable government.

He abolished enslavement for debt, freed the enslaved, extended suffrage to the plebeians, reformed the currency to encourage trade, regulated weights and measures, established legal codes governing inherited property, civil rights of citizens, penalties for crimes, and finally taking no chances, exacted an oath from the Athenian Council to maintain his reforms for ten years. When looking at this list, you might want to ask yourself how much of these things have been turned back to lesser freedoms in the last 10 years.

Then he did an extraordinary thing, possibly unique among heads of state: purchasing a ship on the pretext of traveling to see the world, he sailed into voluntary exile for ten years. Fair and just as a statesman, Solon was no less a wise man. He could have retained supreme control, enlarging his authority to that of a tyrant, and was indeed reproached because he did not, but knowing that endless petitions and proposals to modify this or that law would only gain him ill-will if he did not comply, he determined to leave, in order to keep his laws intact because the Athenians/Greek could not repeal them without his sanction. His decision suggests that an absence of overriding personal ambition together with shrewd common sense is among the essential components of wisdom.

In the notes of his life, Solon put it this way:

“Each day I grew older and learned something new”

Strong and effective leaders, if lacking the complete qualities of Solon, rise from time to time in heroic size above the rest. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their shining moments secure their ability to lead. We have examples of this phenomenon in our current time. President Bush would not have had a chance to get reelected, with however slim a margin, had he not been able to create an atmosphere of fear that he claimed to be the only one to control. This became a believable proposition because he had shown some ability to lead during the events of 9/11. What was forgotten by the public was the fact that 9/11 was an event to which the leaders of the country reacted, and not something that occurred as a result of proactive, responsible action.

In the current campaign for the nomination as presidential candidates, the runners are still trying to prove their worth by pointing to their reaction to the 9/11 events. What stays in the background is the actual ability to lead and reform, as Solon did. Managing the results of an event caused by someone else is management, not leadership. I wish for all of us to work towards becoming the Solons of modern time, not to leave on a ship to travel the world, but to create sustainable change for the better of our communities and the environment we live in.

I hope you will reflect on recent actions and reactions, and determine how much of what was caused by our current leaders had positive results. Compare that to how the reactions of our leaders to events caused by others are sold to us in the media and all other places as positive and successful leadership. With your knowledge about the difference between management and leadership, I hope you draw the best possible conclusions and begin to apply them to your own leadership.

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC