We are always doing. Always striving.
Entrepreneurs want to grow their companies. Executives want to become CEOs. CEOs want to become heads of bigger companies. And every CEO wants to become a celebrity.
Bernard Baruch was perhaps the most important financier in America and second only to J P Morgan. He sold his substantial stock holdings before the crash of 1929 and made another fortune by selling short at the beginning of the crash. He was a close adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt and is credited with shortening the production time for tanks and aircraft. He thus was a major contributor to the eventual Allied victory.
Today, few recognize his name. The largest business school in America is named after him but even MBA candidates at the school do not know about him. I know this firsthand because I taught at that school for two years.
Harold Geneen was the CEO of International Telephone and Telegraph and built it up to become the most famous conglomerate of its time. It was the role model for other conglomerates like General Electric and Ling-Temco-Vought. His book Managing is a classic and I have recommended it to many. It is also out of print.
Lee Iacocca was perhaps the most famous executive in America in the eighties. He was supplanted by Jack Welch who was supplanted by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos and other tech titans.
Ronald Reagan was the towering president who projected American strength. His speech at the Brandenburg Gate still resonates with many “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe… if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
In 1996 George Shultz, who was Reagan’s Secretary of State, visited his former boss who was then battling dementia. Reagan asked his nurse. “Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.”
In ancient Rome, generals who returned after a great victory were honored with a parade. Thousands of people attended and cheered them. It was the ultimate ego trip. A slave was positioned behind the victorious general and his job was to periodically lean over and whisper “Memento Mori” into the soldier’s ear.
“Memento Mori” – Remember that you will die!
One day your fame and fortune will go. The footprints you leave on the sands of time will be washed away.
That is the nature of life.
Does that mean you should stop striving to reach the grand goal you have set for yourself?
Of course not.
But you should always bear in mind that all things are impermanent and transitory. Everything that is in time and space will disappear.
So strive, but don’t let that striving prevent you from fully enjoying today. There is no pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow.
There is only today. Make it the best day of your life.
Peace!
