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Have commented here before on the link between horsemanship (for which Xenophon's treatise is the philosophical foundation) and leadership, (Xenophon's key preo
by motohagiography 8y ago
Have commented here before on the link between horsemanship (for which Xenophon's treatise is the philosophical foundation) and leadership, (Xenophon's key preoccupation according to the article.)
Officer classes were usually trained in horsemanship for very good reason. It's one of the few transformative experiences that can be taught and practised. Before cars, horses were probably one of the few sources of what we now call "peak experiences" available.
Today we can fly and jump out of planes, ride motorcycles, surf, and achieve the transcendent "self-actualization" required for leadership through a variety of other peak experiences, so horsemanship has become a kind of esoteric pursuit. But the underlying need for self-actualized leaders hasn't changed. Or maybe it has, but a few people still see the gap but don't have the words to describe it.
Looking forward to reading Anabasis.
- whatshisface 8y ago>the transcendent "self-actualization" required for leadership Spot on, in every interview I ask the hiring manager if they have ever jumped out of a plane, and if they say "no" my respect for them drops to zero (sorry, it's a fundamental subconscious response I can't help it). I call their boss, tell them that their subordinate forgot to self-actualize, and I get made their manager on the spot. It's how I got my last two jobs.
- undershirt 8y agoi've jumped out of a plane (it was incredible of course), but i have no idea what you're talking about—but maybe I don't understand what "self-actualization" means.
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- uxp100 8y agoThey were joking.
- Emma_Goldman 8y agoWere they? I really didn't get that
- whatshisface 8y agoI'm not joking at all, in fact if you mention in a Google interview that you went to horse camp they skip the rest of the process and make you a staff engineer on the spot. Many companies, especially the high-power consulting firms, are sending their most troubled young executives to horse camp as a remedial effort. It's impossible to overstate the importance of self-actualization.
- motohagiography 8y agoThought it was a funny snark joke, but funny in more ways than perhaps intended. I have seriously thought of operating a horse camp for executives. Most of what's out there is touchy feely healing lodge crap, where historically, cavalry was where leaders were minted, and their core training was sometimes as short as a few weeks. People in offices spend most of their time around unstable neurotic personalities, and it means they have no gravitas to bring to their teams. That instability breaks creative flow and prevents people from committing, and that dissonance is what creates stress and suffering that staff take home. It's no accident that one the most famous charisma trainers, Olivia Fox-Cabane, was/is also a horsewoman as well. It's funny to say remedial horse camp for crap execs, but if you have ever been on one of those infantalizing management retreats, treating people like adults would be orders of magnitude better.
- pesmhey 8y agoTo be fair, people in these positions do get sent to ridiculous bullshit.
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- leetcrew 8y ago> Looking forward to reading Anabasis. I highly recommend. it's one of the few classic texts I've been able to read almost as if it were a modern novel. if you're interested, it's also a great "first text" to try and read in greek. Xenophon writes in a straightforward manner that's much easier to translate than contemporary plays and philosophical works.