I had the great privilege, from 2003 to 2018, of teaching two graduate leadership and communication courses at Fairleigh Dickinson University. By the time I was done, I had delivered this class to students from 77 countries (every continent). The youngest was 21; the oldest, 64. They worked for corporate giants, startups, private firms, governments, the United Nations, NGOs, and nonprofits. They came with diverse outlooks and beliefs.
“Diversity is…” said Malcolm Forbes
This became evident to me in my very first class, when Malcolm Forbes’ words rang true: “Diversity is the art of thinking independently together”
As each class unfolded, we all realized that we were not one professor and 16 students. Rather, we were 17 collaborative learners. As such, I, along with the others, was the beneficiary of a rich learning and growing experience.
So when it came time to move on (translation: last day of class), I felt obligated to offer my concluding remarks, among which lay some personal philosophy. In trying to make sense of an increasingly complicated and hostile world, I said, among other things:
“I believe that the human condition is variable but the human spirit is not. We humans have good times and bad – ages of discovery, invention, healing, and giant leaps forward – but also times of natural disasters (tsumanis, droughts, and famine) and disasters caused by humans (holocausts, genocides, and wars). But the human spirit – the beautiful, resilient, creative, nurturing, supportive, forward-looking human spirit – has never failed, nor will it ever – as long as you persist – as business and social leaders of the 21st century. I want you to take that from this class.”
There is, in that expression, hope, optimism, and unity. And it’s the makings of a simple guide book for solving problems.
Our turbulent world
Yet in the six short years since, the world has become … well … harder to understand and even harder to navigate – and my words seem to fade or weaken sometimes. When they do, I reach into my wallet where, for more than 20 years, I have ben carrying a message from Robert Ardrey – American philosopher, anthropologist, and author (1908-1980) – and read it, often more than once, out of necessity. I will leave it with you with no added comment, hoping it will have the same impact on you that it always has on me.
“We were born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties, whatever they may be worth; our symphonies, however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted to battlefields; our dreams, however rarely they may be accomplished. The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk, but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.”