Well-Read Life™

The Last Lecture

Perhaps you have heard of The Last Lecture. Randy Pausch a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, delivered one in 2007. The lecture created a sensation.

As I’ve come to understand it, the idea of a last lecture has been around for a while in academic circles. It’s an opportunity for professors to pretend they have only one last lecture to give, and therefore must sum up their life’s work in a final message for the ages.

In the case of Randy Pausch, it wasn’t pretend. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given only months to live.

His lecture became a touchstone on YouTube, where the number of views at the moment I write this has just reached…let me check again… 2,212,434. The lecture has also been turned into a charming book, which I’ve just finished and recommend. The book contains 60 short chapters, two of which I’d like to mention here.

Service worth its salt

One chapter is titled “The $100,000 Salt and Pepper Shaker.” It tells the story of how when Randy was a boy, he and his sister bought an expensive set of ceramic salt and pepper shakers for their parents, as thanks for taking them to Disney World. Alas, the bag slipped from Randy’s fingers as he walked from the store, and the shakers broke.

Passing adults suggested to the crying Randy that he might tell the store what happened.  To his amazement, the store staff replaced the shakers for free.

When Randy’s father heard the story and its happy ending, it made him determined to do his own good deed. For many years afterwards, at his own expense, he arranged to bus economically disadvantaged young people to Disney World.  He spent an estimated $100,000 over the years, despite being of modest means.

Original digits—the ones on our hands

The other chapter is titled “The Lost Art of Thank-You Notes,” and its message is about the benefits of an old-fashioned, handwritten note of thanks. Randy tells the story of how a certain handwritten note from an applicant to an elite technology program—a note sent to a secretary who had helped her—ended up changing everything. Coming from a computer science professor who specializes in virtual reality, this tribute to our original digits carries special weight.

The last lecture that will last

Randy continues to wage his battle against cancer, but even when he is gone, the golden rings of positive influence will emanate from that Last Lecture for as long as people watch Randy’s lecture, or read his little book, and apply his lessons in their own lives.

On Randy’s website, www.thelastlecture.com, you’ll find links to the video of his lecture, plus more previews of the book.

The audiobook, which contains an interview with Randy at the end, is available for download at www.Audible.com. 

If you have seen the lecture or read the book, let me know what you think. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you’ll connect to Comments).

Philosopher Tom Morris on Tough Economic Times

His colleagues couldn’t believe what Tom Morris was going to do.

He was an academic superstar. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale, Tom was now a tenured full professor in the University of Notre Dame’s Philosophy Department. His academic publishing was astounding, including numerous books published by the prestigious Oxford University Press, as well as Cornell University Press and Notre Dame Press, among others.

Moreover, as a teacher, Tom’s classes were among the most popular on campus. With his energetic, funny style, including tossing candy bars into the audience to reward correct answers, Tom was renowned for getting even Notre Dame’s football players charged up about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Yet Tom taught the meaning of life: to discover your talents, develop those talents, and deploy them into the world to help others. And Tom had discovered a new talent of his own: speaking to large, general audiences. He decided to leave his safe and successful professor’s job to launch into the hurly burly life of a national speaker and author for the general public. His first mainstream book, True Success, in which he developed his renowned Seven C’s of Success, was quickly followed by If Aristotle Ran General Motors, Philosophy for Dummies, The Stoic Art of Living and many others.

Tom’s speaking career took off. I first had the thrill of hearing him back in 1994 when he spoke to a business group I belong to, and I became one of his many fans. Tom reciprocated and once spoke at Levenger, when he was in town giving a talk for a big industry conference.

In a sea of self-help gurus, Tom stands out. He has a rare talent for understanding the best thinkers of the past, making it easy for all of us to grasp their most profound messages and apply these perspectives to our own lives.

And so it is understandable that his speaker’s bureau would look to Tom during these tough times to write a message to all their clients. The Washington Speakers Bureau represents such diverse talent as Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Anderson Cooper, Tom Peters and John Cleese. The bureau’s management asked Tom to write something short and powerful that they could send to their clients to be of assistance during these challenging times. Tom did so, and his message went out on May 9th.

I asked Tom if we could send out the same message to the Levenger community, many of whom are also dealing with tough changes in their work and in their lives. Tom said yes, by all means.

He added: “I’m huge fan of Levenger, as well as being a long-time customer. And, over the years, I’ve been very impressed to learn that the Levenger family includes many of the most creative and accomplished people in America. I would love to help bring this group of amazing people some of the most penetrating wisdom we have about powerful adaptation and what it takes to master the art of change. And I’d love to hear from them what they think.”

- Steve

Adaptation
Mastering the Art of Change

by Tom Morris

We’re living now in a period of widespread, unsettling change and growing economic uncertainty. Every day seems to bring with it a new cause for anxiety. It’s easy to worry about the future. But the great philosophers of the past have recommended something very different from that reaction: the positive response of creative adaptation.
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A situation becomes favorable only when we adapt to it.
The I Ching
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One of the primary sources of power in life is the skill of adaptation. It’s also one of the most important contributors to long-term success. As someone who has studied for decades the wisdom of the ages on all aspects of personal achievement, I’ve come to understand something very important. Our ability to flex appropriately with changing circumstances, and our knack for transforming our circumstances in accordance with our own highest aspirations, are two distinct sides of adaptation. And they are both absolutely necessary for attaining business and personal excellence in times of change.

The good news is that there is an art of change that will give us the crucial inner keys for masterful adaptation. A consistent practice of this art can generate amazing results.
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What in the whole universe is more natural than change?
Marcus Aurelius
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The art of change, as understood by its masters, consists of three component arts:

(1)    The art of self-control
(2)    The art of positive action
(3)    The art of achievement

Each of these component arts has a few simple rules that can be derived from the deepest practical wisdom of the great thinkers. Let’s take just a minute to consider them.

The art of self-control has three basic requirements:

1.    Don’t rush to judgment. Many ancient philosophers believed that nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems, so we should all just calm down. Complex situations are hardly ever what they initially appear to be. And in turbulent times, the well-known category, “A Blessing in Disguise” may have a lot of potential applications. When we stop ourselves from rushing to judgment about new developments, we empower ourselves to deal with them as they really are.
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Things often love to conceal their true nature.
Heraclitus
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2.    Value the right things. We tend to value comfort and security a bit too highly in our culture. Growth and learning are also crucial for a good life. If we value the right things to the right degree, we are more open to the positive adventures that even initially difficult change can bring into our lives.
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Only in growth, reform, and change,
paradoxically enough, is true security to be found.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
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3.    Use your imagination well. In economically unpredictable times, our imaginations can easily run wild, projecting worst-case scenarios, and taking our emotions to places we don’t need to go. The only reliable cure for negative imagination is positive imagination. When we use our minds to project desirable scenarios, we actually strengthen our ability to make those things happen.
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You can’t depend on your judgment
when your imagination is out of focus.
Mark Twain
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The art of positive action also has three fundamental requirements:

1.    Govern your attitudes. Negative attitudes can sneak up on us and hold us back. The good news about attitude is that it’s ultimately within our control. We can choose to consider the positive possibilities of a situation, or to forgive a person who may have tripped us up. We can also take measures – such as daily walking, jogging, or meditation – that can indirectly but almost magically transform our attitudes. Good attitudes can lead to great outcomes.
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With our thoughts, we make the world.
The Buddha
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2.    Look for opportunities. The churn of change always creates new opportunities. The most successful people actively look for emerging opportunities in times of change, and so are among the first to take advantage of possibilities that didn’t previously exist. In every challenging era, some people grow and benefit. By always searching for new opportunities, we can be among those people.
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Know your opportunity.
Pittacus
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3.    Take the initiative. In uncertain times, people hunker down, hoping the storms will pass. A common trait of high achievers is a very different tendency to take action. By being action-oriented, we can make the most of new opportunities, which are often fleeting and must be seized quickly. Leaders always show initiative. In situations of rapid change, it’s up to each of us to do so.
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In the arena of human life, the honors and rewards
fall to those who show their good qualities in action.
Aristotle
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Finally, the art of achievement requires that we focus our energies toward favorable outcomes by living in accordance with seven universal conditions for positive achievement. In times of change, we need to use “The 7 Cs of Success” constantly and relentlessly, as individuals and as teams. We need:

C1: A clear CONCEPTION of what we want, a vivid vision, a goal clearly imagined.
Goal setting is often tough in the whirl of rapidly altering events, but it’s always important. A disciplined use of our intellects and imaginations to envision new targets adapted appropriately to the vicissitudes of our day will enable us to move forward productively as great problem solvers and creative examples to others.

C2: A strong CONFIDENCE that we can attain our goal.
In situations of tremendous change, the first thing most people lose is their inner sense of confidence. Confidence is an attitude and, as such, is within our control. We can boost it by how we think, talk, and act. And we owe it to ourselves, as well as to those around us, to do exactly this, since confidence is contagious and can drive success in surprising ways.

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Fortune favors the brave.
Terence
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C3: A focused CONCENTRATION on what it takes to reach the goal.
We need to focus and refocus ourselves in times of upheaval, and concentrate our thought and energy on what’s required each day for the outcomes we seek.

C4: A stubborn CONSISTENCY in pursuing our vision.
Consistency doesn’t mean doing things the way we’ve always done them, but keeping our actions in line with our highest goals and deepest values. The most powerful adaptation requires this kind of consistency as we adjust to new realities.

C5: An emotional COMMITMENT to the importance of what we’re doing.
Passion fuels excellence. Without an emotional commitment to our work, and to the people around us, we can easily find that unexpected change saps our strength. A commitment of the heart energizes us all to do great things in new ways.
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It is always the adventurers who accomplish great things.
Montesquieu
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C6: A good CHARACTER to guide us and keep us on a proper course.
Change often calls for compromise, but never for a compromise of character. The stronger your character is, the better you’ll weather any storm. Integrity matters.

C7: A CAPACITY TO ENJOY the process along the way.
If we can laugh at the absurdities life often throws at us, and find aspects of our work to enjoy during even trying times, we can achieve creative, lasting results.

By practicing the overall art of change each day – following the simple requirements of self-control, positive action, and ongoing achievement – we can position ourselves to make the most of any change that comes our way. We can be masters of adaptation.
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Man has unrivalled powers of self-adaptation.
Charles Kingsley
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The wisdom of the past can guide us reliably into the future. If we use it every day, we can best live the adventures we’re here in this world to have, and we can attain forms of success that will sometimes surprise us even more than it bewilders our neighbors.

As Tom says, he’d love to hear what you think—as would I. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments). And please share Tom’s message with anyone who may benefit from it.

Adaptation: Mastering the Art of Change © 2008 Tom Morris

Being a Reader in Chile

A note to my readers—

When I mentioned to a  fellow book group member, Lawrence Steinberg, that I was going to Chile over spring break with my son Cal to do some cycling—and visit libraries—he said we simply must visit his daughter, Ashley, who was living in Santiago. A few years ahead of Cal, Ashley had just graduated from Penn and had taken it on herself to move to Chile to try her hand as a journalist and English teacher before going on to Stanford Law School. (Thus far, her work has appeared in The Nation, Newsweek.com and the Santiago Times.)

We couldn't have asked for a better guide to take us to the Biblioteca Nacional, as well as to give us an idea of what reading was like in Chile. As Ashley began to describe the many differences, including the subtle ones (in her experience, people rarely ask one another what they are reading), I realized that Levenger Well-Read Life readers would benefit from hearing directly from this talented young writer. I asked her to post a guest essay on the reading life in Chile from an American's perspective. Here is her report.

- Steve

Chileans call their country pais de poetas (“country of poets”). The South American nation has produced two Nobel Prize for Literature winners, Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, and an array of talented writers. To be a Chilean reader is to be immersed in literature inspired by a landscape of mountains, lakes, volcanoes, glaciers and deserts; to be entranced by a place where Isabel Allende’s magical realism mixes with Roberto Bolaño’s sense of adventure, where Alberto Fuguet’s passion meets Ariel Dorfman’s politics.

Any tourist arriving in Chile is made aware of the nation’s deep literary tradition. Taxi drivers point tourists to Neruda’s kooky houses in Santiago, Valparaíso and Isla Negra. Tourist maps highlight statues and museums devoted to other literary greats. This unusually shaped country of almost 17 million people considers its literary contributions to be an important part of its heritage.

When I first came to Chile in 2006 to write for the English-language newspaper the Santiago Times, I was unaware of the country’s literary legacy. But I soon learned how important it was to the Chilean people, and I began to familiarize myself with the country’s poets and writers.

What I began to notice, however, was that for a country whose literature is so spirited, books are exorbitantly, often prohibitively, expensive. A book that might cost $10 in the United States can cost the equivalent of $25 in Chile. Considering the lower median salary in Chile, the high prices are all the more shocking. 

The high price tag is a result of a tax placed on books as well as Chilean publishers’ desire for high profit margins on limited volume. The high price of books is especially peculiar considering Chile’s quest to become a developed commercial and financial world center. Literacy is one of the most effective tools governments can use to bring up their least privileged citizens out of poverty, but the book tax threatens to price literacy out of the reach of the very ones aspiring to it.

Luckily, efforts are being made to address the incongruity between the justifiable pride the Chileans have for their literature and the inflated price of new books. Governments at the national, regional and municipal levels have intensified their efforts to open new libraries and modernize old ones, and ensure that all neighborhoods have at least one public library. Libraries currently serve as especially important resources for university students, for whom paying 50,000 Chilean pesos (over $100) for a textbook is unthinkable. Unofficial estimates suggest that almost half of municipal library users are students.   

Residents of Santiago, Chile’s capital city, are treated to the BiblioMetro program, a series of small booths or storefronts in key metro stations that allow passengers to check out books for the small annual fee of 3000 Chilean pesos (just over $6). They can return the books to the giant book drops that are scattered throughout the metro system.

Additionally, a new national government program, Maletin Literario (“Literary Briefcase”), was created to give books by both Chilean and foreign authors to 400,000 families living in poverty. The government received criticism from right-wing politicians who believed that “delivering Kafka to families on welfare” was an inefficient use of funds, but program supporters fought back, arguing that the poor, just as much as the rich, had a right to literature.

Nonprofits have also stepped in to improve the situation. The Gates Foundation funded a program called BiblioRedes, a multi-million dollar initiative that installed free public Internet access in 378 libraries across the country, bringing hundreds of thousands of Chileans through the doors.

And there are other ways around the expense. A pedestrian walking down any street in downtown Santiago will undoubtedly encounter vendors hawking pirated books from sidewalk tables, flagrantly defying intellectual-property laws alongside their DVD- and CD-selling counterparts.

Less illicitly, Chileans can also take advantage of frequent ferias del libro, or book fairs, that offer some discounted books. Not every title is bound to be available, and finding exactly what you seek is not a quick or easy process, but for the book enthusiast, browsing at the ferias is a good option. There are also second-hand bookshops that carry old books for lower prices, though the latest bestselling hardcover would be difficult to find.

Yet despite the lack of ubiquitous Barnes & Noble stores and Amazon.com, Chileans have something in common with citizens of more developed countries. They, too, face information and media overload. With television, Internet, video games and movies competing for readers’ attention, the price of books creates an easy excuse to spend leisure time doing something that is instantly accessible.

“What is happening here is similar to the trend in the U.S.,” says Viviana Garcia, the Coordinator of the Municipal Library in Providencia. “Chileans don’t read as much as we should.”

Unlike in America, however, reading is not quite a social institution. Alma Rates, a film student in Santiago, says that “book clubs are not very common here, and I don’t usually hear people asking each other if they’ve read any good books lately.”

It is unclear whether this has anything to do with book prices. And ultimately, as Garcia from the Providencia library explains, “people who want to read will always find a way.”

As one friend tells me, the difficulty of acquiring books makes one appreciate reading more. A book cannot be an impulse buy. “It is something you save up for, something you think about, something you look forward to,” he says.

“And something you are grateful for when your fingers finally turn the first page.”

As always, I’d like to hear your thoughts. Just click on the Comments link below. (If you’re reading this as an email, click here and you'll connect to Comments).