According to a profile in U.S. News & World Report, Amundsen’s
great gift “was a willingness to learn from those around him.” In
this, he was much like Billy Graham. In 1903, Amundsen was on
the way to becoming the first person to navigate the Northwest
Passage between the Canadian mainland and its Arctic Islands. He
became fascinated with the Netsilik, an isolated group of Eskimos,
and he lived as they lived: “He careened
down hills in the dog sleds, slept in their
igloos, and adopted their reindeer-fur
dress.”
What he learned from these unlikely
educators eventually proved strategic in
Amundsen’s ultimately successful attempt to reach the South Pole.
His choice of dogs and his use of reindeer fur helped him survive
the brutal conditions of Antarctica, while his rival, Sir Robert Fal-
con Scott of England, perished making the same attempt with
more traditional equipment. Learning from unlikely sources made
the difference between success and failure, life and death.
Repristinate!
Sometimes a leader is charged with protecting a certain
asset—whether an endowment, a tradition, or an institution. But
even the task of preservation demands learning and growth.
In his book on leadership, Certain Trumpets, Garry Wills points
out that in order for a tradition to be worth passing on to another
generation, you must repristinate it, make it pristine again—
“restore it to its original state or condition.”
He quotes G. K. Chesterton: “Conservativism is based upon
the idea that if you leave things alone, you leave them as they
are. But you do not. If you leave a thing alone, you leave it to a
torrent of changes. If you leave a white [fence] post alone, it will
soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white, you
must be always painting it again. Briefly, if you want the old white
post, you must have a new white post.”
What people celebrate as tradition is usually a thing that’s
been changed by time. “All things that resist change are changed
Learning — and Leveraging WeaknessesI like to listen. I have learned
a great deal from listening
carefully. Most people never
listen.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY