Emperor Nero and Seneca in a dramatic classical scene, symbolising the tension between power and wisdom. The quote “I have what I have given” reflects Seneca’s Stoic view that what we truly possess is not what we keep, but what we contribute.
“Hoc habeo, quodcumque dedi”
I have what I have given,
these words come to us from the Latin philosopher Seneca, so nothing particularly new under the sun, but they are still very true for modern age men and managers.
One of the first things that struck me when I started to have the responsibility to manage a team (some time ago) is that people tend to belong to two categories: those who define one’s role in an organisation based on what they have as “unique” or allegedly distinguished knowledge and that therefore build their character and career upon maximising the “non disclosure” of information, or those who define their roles based of how much they can share, teach or support colleagues.
The “non disclosure” guys are finding a pretty hard time to survive nowadays, but surprisingly they have not yet left the scenes completely, and we have to be careful because that attitude might still live deep inside each one of us.