Learning the Right Life Lessons

A conversation about the value of the past

with David Melnik, Q.C.

CG: The famous philosopher, poet and novelist Georges Santayana said: those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. How is this point relevant today?

DM: To have a good view of how you should live your life, and how best to contribute to your community and avoid some of life’s large pitfalls, you should learn a much as you can about what happened in the past. About what made and makes the world go round.

That’s why the study of history and philosophy are more important than anything I can think of. Whether you do it formally or informally.

CG: When you look at your own life, how did this serve you?

DM: Over my life I learned a great, great deal about the past, and it helped me move forward. I took aspects of it I felt were workable, worth copying or following, and used them in new and constructive ways.

When we look not just at individuals, but also at companies, we see opportunities to take what worked well for others in the past and use it to improve the present and future.

However, the problem with business today is you’re often dealing with political instead of purely economic agendas: driven by getting votes instead of doing the right thing. An environment where politics rule or overrule common sense.

As a result, we have witnessed the insolvency of a company like GM, once one of the world’s great industrial giants. And, its ownership being forced by the US Government onto the shoulders of America’s taxpayers.

CG: What can we learn from this?

DM: Several things. That governments have powerful agendas of their own, like getting re-elected, and because of this they often forget or ignore the wisdom of the past; which was to have businesses run intelligently and profitably, or let them fail if they didn’t succeed on their own merits.

That we have to take careful note of what our leaders say and do, then hold them to account.

And, that Santayana was right.

I served at one time in my 50+ year career as a senior advisor to the Premier of Ontario, Canada, so I have both an outside and a very inside perspective of government and politics at work; likewise of law from leading a law practice, and of business from running a bank and serving on many corporate boards.

CG: But we don’t need university degrees to glean the wisdom and folly of the past.

DM: Well I have five degrees, but I still have to pay to go on the streetcar as they say. The key is working throughout your lifetime to acquire meaningful knowledge and experience – and the ability to seriously analyze and discuss issues.

CG: In your view, most governments are operating more from self than public interest, and exerting counter-productive control over the marketplace. So where does capitalism fit in today?

DM: I don’t have many heroes, but the great economist Milton Friedman was certainly one. Years back, he gave an interview. When asked if capitalism was a selfish thing, Friedman, like Adam Smith before him, said no, that private, free market achievement was the basis of creating wealth for more people than would otherwise be the case in any dictatorial or totalitarian state (like Stalinist Russia).

I think it’s still true; and more essential than ever that we work to restore a free market.

CG: What one book has influenced you most significantly?

DM: Perhaps British economic historian Robert Skidelsky’s acclaimed three-volume biography on John Maynard Keynes. Fifty years later, we’re still struggling with the effects of Keynesianism. In essence Keynes theory was when things go down, let the government print and pump money into the system and all will be well. Which isn’t the way a free market should work, and we – especially you in the U.S. – have paid dearly for it: tens of trillions in debt and obligations.

I did not admire Keynes in any way, because I think his theory of government involvement in the economy is wrong…but I had to study him to really understand this.

CG: Richard Maybury, publisher of the always insightful and compelling US & World Early Warning Report, has a lot to say about the crushing losses that have come from Keynesian economics -- and about what 2,500 years of economic history tell us to expect ahead in our markets.

But why aren’t we thinking more about these essential issues?

DM: When they’re working all day long, most people are tired and want to relax. The last thing they are likely to do is read Skidelsky’s biography of John Maynard Keynes, or study the meaning of history or carefully analyze where their country is heading.

CG: Yet don’t we all have a higher responsibility, to learn life lessons? To be mindful and helpful, and do the right things in our world by and for each other?

DM: Yes we do. Socrates felt virtue was the most valuable of all possessions, and that the ideal life was spent in search of the good. His ancient wisdom is as timely as ever. It’s something we can seek every day.

CG: You may remember the conversation piece “A Time for Questioning” I did last year with world performer/director/ethical business catalyst Yannis Simonides about Socratic wisdom.

DM: On a larger plane, people also have to be free to make their own decisions about how to conduct their affairs, with as little outside interference as possible. When you go back to the past, you’ll see it was the free market that worked – when it was allowed to work; while government-run or government-influenced economies were not so successful. You’re seeing these dynamics play out again in the present.

CG: So what’s your best advice?

DM: Study. Read. Think. Find people you can talk and exchange ideas with, who will listen…and respect what you have to say; and will offer other viewpoints you can appreciate.

Learn. And keep learning.

I have traveled to over a hundred countries in my 78 years; worked in business, academia and government, and sought out other ways of thinking that helped me evolve my own. I have never stopped learning.

I believe our individual capacity in modern times to transform knowledge of the past, of history and philosophy, into vital new ideas and action for tomorrow, is as great as it ever was. But we have to seize the opportunity, each in our own best way. Our own lives and our future well-being as a society depend on it.

CG: Thank you so much, David.

Colin Goedecke is a strategic story developer and senior-level interviewer, with a 25-year history helping leading and emerging companies worldwide platform and tell their marketing stories. Learning the Right Life Lessons is the 22nd in a series of thought pieces to help us think, act and communicate in wiser ways. Others can be found at www.tenowls.blogspot.com. Colin's Linked In profile is www.linkedin.com/in/colingoedecke

David Melnik, Queen’s Counsel, is a leading international legal and financial consultant; who sits on many company boards. Former CEO of Canada’s Vanguard Trust, he also served as policy advisor to the Premier of Ontario, and as professor at both the University of Toronto and York University business schools… dm1976cp@allstream.net

share this conversation with a friend or colleague

A Time for Questioning

a conversation about self-exploration with yannis simonides


CG: You've been touring the world, solo-performing Plato's Apology; where to me you nearly channel Socrates; who was spot on 22 centuries ago about the examined life and the virtuous way to be. Yet 22 centuries later, we’re still struggling as a society with living and behaving in right(er) ways.

Where are the clues, the insights we need?

YS: They’re right there in Plato’s text of The Apology. Plato’s and Socrates’ systems of thought, their philosophies, are still fundamental models to study and listen to – and emulate.

CG: Can we achieve a more virtuous culture?

YS: We can, but only to the degree we honestly examine our lives and apply the findings that flow from this self-examination.

Socrates said virtue is knowledge; that the only way to reach knowledge and therefore virtue, is to study, to examine and to have the opportunity to do so.

If we spend the time to have a dialectic, an investigation, a reasoning with ourselves, and not stop until we arrive at the truth – a truth that satisfies us (or satisfies us and whoever we’re engaging with, a boss, a friend, another nation)…we will be greatly rewarded.

We need to be willing to live in a culture of questions not one of ready answers. It’s a more courageous approach. And it takes more time. But it’s worth it. It serves us better in the long run as individuals and as a society, by giving us stronger foundations for our lives and for our world.

When I talk about questioning, and avoiding dogma, and achieving a change for the better in our entire ethos, it’s relevant because success here has to do with listening more versus trying to speak more.

It’s time for us to fall silent and listen. To begin.

CG: I’m reminded of Rainer Maria Rilke’s words from his Letters to a Young Poet, where he said: Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them… the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

YS: Each of us can initiate these kind of conversations, with ourselves and with others – in our families, our workplaces, our social circles; our communities, and our governments.

Socrates was never dogmatic in the way he talked. His approach was always propositions; suggestions; ways to consider being; invitations to question and discuss.

CG: Why do the simple wisdoms of Socrates, as you present the philosopher and his ideas, resonate so strongly today especially among the youth of many different countries? You’ve experienced this firsthand in and after your performances, from Athens to Dubai to Uruguay.

YS: Because it isn’t dogma. Because it engages them in questions and questioning. Because there’s great respect and dignity; a belief in peaceful co-existence; benevolent laws; an unwillingness to harm. Also because there’s no imposition of false gods or one’s own gods or ideas on them. Living to the best and fullest is the aim. These are all great gifts and inspirations for the youth of all cultures.

These are also things, deep inside, as you discover in The Apology, that we all – no matter what our politics or backgrounds – acknowledge as valuable.

The youth of today listen to Socrates because, like them, he’s not afraid to take a piss. He wasn’t afraid, as most of us are, to risk losing a job, a career, a relationship, by opening his mouth to say right and needed things. His philosophy teaches courage; it teaches examining yourself; and learning on your own more about yourself…and about what’s right and wrong – so it all becomes self evident. And in this process you become virtuous.

CG: You see a problem with the popular desire for immediate solutions, especially in dealing with crises or monumental issues personally or on a wider scale.

YS: This is a trap we fall into: looking for easy answers. Stop instead. Take a breath. Take a walk. Consider. Call a friend or colleague and have a conversation. Don’t take pride in being a man or woman ‘of action.’ No one knows enough about life to face a crisis and say they have the absolute answer. Yet this is how so much of society has acted for so long.

CG: As a long-time actor, director, teacher, radio host, you’ve mastered the art of communicating; dramatically, effectively, memorably. What are the ingredients that contributed most crucially to your mastery? What advice would you give about achieving effective communications?

YS: Empathy. Patience. Listening. Humor. Humility. And, a willingness to understand what communication actually is and should be: a two-way street; a full circle: you put something out and wait for a message to come back to you; that tells you your message was received and fully understood, as intended. Then you have communicated.

It’s the difference between the teacher who talks with you, engages you, and the one who gets up and just reads from a text; talks at you.

We can never be presumptuous about our audiences; we can’t label them.

Why? Because there’s so much more to people. Therefore, explore them; test them, as an actor would do. What is this house like, that you have before you? Is every Broadway theatre audience the same? No: the energy and interest and point of view of each group vary greatly. Those who ignore this dynamic are not the best communicators; they cannot communicate effectively.

And, don’t avoid doing something because you assume an audience won’t get it. Conversely, be sure to avoid things you think make sense but, looked at from their point of view, are likely to go right over their heads.

To be a great communicator, consciously play to people’s intelligence; to what you perceive as the best in them; using the best in you.

Anything else is deception, artifice or insensitivity.

And whatever medium you choose to communicate with, it’s your obligation to master it, as any great actor or director masters their craft.

Communication is as basic as breathing. Given our nature as social beings and our one-ness with Nature itself, we’re interdependent; in constant communication with each other and with Nature; in a give and take that happens billions of times a moment, every day, everywhere. Exchanging atoms with our environment is communication. Without all this, we stop breathing.

CG: Why do you feel such a burning personal need to examine and help others examine?

YS: Because I believe the world of our senses is just the tip of the iceberg. And those of us who live only on this level are blind, and make mistakes. If you ignore the rest of the iceberg, you’re another Titanic waiting to happen.

The world’s great difficulties now, like history’s Great Wars and Great Depressions and cataclysms, are signaling an enormous shift; one that’s not just economic. We need to understand what it means, what’s underneath it.

CG: I think despite the dislocations we’re up against, this tectonic shift is inspiring many of us, and forcing others, to re-examine their values; revisit (or re-affirm) what really matters in their lives, question long-held assumptions, and reconsider what right(er) thinking and acting is going forward.

YS: The most essential question we should be asking is should we re-examine the entire ethos we’ve been living by. My view is we should.

In every aspect of our lives and parts of society, from our governments to our faiths to our relationships to our place in the economy as consumers and as workers, we should be asking who are we? And asking what we want our future roles and responsibilities in society to be.

We all have the opportunity to initiate an exploration, in some way, in our own circles. I’m doing it through my performing and discussions around those performances. In order to bring people and organizations together in shared exploration – and discovery.

But assuming we have the answers, and following agendas and dogmas won’t get us there. Only a spirit and desire to examine deeply and freely and honestly will.

This is how we’ll evolve. And while evolution can be painful, because some things die, it can be wonderful because new things are born. This is the way, and Socrates’ way, that we’ll ultimately achieve a ‘culture of rightness,’ of higher values; of virtue.

CG: Yannis, thank you for all these thoughts. I hope some of our readers will find the opportunity to see you perform your stirring version of The Apology that continues touring.




Yannis Simonides has been touring the world as Socrates in solo performances of Plato’s Apology. An Emmy Award-winning documentary producer; actor and director, born in Constantinople and raised in Athens, he’s a former Chairman of New York University’s Tisch Drama Department, and was recently named an Ambassador of Hellenic Culture by the Greek Government. www.ellinikotheatro.org


share this conversation with a colleague or a friend