episode 9 - the word is archaic

Welcome to Episode 9 of "The Word is Leadership," this week, Emmanuel is faced with the word ‘archaic’ as his random word to improvise a leadership lesson with.

Highlighting the negative connotation of the word archaic (i.e. seeing the past as outmoded and irrelevant) Emmanuel discusses the need for leaders to be objective about their relationship with time and illustrates this with two stories. The first revolves around Gustave Eiffel and his iconic tower, and the second involves the Louvres’ pyramid in Paris.

He uses these to introduce three different ways to look at the past which he calls Museum (the past is to be protected), Tower (the past is irrelevant), and Pyramid (the past informs the future).

Emmanuel concludes the episode by emphasising that leaders' preferences for these views inform their reflections and actions as well as how they perceive their role (custodian, revolutionary and steward).