The wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson

"No member of a crew is praised
                  for the rugged individuality of his rowing."

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

American essayist, lecturer, poet

This epigram makes me think of Peter Drucker, but it has a nice, 19^th century feel to it.

Emerson's point is obvious.

I think a not-so-obvious corollary is that we permit ourselves, too often, to use all-American cultural touchpoints like "rugged individualism" without much reflection on the genesis of these prescriptive tidbits of social morality, and without much regard for the implications of what we say.

Rugged individualism, for instance, is real good for some stuff—"doing" the Appalachian Trail comes to mind—but hearty cooperation is real good for a lot more stuff.

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-wisdom-of-peter-drucker.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2012/06/wisdom-of-africa.html

http://barleyliterate.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-wisdom-of-cherokees-part-4.html