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c. 180LeadershipPublic domain

Marcus Aurelius: what is in your power

The point, in one line

He ran an empire and still had to talk himself out of bed each morning. He kept the notes only for himself — so not one sentence in them is there to impress anybody.

How it works

An emperor had to talk himself out of bed every morning. Three moves: sort what depends on you, separate duty from mood, and grant in advance that other people will be as they are.

Two pilesyours: whether the invitation went out on time and clearly; not yours: turnout
Duty without enthusiasmthe meeting still has to start when nobody feels inspired
Other peoplewhen somebody stops replying, it is almost never about you
Three moves before a meeting you do not want to chair; there is no fourth move called 'that was out of my control'.
The same thing, in your club
  1. The situation

    A day before registration closes, eighteen people have signed up out of a planned hundred, and the president is not sleeping.

  2. What the model says

    The number of registrations is somebody else's pile. His pile is only whether the invitation went out on time and whether it was clear.

  3. What you do

    Tonight check one thing — whether the reminder was ever sent — and send it if not; leave the number alone.

What it claims

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Who created it

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180) — a historical likeness
Marble bust, 2nd century. Glyptothek, Munich.PD-old (sculpture) + PD-self (photograph, Bibi Saint-Pol 2007)
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180)
c. 180

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Why this is your problem

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Why gslk uses it

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Where it runs in the product

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Source

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Rights and licence
Public domain

The primary source is in the public domain: it may be read, quoted and reprinted freely.

What this connects to

These works are related to the one you just read — and not by accident:

Grounds these competency domains

Of the ten gslk competency domains, this work grounds:

The student version
Marcus Aurelius: what is in your power

The same work written for a member: what to do with it in the club.

Check it yourself

This text is freely available, so the links go straight to it rather than to a summary of it.

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