How to be a lord?

Back in the day, to be a lord meant that you had to provide something in return to those that you had lordship over. Usually, this was protection and maybe even land to farm to feed your family. This system, while it definitely had its problems, presented some symmetry between its participants. This system, has somewhat disappeared as time has gone on and the world become more modern.

Or has it?

Maybe not completely and like most things, it changes to fit whatever context it finds itself in. We must think of a lord as someone of high rank in society with a large separation between himself and the lowest rung of the ladder. We might think of lords as the successful and rich. Not usually your local rich family or businesswoman but the one that she reports to. It is usually those at the top that we resent or envy.

I don’t think resenting the successful and rich is necessarily a healthy mindset to tote around daily, but it seems to be something that people have on their minds throughout history. It is usually cyclic in nature. To put it frankly, some get rich off the backs of those that are on the ground doing the work while those that are doing the work stay relatively in the same place overtime. This leads to animosity from those on the bottom as they too wish to see some improvement in their situations. It is usually the juxtaposition of one sitting in their two-bedroom house and 10-year-old leased car that they can’t afford, watching the wealthy splurge on things that they don’t need simply because they can.

Envy is a powerful motivator.

Especially when those that are getting rich or powerful seem to not be providing any benefit, or not enough of a benefit for people to be content, with their elevated economic or social standing. I’m sure few would have problems with someone like Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. gaining some measure of wealth or power because they provide something value to others. In both cases, there is an exchange of value between both parties.

However, in today’s part of the cycle, we seem to have people that get rich or powerful without providing any kind of benefit or gain for the collective. Founders of companies that create life changing technologies that make collective life easier or better are often praised. People have no problems forking over their money and believe that those kinds of people deserve to be where they are.

This goes by the notion that “You must give to get”.

The late Steve Jobs may have been more or less idolized for creating Apple and all the innovation that stemmed from it while he was head of the company. However, Tim Cook isn’t seen in the same way because he hasn’t given to society at nearly the same level as Steve Jobs. Thus people may resent his wealth and standing more than they might have Steve Jobs.

Of course there are always exceptions to any general trend. And that is something I will get into in the future.

To be a “lord”, or even better, to be a respected and loved person of high social standing, one must provide something of higher value than oneself to the group or society. You have to do something for your community if you want lasting respect. You have to be willing to take risks and bring jobs to your community to be more worthy, in the public eye, of your wealth and influence.

These kinds of acts are necessary to be a proper lord. But we mustn’t think of it as “How to become a lord?” rather “How to be a lord?”. One subtly implies that being a lord is a never-ending process. There shouldn’t be a heredity component of lordship. You must continually give and give to others to constantly prove worthy.

So to be a proper lord also means that one must have honor.

• Having honor implies two things: that there are things that you would never do regardless of the rewards and things that you must do regardless of the consequences.
  

In my opinion, it is this lack of honor among the elite that infects them. Bankers should never sell investment devices or loans that put all the risk onto the customer while most of the gain is for their taking. A doctor should always give their patients all the information that they know and do not know, while advising them on treatment plans.

Today, we have many that live without honor. We have companies that pollute our environment (harming everyone, ironically including themselves) and trying to cover it up (dodging accountability). We have companies that only pay their workers the bare minimum that they can get away with and want to be applauded for small actions that make it seem like they care about their lowest employees (publicizing raising hourly pay by a few dollars while not equally publicizing closing down locations and slashing benefits for those same workers).

To paraphrase Nassim Taleb, “Tawk is cheap. Action shows skin in the game”.

A good lord, leader, person, etc. doesn’t just talk about all that she does for the people or those she is responsible for, she just does it. Whenever she makes a mistake that mostly harms others, she attempts to correct the asymmetry between the two parties. If she is proactive, she would seek and correct these before they blow up, causing disproportionate harm to the many. Effectively sharing the risk of those she is responsible for.

Proper lordship boils down to a couple of things.

1. Providing a large amount of value to others for their gain and continuing to provide value to the group.
2. Have an honor code. You can start by operating via the Silver Rule: Don’t do things to others that you wouldn’t want done to you.
3. Allow there to be avenues for those you serve to hold you accountable for your mistakes.
4. Arguably more crucial than number 3, share the downside risk with those you serve, especially when you have a lot to gain if things go well.
   

Serve those, with Honor,

Kenzo Cotton