Hmmm, it's a little eerie that I was just talking about the poet, writer, philosopher and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery the day before his plane which mysteriously disappeared during World War II was reported found. Maybe it's another hint to pick up Bill Younger's (of Sutter Hill Ventures) favorite book, Wind, Sand and Stars.
It was one of French aviation's enduring mysteries: Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the flying ace and author of the beloved tale "The Little Prince," took off on a World War II spy mission for the Allies and was never seen again.
Seems the plane wreckage was finally found 60 years later.
So it seems a fitting time to reflect on Saint-Exupery. The best quote in my opinion on leadership -- ever -- is attributed to Saint-Exupery:
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
And this one on vision is spot on:
"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral."
Other good ones:
"When the body sinks into death, the essence of man is revealed. Man is a knot, a web, a mesh into which relationships are tied. Only those relationships matter. The body is an old crock that nobody will miss. I have never known a man to think of himself when dying. Never."
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one sees rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"True love is inexhaustible; the more you give, the more you have. And if you go to draw at the true fountainhead, the more water you draw, the more abundant is its flow."
"In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away." -- from Wind, Sand and Stars
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