"Ipsa scientia potestas est"

I never learned how to speak (or write) Latin.  I wanted to take Latin in high school, but both my school advisor and parents told me that "Latin is a dead language" and that I should take something more useful instead.  I took German - three years in high school and two years in college.  Actual number of times I have ever used German?  Zero.  Actual number of words that I could write, speak, or understand in German?  Pretty close to zero.  So, I suppose I would have fared just as well taking Latin instead.  The phrase "ipsa scientia potestas est" could be in German, and I would still have to trust someone else's translation, but it is actually in Latin.  It's from Francis Bacon's Meditationes Sacrae published in 1597 and is translated to, "Knowledge is power."

Knowledge IS power.  I have finally reached a time in my life where I have been once again afforded the opportunity to learn about all of the things I think (now) that I may have wished I would have learned when I was much younger.  I have opened my eyes to whole new worlds in some cases (art, architecture, and world history, as a few examples), and I have even started to re-learn some of the things that I once knew and had forgotten (algebra, trigonometry, and calculus, as a few other examples).  I have expanded my horizons beyond medicine and science to other fields by reading a much broader range of topics in books that I never would have given a second thought at reading in the past.  I am building up my commonplace book, which now is approaching over 400 entries.  I am learning about new places, different cultures, and different time periods, and I am absolutely loving it!

Why the sudden interest in all of these different topics?  Am I just wasting my time?  What is the point in reading about architecture or learning algebra again, when I spend my professional life in a hospital taking care of children?  I get it, believe me.  Reading about topics like world history or architecture, or spending the time re-learning how to factor a polynomial are not everyone's so-called cup of tea.  But maybe I have learned, through the wisdom of the years, that building a broad knowledge base in a variety of different areas is one of the keys to successful leadership. 

I am sort of talking to a younger version of myself here.  I remember once, probably when I was 18 or 19 years of age, walking with my father around the neighborhood.  I had just finished either my first or second year of college (I can't remember exactly), and he was trying to explain to me why I had to take humanities (or for that matter, German) in college, especially when I was going to enter a science field.  He told me then, and I was either too naïve, too young, or just too plain stubborn to understand, that building a base of knowledge in a broad range of topics was the key to being part of a group, a team, or a community.  "Talking intelligently on a wide range of topics, even when you aren't expert in them, is really important.  You will understand and appreciate that some day," he said (or something kind of like it).  He didn't convince me then, but I wish I would have really listened and understood him.

He was right then, and I hope you can appreciate that I am right now.  Now, more than ever, we all need to be conversant in so many different areas that we can better communicate with each other, find common ground, and learn from each other.  We need to be like Abbe Faria, the character from the book, The Count of Monte Cristo, who teaches Edmond Dantes mathematics, languages, science, and philosophy and said, "...to learn is not to know; there are the learners and the learned.  Memory makes the one, philosophy the other." 

Leadership requires a broad range of skills and knowledge.  The more a leader knows, the better equipped he or she will be to create a vision, build consensus among the diverse members of a group, and unite them for the single purpose of reaching their goals.  Knowledge is a powerful asset that empowers leaders to achieve great results.  Indeed, knowledge is power.

So hopefully Francis Bacon's Latin phrase does actually translate to "Knowledge is power."  Regardless, perhaps it is time for me to finally learn Latin.