"Study the Past"

The last time I was in Washington, D.C., I passed by the National Archives Building while going on a late afternoon run.  There are two 10 foot tall statues on either side of the entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue carved out of Indiana limestone.  Past is an old man who is gazing down and holding a closed book that represents history.  The inscription on the pedestal is from the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius and reads, "Study the Past" (Incidentally, Confucius' entire quote says, "Study the past if you would divine the future"). 

Future is a young woman gazing outward, presumably toward the future, who is holding an open book that symbolizes what has yet to be written.  On the pedestal is an inscription from William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, "Past is Prologue" (again, the entire quote is "What's past is prologue").  Both statues symbolically mean that the past history sets the context for the present and the future.  In other words, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

I've mentioned these statues before in a previous post (see "Past is Prologue").  They came to my mind earlier this past week when I was listening to a podcast called "The History of Rome" - today's episode (which actually first aired several years ago) talked about the ancient Roman concept of a dictator.  Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines the word "dictator" in one of three ways:

1. A person granted absolute emergency power

2. One holding complete autocratic control

3. One ruling in an absolute and often oppressive way

It is the first definition that applies to ancient Rome, and it is this definition that I am particularly interested in today.  Here, in this context, during the days of the Roman Republic, a dictator was an official who was entrusted with the full authority of the government to deal with either a military crisis or other important and specific duty.  Once the crisis was over, the dictator would give up power, returning governmental authority back to the Roman Senate.  And for the most part, at least up until the time of Julius Caesar, this is exactly what happened. 

Why was there a need for a dictator?  Conceptually, the ancient Romans believed that in a time of crisis, decisionmaking was best placed in the hands of one individual.  It is the ultimate in the "High Reliability" concept of "Deference to Expertise" - in other words, decisions should be made by those who are closest to the action and are in the best position to know, see, and understand what's going on at any given moment.  The Romans shifted from a democratic style of leadership and management to what has frequently been called a "command and control" type of leadership (see the typology by Keith Grint and others here).

Why does all of this resonate with me today, of all days?  One word.  COVID-19.  Many hospitals across the United States have implemented their Disaster Management/Emergency Preparedness plans by shifting to what is known as Incident Command.  Incident Command is a standardized approach to command, control, and coordination of a disaster response.  It provides a common hierarchy that brings all of the resources under one or a few operational leaders.  The hierarchical structure of Incident Command is designed to place critical decisionmaking in the hands of a small number of key individuals who receive critical information from a number of specialized groups that report up through key channels. 

Today's "Incident Command" structure is akin to the ancient Roman Republic's dictator - to be used only in an emergency and once the crisis has passed, followed by a return to normal operations.  As it turns out, "Command and Control" is truly an ancient concept.

It's just one more example of what we can learn when we read about and learn from the past.  Study the past to prepare for the future.  And what is past is truly, today of all days, prologue.