"For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first." ~ Aristotle Your integrity is based entirely on the degree to which you maintain an orientation in truth. If you are concerned about your integrity, the truth must come before friends, family, country or any other human …
Author: Gregory Hake
Son. Husband. Father. Thinker. Doer.
Pierce the Veil
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand." ~ Woodrow Wilson I was giving thought yesterday …
The Value of Decision
Lexi, my Red-tailed Hawk hunting partner, has taught me a great many things over the last two-and-a-half years. I have a deep respect for her hunting style, which centers around an uncluttered capacity for decision. Human beings have it relatively easy. We don't, generally speaking, have to risk life and limb every time we eat. …
Human Understanding
Even though our minds posses by nature an insatiable desire to know the truth, there are two tendencies that will weave a veil between ourselves and the truth in short course if we are not careful. Both were articulated beautifully by Francis Bacon and it is my great honor to reflect the light of his …
On Revenge
"This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well." ~ Francis Bacon When you are consumed by bitterness, it spreads within you like a disease. Such bitterness may appeal temporarily to others who, fooled by grief, drawn in by sympathy or preoccupied by …
Protect and Serve
Of all the things that can be in the course of a day, the two most important in my mind relate to protection and service. What is there to protect? In an nutshell, that which is sacred. Sacred things must be protected from the coarseness of the world. Sacred things cannot be destroyed, however, they …
Dignity of the Artist
"The dignity of the artist lies in his duty of keeping awake the sense of wonder in the world. In this long vigil he often has to vary his methods of stimulation; but in this long vigil he is also himself striving against a continual tendency to sleep." ~ Marc Chagall There is a tremendously …
The Ability to Simplify
"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." ~ Hans Hoffman It is good practice to make a regular review of the systems you use to govern the factors and administer the details of your world, whether at work or at home. What may have been fitting weeks, …
Anticipatory Service
In a recent company meeting my team and I discussed the means by which we can work together to provide exemplary service to our clients. One of the many ideas that emerged centered around the concept of anticipatory service, a phrase that I discovered while reviewing the Ritz-Carlton Gold Standards. Anticipatory service cannot be scripted, …
The Warrior Spirit
Every so often you meet someone who embodies the warrior spirit. You know the type. They are rugged, dogged and intrepid, and they possess a remarkable capacity to overcome obstacles and move through difficulties that would crush the ordinary man. Such men are rarely bellicose in nature, in fact, they tend to be pacifists at …
Gregory Hake 