Leaders can benefit from a sampling of mob history…

History Sample 1: Julius Caesar met with part of the ‘mob’ of his day, which at the time I believe they called the Senators.  I believe Caesar had called an impromptu meeting with his team of senators and other business people. He was their boss but that didn’t stop each and every one of the ‘mob’ from poking away at him right out in public until he could stand for it no more. This is an early and classic example of the ‘mob’ gaining strength in numbers.

History Sample 2: Napoleon Bonaparte saw them coming so he shot cannons at the 'mob' of his day...I believe he did this a couple of times…and a bunch of revolutionary things followed. As I understand it, and I admit this is a pretty scanty synopsis of it: Napoleon ordered some cannon shots, killed some of the ‘mob’, and over the next number of years a whole bunch of people got carried away and lost their heads.

History Sample 3: Friedrich Nietzsche wrote about the 'mob' of his day and revolutionary things didn’t happen. And, if the publishers’ records have it right, I believe this is because virtually all of the ‘mob’ of his day never bought any of his books and, even after some of them did, it took a few generations for anyone to understand a damn thing Nietzsche was talking about.

Now, that pretty much captures the important historical record about the ‘mob’ and its role in society during the last two millennia. Sure, we could have spent a lot of time talking about other important ‘mob’ celebrations: the various Huns getting down to their work, the crusades, the inquisitions, the witch hunts, the conquistadors, the holocausts, the genocide, etc., however, much like the events themselves – that would be overkill.

So, with enough ‘mob’ history under our belts, let’s focus on the present day ‘mob’ – the ‘mob’ of the New Millennium.

Roughly at the turning of the New Millennium, the 'mob' transformed and became a seriously-ingrained part of our North American culture....I mean, today, we just accept the ‘mob’ as it is regardless of its form. Today, we have totally open minds about the ‘mob’. Today, we forgive the quirks of the ‘mob’ and we ignore the ominous and embrace the ignorance of the ‘mob’. 

...to be continued...