Know Thyself
Over at the Election 2008 blog, Mark Dillen discusses Madeleine Albright’s book “Memo to the Next President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership.” His post also contains a good soundbite from Albright in which she clarifies a common misunderstanding about diplomatic efforts: “Diplomacy is not appeasement. You can deliver tough messages as well as nice messages, but there has to be a dialogue.”
Earlier this month, Albright opined that America has “developed a dangerous lack of self-awareness.” She continues, “we need to do a better job of seeing ourselves as others do… true confidence is shown by a willingness to enter into difficult debates, answer criticism, treat others with respect and do our share or more in tackling global problems. Confidence harnessed to purpose is what America at its best has been all about.”
Her statement about America’s lack of self-awareness reminds one of Sun Tzu’s warning, “know thy enemy but not thyself, wallow in defeat everytime.” Indeed, it would serve the United States well to heed both Albright and Sun Tzu’s advice.
March 10th, 2008 at 9:24 am
[…] The balancing act of remaining introspective to assess one’s capabilities, in order to complement the understanding of one’s rival’s intentions and capabilities is an issue often raised by Madeline Albright, and interestingly reminiscent of Sun Tzu’s words. This is fair criticism. Again, it is likely that China and other significant powers will act in such a manner. While it ca be viewed in negative terms, and should be, it also infers that the Untied States remains the strongest actor, or else the soft-balancing would cease. […]