Gnothi Seauton

The Riddle Gnothi Seauton

I first heard of the Riddle in a leadership workshop. They say the most difficult, yet essential, skill for a leader is self-awareness. Our facilitator's intention was to make that point in an impactful way. He ignored the audience and addressed just one of us in the first row. "Who are you?," he inquired raising his voice with more solemnity than we were expecting. "I'm Peter, the company's Chief Marketing Officer," Peter responded proudly. "I asked who you are, not what you do!," our facilitator grumbled as he turned to the next participant: "Who are you?" "I'm a mother of two children...," Elaine tried to no avail, as her sentence was cut in the middle. "I didn't ask you about your family!," he roared. "Can't anyone please tell me who you are?" We were all now finally getting his point. As the old Zen koan illustrates, the self is of volatile essence: where do you find yourself between two of your adjacent thoughts?