The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo   

During this long, frozen winter I read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.  It was an incredible story of jealousy, betrayal and revenge.  In the story, young Edmond Dantes is destined for greatness before being betrayed and sent to Chateau D’If where he spends the next fourteen years in a dank cell before escaping with a treasure map.  He then finds the treasure and transforms himself into The Count of Monte Cristo.  Armed with a fortune and a new identity he then sets out to exact vengeance on the men who robbed him of his life and his love.  He does not kill his conspirators.  Oh, no, no, no…he does something far worse.  He takes from them what they hold most dear: their money and position in society.  The Count’s plan is brilliant as he twists their greed and ego into his weaponry of revenge.  The Count was successful in exacting revenge because his targets were predictable.  Their predictability made them vulnerable.

Edmond Dantes was betrayed because he possessed the gift of contentment.  Dantes was admired and loved by his friends, his fiancé and his father.  He was doomed precisely because he was satisfied with his life.  In a climactic moment, his childhood friend Fernand, who was responsible for Dantes’ imprisonment, says by way of explanation for his betrayal, “I am a nobleman and you are the son of a clerk, I shouldn’t want to be you.”  Pretty powerful stuff, wouldn’t you say?  This was one of my more enjoyable reads.  For several weeks I was transported to another time and place.  This story was so compelling that I have decided to take a bike tour to and through all the locations detailed in the book.  This journey will be a working vacation; I have scheduled several seminars to coincide with the tour.  Yes, there is a need for Customer Service training in Italy and France.  I will be working with several organizations including one of the largest international transportation companies in the world.  As excited as I am to bring my Customer Service vision to the global stage, I am even more thrilled to be re-tracing the path of Alexandre Dumas’ storyline.  I will be in Italy for over three weeks with a significant time spent riding along the Tuscan coastline which abuts the Tyrrhenian Sea.  From there I travel on to Rome, Paris and Marseilles.

While The Count of Monte Cristo has influenced me enough to re-visit several European locations, I was truly inspired by the morality tale within the story.  Dumas warned that if you allow your insecurities to rule you, jealousy, cowardice and duplicity will control your existence.  I have begun using Dumas’ insight as a lesson in business philosophy, during my recent guest-speaking engagements.  I challenge my audiences to assess their individual business practices and decide whether or not they are utilizing positive approaches to their professional vision.  Often, when faced with competition and shrinking market share, business owners retreat to a scarcity mentality and wind up making questionable decisions.  This results in predictability which leads to vulnerability.  Your fear can be your undoing.  It is always important to take the moral highroad, otherwise you leave yourself exposed to ruin.  Running a business should be an extension of your core-values. How solid are your core values?  How do you see your business landscape?  Do you embrace abundance or scarcity?  As William Blake famously wrote, “As a man is, so he sees.”

Next week I will share with you two examples of questionable business practices borne of fear and insecurity.  These stories are embarrassingly funny.  It is often said that fact is stranger than fiction.  Stay tuned……

While I will be spending quite a bit of time in Europe I will try to keep my blog up to date.  I expect that there will be many experiences to share.   

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