The Three Ladders of Online Media: Part I

My dad had a great saying: “If you’re going to do something, do it right the first time.”

Since he was a busy man, I never really got a chance to ask him what he meant by “right”. So, I did the logical thing and signed up for a University career in philosophy.

In my early days at the University of Guelph , I attended a lecture about Plato’s Three Ladders.  In short, the ‘ladders’ are the three virtues to which all good philosophers should strive: truth, beauty and goodness.

Plato argued that you strive for the three ladders, and suggested that these ideals were not necessarily attainable (particularly for Joe the Plumber). On the other hand, my dad’s attitude is that there’s no such thing as “try”. (I’ve wondered many times if George Lucas met my father before writing Return of the Jedi “Do, or do not. There is no try.” ) [NB: Years later I saw a documentary highlighting Lucas' meteoric and discombobulated rise to fame, and realized he was actually much like my old man.]

I was all too familiar with this Yoda-like interjection as a child. Every time someone in my family said they’d “try to be there” or “try to do something”, pops would ruffle up and respond “TRY to pull my finger.” The victim of his charade would reach out a hand, grasp his finger, and tug.

“You’re not trying. You’re doing it. It’s impossible to try.”

All through my life, I’ve taken the most  idealistic and optimistic elements out of Plato’s and my dad’s teaching, and applied it to business. Here is a basic breakdown of how it can translated:

Truth integrity, accountability,  performance, value

Beauty simplicity, clarity, vision, inspiration, sustainability, sturdiness

Goodness collaboration, celebration, respect, honesty, community, social investment, humility

What would it take to build an online system which accorded to these noble principles? In the increasingly noisy world of online media, should we be striving for a better way of delivering content? Or, as has recently been claimed, do nice guys actually finish last?

My experience in the frontier of online media over the years has taught me that there are more minefields than fertile soil for such a model.

Despite this, my Scottish stubbornness, protestant work ethic, and Canadian idealism  makes me believe it can be done. A general theme in the “Halfway to Another Glass” blog, will feature online initiatives, which are aiming for this high bar.