The Romans had many creative ways to kill people. One was to shackle a live person to a dead one: face to face. Eventually disease and death would overcome the living.

"The living and the dead at his command
Were coupled face to face, and hand to hand;
Till choked with stench, in loathed embraced tied,
The lingering wretches pined away and died."
--Virgil

This was an extremely gruesome way to die, but one that we see every day. Look around. How many people do you see eating a diet of bad food that will eventually kill them? How many people do you see leading a sedentary life that will lead to stroke and heart failure. How many people do you see still smoking? Aren't these people shackled face to face with their own death?

In business it's even worse. We see people tied to outmoded ideas. We see people stubbornly clinging to thought patterns on diversity and ability. We see people refusing to see the correlation between employee training and employee development. We see people ignoring the need for employee recognition . . . even though they are face to face with the problem.

We all have ideas and habits that shackle us to our own downfall. In recognizing this, we should thank the Romans and set ourselves and others free. We are what we eat. We are what we do. We are what we think about. And in a way, we are what we deny.

Don Doman

Don Doman is a published author (How to Produce a First-Class Video for Your Business: Work with the Pros or Do It Yourself, Market Research Made Easy, and Out of Work? Get Into Business: a Guide for the Middle-Aged Entrepreneur. He has also been a corporate producer for over two decades.

Don and his wife Peg are local food and theatre critics in the Pacific Northwest, where they write about their adventures.