Hi Reader,

More than 500 years ago, the Bonfire of the Vanities purged sin and excess. Girolamo Savonarola was an outspoken and strident critic of the current order, angrily vilifying the worldly possessions that tempted people to become sinners.

Savonarola collected objects like cosmetics, artworks, mirrors and much more and burned them in the town square.

He was ultimately excommunicated from the Catholic church, condemned for heresy, stripped of his priestly garments, hanged, and his body burned in the town square in Florence, Italy, a stark and ignominious ending to a life committed to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

​Tom Wolfe, the esteemed American writer, published his first novel in 1987 on this subject. (It was originally produced in the serial style of Charles Dickens, with 27 articles appearing in Rolling Stone magazine beginning in 1984.)

There is a similarly compelling message in Wolfe’s novel, Bonfire of the Vanities. Wolfe was determined to expose the outlandish excesses of New York society in the 1980s, which were top of mind for many Americans in the same year that Oliver Stone’s infamous movie, Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas, was released.

Are Your Vanities Getting in the Way of Your Success?

Is it time for everyone to meet up in the conference room to decide which of our personal vanities we’re going to burn?

What would you highlight that’s holding you back — and would it clear the debris on your pathway to success?

How Do We Define Vanity?

The dictionary defines vanity as

and while bonfires are extreme manifestations, they may hold some metaphorical power that will help us burn down the obstacles.

Why is PRIDE considered the Mother of All Sins?

In our continuing discussion of the Seven Deadly Sins, we've already seen why PRIDE — along with its close relatives VANITY, HUBRIS and Vainglory — can cloud our judgment and distort our view of how we got where we are and who helped us along the way.

If humility is the antidote, then perhaps it's time to decide what needs to go on the bonfire.

Do you need to Start Your Own Bonfire of the Vanities?

I like the vivid imagery of the Bonfire of the Vanities because it emphasizes two important themes:

1. The extraordinary importance of overcoming our vainglory, and
2. The difficult challenge to kill the losers and resurrect the best features of human nature.

It’s a meaningful benchmark that will enable you to achieve the breakthroughs to Become a More Effective Leader and Build a More Successful Organization.

The mirrors and cosmetics burned in Florence, Italy, are particularly relevant metaphors to make this point.

Michael Jackson’s famous hit, Man in the Mirror, also reminds us of the downfalls of our vanity:

Get Out of Your Own Way

A Bonfire of the Vanities is a vivid and glaring invitation to check our ego at the door.

Use the mirror rather than a window to assess accountability.

Set fire to your vanities so you can move toward the ideal of the humble leader open to the ideas of others, unafraid to admit your own mistakes — and capable of making the right decisions bereft of the obstructions that vanity bestows.

Question: What practices or behaviors are you going to throw on the bonfire? You can reply directly to this email to help advance our discussion of these concepts.

Don't stop leading.

Lary