Sweet Spots

Circe
by Madeleine Miller
–Review by Teri Hyrkas
Confession: I loved mythology as a teenager. Greek mythology, Norse mythology, and Native American legends, fables and stories were all on my bookshelf during my teen years. Filled with strong characters, many layered histories and tangled plots of gods and mortals, how could one resist the impossible journeys, outlandish exploits and clever solutions contained in these stories?
The publication, then, of Circe by Madeleine Miller was an intriguing invitation to re-visit an old interest. Circe, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of the sun god, Helios, and the water nymph, Perse. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Circe was depicted as a trouble maker who had magic powers. She used her powers to bring humiliation upon the hero Odysseus and his crew of sailors when she turned the crew into pigs while they visited her island of Aiaia. At least, that is the story told by the great poet, Homer. But what if we heard the tale from Circe’s point of view? How might the story change if we learned what motivated Circe’s treacherous actions toward the sailors? What insights might we gain by revisiting the account not from the elevated position of the reigning gods, heroes and beloved poets but from the perspective of a belittled and ignored lesser deity who was considered a loser? This is exactly the setting that author Madeline Miller has created in Circe (Little, Brown& Co., 2018.)
Madeline Miller was uniquely prepared to be the author of Circe. When she was a little girl, her mother read the myths to her at bedtime and they immediately became her bedtime stories of choice. As she grew up, Miller continued to treasure mythology’s ancient legends and went on to study Latin and Greek in high school and then college. Her particular love was The Iliad and the character of Achilles, who is the subject of her first book, The Song of Achilles. It took ten years for Miller to write The Song of Achilles, which won The Orange Prize for Literature (UK) in 2012.
Interestingly, Miller has written Circe in the first person. Because of this autobiographical voice, we are privy to Circe’s thoughts. Miller uses this technique as a tool to enmesh us in Circe’s growth as a character. We empathize with her as Circe learns the truth about the nearly unstoppable power and divisive activities of her father and other family members. The reader is taken by surprise along with Circe when her love-based efforts to control her life backfire and Circe becomes the victim of her own naiveté. We grow in wisdom and shrewdness with Circe as she faces provocations from the whims of the gods and eventually experiences some success in her dealings with them.
It is very clear that Miller is in her element in the writing of Circe. She knows all the major and minor Greek gods and heroes and their messy disputes as they appear in the annals of mythology and we meet many of them in the course of the story. Miller is breezily familiar with the hierarchies, troubled relationships and perplexing back stories of the mythological characters and incorporates this knowledge into her bold — and sometimes crude — depiction of Circe’s life and that of her extended family. Circe, who Miller describes as a “fascinating character,” is a little known Greek god, and, says Miller, “is one of the few females in mythology who is able to live independently and have power without being punished for it…” There is also an aura of mystery that surrounds Circe which Miller wields to artful advantage in her book.
If this isn’t enough to win over the reader, Miller’s writing certainly is. Madeleine Miller’s writing is phenomenal. Through the metaphor rich thoughts of Circe, author Miller makes it possible for readers to be fully immersed into the dangerous expeditions, feats of bravery, the triumphs and the failures involved in the complex, interwoven stories of Greek mythology.
Here is a fun bonus: As wonderful as the book Circe is to read, it is even more enjoyable as an audiobook. Narrated by Welsh actress Perdita Weeks, the legends of the heroes as they appear in Circe’s story become more three dimensional with Weeks’ skillful reading. Weeks’ narration portrays the action and emotion of the fable wonderfully well, and her ease in pronouncing the Greek names of people and places lifts that burden from the reader, also.
According to the Bloomsbury website for London and Oxford, Circe is an international bestseller and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (UK), 2019. It is also a Sunday Times (UK) bestseller and The New York Times (US) number one bestseller.
As much as I was glad to get another taste of mythology in Circe, it was noteworthy to read this line from the final chapter: “I thought once that the gods are the opposite of death, but I see now that they are more dead than anything… .” Strong words, and wise words, from the character Circe herself. And yet the confrontation between mercy and justice, love and betrayal, the weak and the powerful are very much alive today and the great myths continue to present these important struggles through poetry, song and entertaining sagas such as Madeline Miller has given us in Circe.

Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization

by Dave Logan and John King (2008)

ISBN: 978-0-06-125130-6

–Review by Douglas Balzer

We have all heard that we are “the average of the five people we spend the most time with” or “a product of our environment.” While these may have some validity, Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization focuses on the reverse idea: a change of an individual also affects their environment.

The climate of a church/company is also known as organizational culture. According to author Dave Logan, culture is the most crucial determinant of a church’s/business’s success. Every church/company consists of tribes, which are the most basic social units in which humans evolved to function.

Tribes function in one of the five stages of tribal society. Stages one and two are hostile and apathetic and are not very efficient. Stage three appears when individuals begin to care for improvement on a personal level. Stage four is optimal for churches, thanks to the habit of collaboration that arises. In the stage, five, people abandon the idea of competition and instead focus on the joint mission that drives their purpose.

No matter if you are already a leader or only beginning to dream about being one, this book

is going to be a revelation. Let us see how to level up the tribal game!

Here are three lessons I learned about tribal development and how to enhance it:

A tribe is a social structure that humans evolved to operate within.

No matter how prehistoric the word “tribe” may sound to you, it is still the underlying social structure today. This is just how humans are wired. We need others not only to survive but also, to learn, thrive emotionally, and pursue projects that would be impossible to complete alone.

In the book Sapiens, Y. N. Harari argues that an average person can support personal connections with up to 150 acquaintances. This is how big a tribe can get before it starts splitting into groups. Usually, a tribe consists of somewhere between 20 and 150 people. This was true for our ancestors 40,000 years ago and has not changed much since.

You are a part of several tribes throughout your life. Some of these groups include your family, school, local fishing club, and workplace.

Where you work is a perfect example, because it illustrates the primary purpose for a tribe’s existence: working individually on different tasks, while contributing to a common goal. This ensures that everybody plays a part and has a chance to build something bigger than themselves.

A tribe fulfills its purpose most effectively when progression reaches stage four or five. But

how do you define those stages?

The way people relate to each other determines the stage of tribal improvement.

Within a church/company, a tribe is typically more significant than a team but smaller than the organization. All members of the tribe know of each other’s existence, but the degree to which they interact varies.

The interactions and relationships between individuals determine the overall culture. We cannot overestimate the importance of human connections, and this is not just Logan’s theory, either. In his best-selling book Tribes, Seth Godin also argues that essential links between people are the most significant advantage the group can ever have.

So, what kind of connections do we mean here? First, they need to stem from the sense of security everyone has about their position. People must feel safe enough to put collaboration over competition. This personal sense of safety is what the leader needs to foster at stage three.

When people feel safe, tribal interactions begin to focus on collective goals and unite

around shared values. At this point, people start forming groups of three instead of two, or

triadic relationships rather than dyadic. Triadic relationships help collective growth. In

the words of Logan:

“Triads lead to a blurring of roles between client, service provider, friend, mentor, and coach. Once the triad is established, all the roles merge and morph, requiring each person to contribute to, and receive contributions from, the other two.”

Once the leader knows what kind of relationships support the tribe’s growth, all she needs to do is use this knowledge in practice. The question is, how?

To bring your tribe’s progress to the next level, focus on individuals.

Upgrading the atmosphere of a group is the leader’s primary responsibility. It is no easy task since the current stage of development dictates how the members behave. Therefore, to level up the group, the leader needs to work with individuals first.

A famous example of how to do this is the case of the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut. Employees there used to struggle with many problems, tribal culture included. The CEO and vice president of the hospital solved most issues by engaging with the staff individually. He asked for their opinions on important matters like patient treatment and new building designs.

Consequently, team members felt valued by their leaders. It, in turn, empowered them to shift the focus from their insecurities to supplying better quality treatment to patients. By offering their attention to individual staff members, the management succeeded in upgrading the culture from stage two to three, and then four.

Therefore, the final guideline for leaders is that tribes can only move forward one stage at a time. Do not try to rush it and jump, say, from stage two straight to stage four. The collective growth must be incremental and sustained to be authentic and lasting.

The people you associate with certainly affect you. But the bold and empowering statement that Tribal Leadership makes is that you can influence your environment, too! This refreshing read will be helpful not only to formally designated leaders but also to anyone who cares about making a difference in their world.