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Cleopatra and Julius Caesar: Political Power Couple (part three)
File N°23
LaToya Allen
November 01, 2024
Hey Team,
LaToya here! Welcome back to The Strategy Files, the newsletter where I study history's most successful people in art, music, fashion, and culture. You apply it to your startup, agency, or side hustle. It’s a team effort!
The Berlin Cleopatra, a Roman sculpture of Cleopatra
Today’s Strategies:
Know more than the competition
Know more than the competition
Know more than the competition
The idea that you need to be more educated than the competition isn’t just reserved for ancient politics - it's a universal truth for those who want to compete. Look at the top 1% of people in any industry. Look at music - Mozart knew more than Salieri or Hayden. Look at fashion - Dior called Balenciaga “The Master of Us All” because his knowledge and skill outpaced everyone. Look at film, finance, farming. Biotechnology and beauty. Someone always knows the most about their craft. And that someone almost always wins.
Last we spoke, Cleopatra and Caesar were in the palace, hiding from their enemies.
Ptolemy returned, thinking he’d won the fight - that he’d beat his sister and would be crowned the ruler of Egypt. But, Ptolemy was in for a big surprise - his sister was not only alive and well, but was also in cahoots with Caesar. Caesar proposed the siblings rule together, as their father intended.
Ptolemy had a full-blown meltdown. The book says he “...resorted to behavior that suggested he very much needed a consort: He burst into tears. In his rage he flew through the gates and into the crowd outside. Amid his subjects, he tore the white ribbon from his dead and cast it to the ground, wailing that his sister had betrayed him.”
Was this appropriate behavior for a thirteen-year-old Pharoah? Hard to say. When Cleopatra was his age, she wasn’t being manipulated by advisors who wanted war. She studied philosophy, public speaking, and history. She knew the history of the people she ruled, the history of the Romans that kept her family in power, the history of the man Caesar looked up to most - Alexander The Great. She was also the first and only person in her bloodline to learn the language of the people she ruled.
Cleopatra received the education of a leader. Her brother was not given the luxury. So; it's hard to judge his actions against hers. But we can judge the outcome - Cleopatra won.
So, I’ll leave you with a question - what skills do you need to build to be the best? And what are you doing about it?
Please reply and let me know; I love hearing from you guys.
Til next,
LaToya
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