The Future Leader

19The Translator

The word “translation” comes from the Latin word translatio, which means “carrying across” or “bringing across.” I like to think of a bridge that connects things or people together. Translators have been around for thousands of years and are responsible for much of what we know about our collective history. Between the third and first centuries BCE, Jewish scriptures were translated into Greek, which was crucial since the dispersed Jews forgot that ancestral language. During the ninth century, Alfred the Great had Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy translated into “vernacular Anglo-Saxon,” which helped with the spread Christianity. In Asia, the growth and spread of Buddhism led to massive translation efforts, which also helped that religion grow. The impact extends far beyond religion to poetry, politics, music, film, and every type of medium and genre that exists. Regardless of the continent we look at or the time period we explore, translators and their translations have had a dramatic impact on our history and continue to do so.

Leaders of the future must be translators, which means that they are great listeners and communicators. Listening and communication are leadership traits that have always been around and are considered essential and always will be. But even though these are perhaps the most basic and timeless ...