Montaigne and the Old College 'Try'

Every once in a while I pull Montaigne’s The Complete Essays down from my bookshelf, open it to a section at random, and see what I might learn.? My version of this text (translated and edited) runs to more than 1,200 pages, so there are plenty of pieces to pick from.? Montaigne’s writings were slowly jotted down over decades.? There is no centrally organized pathway for his incredibly varied topics (opening to three quick topics just now gave me ‘On Vanity,’ ‘A custom of the Isle of Cea,’ and ‘On the Armor of the Parthians’) and his writings bounce from deep topics to seemingly mundane.? Importantly, Montaigne himself would point out that he was not trying to teach or explain, but was instead using these writings, these ‘tries,’ to explore his understanding of the world and of himself.

Montaigne was a 16th century bureaucrat, minor nobleman, and winemaker, and is now seen as being perhaps the most important philosopher of the French Renaissance.? Montaigne was consumed by the question as to how man would best live – not just the ethical question of how man should live a good life but beyond that as to how he might live a fulfilling, rich, and human life.? Unusually for his time he explored this question by tapping his own empirical experiences and writing about them.?

Anyone who has every written a college essay has been influenced by Montaigne.? Essayer is French for try, and his essais (essays) were the first formalized efforts to learn by mentally experimenting and trying through writing.? Generations to follow would read and reflect upon Montaigne’s writings but would most of all ponder and adapt his technique of exploratory writing.? Writers and thinkers ranging from Emerson to Nietzsche would credit him for his positive influence and contribution to the world of writing.

As an undergraduate I had several teachers who tried to impress upon me the benefit of regular writing- most notably Dr. Kloos – but being a thick and overconfident freshman I failed to properly embrace the essay.? When I worked on the sell-side I would write almost daily, preparing reports or market commentary meant to explain, explore, and simultaneously entertain.? Yet much of this writing was meant for outward presentation and hence was missing the introspective focus of what Montaigne was suggesting.? I had on occasion kept a journal, the first time when I was a student in Taiwan and mainland China in the late 80s, but I would often struggle with that as the lack of an audience other than myself left me without some of the drive that I felt would improve the thought process.? Montaigne might be able to maintain his focus while working on something he never expected to be read, but I knew that for myself I needed a balance of introspection and external review.

I recently found a great opportunity that provided the balance of these two points that I seem to need.? I was invited to contribute a chapter to a new academic book, Digital Project Practice for Banking and Fintech, by the editor Dr. Tobias Endress .? The opportunity expanded when I was fortunate enough to convince one of my former students to join me as a co-author.? Jayant Ramanand (CUHK MBA) provided strong insights for the chapter but most of all he provided an opportunity for me to essayer – to try out ideas and observations of the world, and then to have them returned with even greater insight and evidence through our discussion and collective writing.? I remember an interesting afternoon sitting in Jayant’s club in Hong Kong, conversing and typing away in an effort to not be too late for one of our deadlines (Dr. Endress was no doubt cursing my name for tardiness on more than one occasion) and enjoying the conversation and learning as we riffed on ideas and offered evidence from our experiences.? In that moment I could see how Montaigne leaned so heavily into his writing to discover truth.? I just needed the crutch of writing with, and for, others.

Having found this variant on Montaigne’s essay writing I am going to try to continue down that path.? With the kind encouragement of another of my undergrad profs (thank you Father Phil) I have been collecting various stories about my time at CLSA and the different business lessons I learned from its two founders – Aussie Jim Walker and Gary Coull.? Perhaps after that I can delve into some writing on what it is like to be the business geek with spreadsheets at a circus, working at home while supporting an incredibly talented founder and cast who are themselves traveling the country.? I do not know exactly what else I might write about, but I do know that I am going to actively search out opportunities to do so.? In this way learning from Montaigne not just by reading his Essays but by trying, in my own modified way, to follow his lead.

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