Calumny of Apelles by Sandro Botticelli is based on a lost work described by the ancient Greek writer Lucian. The painting is an allegory for today's UHNWIs and their advisors.
The painting shows King Midas, seated on his throne. But it doesn’t matter who this is. This is a king. This is someone with power sitting on a throne and around him are all of his advisors. These advisors have names. Here’s how Lucion describes them:
On the right of it sits Midas with very large ears, extending his hand to Slander while she is still at some distance from him. Near him, on one side, stand two women—Ignorance and Suspicion. On the other side, Slander is coming up, a woman beautiful beyond measure, but full of malignant passion and excitement, evincing as she does fury and wrath by carrying in her left hand a blazing torch and with the other dragging by the hair a young man who stretches out his hands to heaven and calls the gods to witness his innocence. She is conducted by a pale ugly man who has a piercing eye and looks as if he had wasted away in a long illness; he represents envy. There are two women in attendance to Slander, one is Fraud and the other Conspiracy. They are followed by a woman dressed in deep mourning, with black clothes all in tatters—she is Repentance. At all events, she is turning back with tears in her eyes and casting a stealthy glance, full of shame, at Truth, who is slowly approaching.
There are only two good advisors in the room - Truth and Repentance. Both are furthest from the King. But they shouldn’t be. Their message is two sides of the same coin. Truth (a woman naked and fully exposed), is pointing upward to heaven. Pointing upward to an ideal. An ideal of what could be, where we should be going, what we could achieve.
Repentance (or The Harsh Reality, is an ugly woman, fully covered), is pointing downward. Pointing downward to the problems around them. The problems of the moment, the problems according to the facts, the problems according to their circumstances.
These advisors are the only ones worth listening to. But they are the furthest away. Instead, the King has large donkey ears for the other advisors - Conspiracy, Calumny (Slander), Envy, Fraud, Suspicion, and Ignorance. These are the six characters that surround everyone in power. They bring noise and confusion. They mislead and manipulate.
A person in power will always have people conspiring against them. But more commonly, they will have people who are trying to bring them into a conspiracy and convince them of its truth. These people expect the King to favor them because they are giving him this information. You want to become a chief advisor? You don't have to share truth or wisdom. Just convince the King that he’s being conspired against and that you're protecting them.
Next is Calumny aka Slander, a very obvious one. There is a deep incentive for someone to bear falseness against other advisors in that room or other people close to the King. That again is an easy thing to do. Especially when you see somebody in power displeased at someone else. Hey, I'll jump on the bandwagon. That's how I'm gonna get my next promotion.
After that, is Envy. Envy governs a lot of things. It's the person who is positioning others in the room to be envious of the King. It's the person who positions the King to be envious of others.
Envy is very natural because we tend to compare ourselves to others. Soon it becomes a toxin that incentivizes backstabbing.
We also have Fraud. Fabricating details. Changing numbers on accounts to their own benefit. Whether it's to make them look better or whether it's to steal money. The simplest version is just straight up theft.
Then we have my two “favorite” people, who are the most difficult to deal with.
The other ones are easier to deal with from my position of Truth and Perspicacity. If you're smarter than the four characters already described, you can catch them and call them out. Yes, they boil my blood and they're probably the cause of my early gray hairs, but I can beat them.
However, these other two are the ones that are very difficult to deal with - Ignorance and Suspicion. They are the closest to the King.
There's always an ignorant person in the room. It's a whack-a-mole situation. As soon as you overcome one of their ignorances, another type of ignorance takes the stage. Sometimes Ignorance is the character of the older person. We’ve always known this to be true, we’ve always done things this way - this is ignorance. They are unwilling to update their knowledge and change.
Sometimes Ignorance is the character of simplicity. This is too complex, it needs to be clearer. This argument is sometimes right, and sometimes wrong, but is always “reasonable counsel.” They question everything, and understand nothing. And seek to understand nothing. Their personal revenue stream is based on their ability to maintain the status quo.
Suspicion is very similar to Ignorance. Suspicion is basically ignorance to the motives and values of the people around you. Suspicion is also the most dangerous because it is a permanently justified position, in general terms. I don't know. I don't trust them. Can you really be called out for taking a position of caution? The person advocating for caution in the room will never be categorized as a bad advisor. But to me, they are, if this is their only card to play. There is a time for doubt, and a time for faith. Risk is present in all decisions. And constantly advocating for a position of caution without having any reasoning capability or access to truth is the most detrimental type of advisory for any individual in power.
There's a natural alliance between all six of these characters.
Conspiracy orchestrates secret plots. Slander spreads lies. Fraud deceives for personal gain. Envy incentivizes backstabbing. Suspicion sows seeds of doubt. Ignorance hinders progress.
Leaders, whether they are corporate executives, heads of state, or community leaders, wield significant power and influence. The advisors they choose to have around them have a far-reaching impact. Good advisors improve leaders' understanding and decision-making. Poor advisors can cause major damage to leaders' assets, reputation, and governance. As leaders deal with complex issues, it's crucial to have advisors who offer honest, informed, and ethical advice. It is these qualities in an advisor that protect and enhance the assets—tangible and intangible—of those they serve, steering them away from the pitfalls of calumny and towards the path of lasting success and integrity.