The heroes we choose

“The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.”- Warren Buffett

Asia trip reflections

I had three vivid experiences while travelling this summer. All three made me think about heroes: who we celebrate, what we celebrate them for and what those choices say about us.

The first was at the Forbidden City in Beijing, which is built on a scale of grandeur unlike anything I had seen before. Our tour guide told us something so striking that I checked it with her twice and then looked it up afterwards. The central passage of the Meridian Gate was reserved for the Emperor. There were two exceptions. The first was The Empress could use it on her wedding day, the second being the three highest-performing scholars in China’s imperial examinations were allowed to leave through it after their results.

Now that is a proper celebration of achievement.

In a society built around hierarchy and imperial power, scholarship could, momentarily at least, elevate you to the same gate as the Emperor. The message was clear: learning mattered, and those who excelled at it deserved public recognition.

My second experience came a couple of weeks later in Seoul. We visited COEX, an enormous shopping mall containing everything you would expect of modern consumerism: global brands, restaurants, entertainment and plenty of opportunities to spend money.

But, at its centre was something completely unexpected - a library.

And not one hidden away in a quiet corner. That library has 13-metre-high bookshelves and around 70,000 books. It occupies the heart of the mall as a place for books, ideas and culture. The space could have contained another shop or restaurant but instead, it had been given to learning. The symbolism was clear. The hero at the centre of this was learning.

Having learnt more about South Korea, perhaps it should not have been a surprise. They have engineered one of the great economic transformations of modern history, and education was an important part of that story. In 2024, 71% of South Koreans aged 25 to 34 had completed tertiary education, the highest proportion in the OECD.

Finally, with travel-weary legs, I watched Dunkirk. The soldiers were rightly portrayed as heroes. But so too was an ordinary Dorset man who took his small pleasure boat across the Channel with his son. He was one of many to answer the call to help rescue the stranded troops.

Three different examples of heroes. The scholar, the action of learning and the everyday bravery of someone who answered the nation's call.

How do we choose our heroes?

These three poignant examples of heroes, made me wonder about who we choose to celebrate today.

We do still honour historic scientists, writers, engineers, explorers and reformers, but it feels we do it where no-one is looking anymore. Their names appear on statues, institutions, banknotes and school curricula.

A more relevant test to what people see is how we direct our attention. Increasingly, attention seems to collect around money, glamour and fame, "the attention 3".

Rich lists. Stadium size. Contract value. Size of house or business exit. Add this to followers, views and downloads.

People have always been intrigued about the attention 3. Successful merchants, performers and sportspeople have always attracted attention, but now, people crave and monetise attention itself. Attention itself is enough to bring status. Status attracts more attention. Attention makes it easier to acquire both money and further attention.

So what does the attention-seeking economy demand? Well it's not scholarship, it's not learning and it's not bravery.

The heroes we choose

This is not a comparison between Asia and the West. China has influencers and billionaires. Seoul is the home of K-Pop. But coming back full circle to Imperial China, South Korea and the everyday hero in Dunkirk has a common thread. Working for the greater good gained recognition.

The attention-seeking route however, is often not a societal win. Attention skews what people aspire to. People gain attention through lies, conspiracy theories and half-baked policies. The distinctions between good and bad attention fade away when it is recorded in clicks, views and followers. The experiment of algorithms has led us to a point where we are served up attention-seeking content all the time.

When we give our attention to those who rob our attention we indicate to those around us that they are worthy of our time and that provides clues about what a successful life looks like. If we watch someone, we probably talk about them too and what we know is that most people enjoy recognition. What behaviours are we promoting?

A child today would likely find it easier to name five influencers than five scientists.

How are we indicating what we value?

Next week's blog will be "Things we think of as opposites but are the same". As always get the blog delivered directly to your inbox on Home | Deciders | for mental fitness | change your mind.