A Monthly Column on Power

Instead of being coerced by some big truth or following a powerful leader who happens to sit in the corner office, a person without the trappings of leadership can create wonderful fictions and live as if they were true. Over time, they will become true. Says Baudolino, echoing Eco: "The world condemns liars who do nothing but lie, even about the most-trivial things, and it rewards poets who lie only about the greatest things." The lesson: "We need people who stimulate our imagination and our physical reactions. We need those people more than we need a sublime voice or a brilliant strategy."

"Dream," Eco says "is a second life." With that, he sucks down one last Gitane cigarette -- and then disappears into a real cloud, a puff of thick, white smoke.

Harriet Rubin (hrubin@fastcompany.com), a Fast Company senior writer, has written two books on power. Find her columns on the Web (www.fastcompany.com/keyword/rubin).