“It is better to die thoughtfully than to live thoughtlessly.” Meet the Original Disruptor: Socrates Imagine a man who was the absolute antithesis of a smooth, successful influencer. He was famously ugly: bald, with a small face dwarfed by a huge head and a long, messy beard. He had a reputation for being argumentative, playful, and married to a notoriously nagging wife. This was Socrates. Every morning, he would eat his simple breakfast, put on his old clothes, and walk barefoot to the city center. His purpose wasn't commerce; it was conversation. He'd stand in the public squares, sharing startling new ideas, and return home in the evening, his pockets empty, but his mind full. He was the wealthiest man in Athens, yet he owned nothing but his thoughts. The Power of the Public Square We have to pause and admire the setting of this drama: ancient Greece. This was a magnificent land, blessed by the muses of knowledge, where ideas were not just born, but ...
"Prepare Your Soil, With or Without Seed" A long time ago, a rich farmer and a poor farmer lived side-by-side in a village. After many years of plenty, one year the skies became stingy with rain. The land was scorched by drought. The grass and leaves withered and did not sprout anew for a long time. Famine set in. The people waited, unable to harvest, unable to pile up their sheaves, unable to tread grain on the threshing floor. Their granaries were emptied. Despair set in. But nothing lasts forever. The cruel year passed, the dry season ended, and the sky reconciled with the earth. Clouds gathered above; thunder began to rumble. Both the poor and the rich farmers looked up with hope; everyone took up their ploughs and started tilling their fields. The poor farmer finished preparing his land and called his miserable wife, asking if she had managed to hide any grain for seed, perhaps tucked away from their own hungry mouths. She replied with deep sorrow. Although she h...