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A Talented Idiot: My Quest to Know Less.
Once a week I have a strategy session with two of the finest minds to have ever worked in the liquor industry, my mentor Arthur Shapiro of @BoozeBusiness being one of them.
Once a week I have a strategy session with two of the finest minds to have ever worked in the liquor industry, my mentor Arthur Shapiro of @BoozeBusiness being one of them.
My VP Summer Brooke sets the agenda and runs the meeting. Each week we scrutinize the best steps to success, and although I listen intently, inside I feeI resistant, irritable, and petulant.
"Explain it to me like I'm a talented idiot" I say.
"Explain it to me like I'm a talented idiot" I say.
This is not because I lack confidence in my abilities. The most efficacious thing anyone can do IF one's aim is growth, is to put oneself in the company of people who are differently experienced.
This is why Tao Te Ching repeated calls for the Sage to be "like a child."
This is why Tao Te Ching repeated calls for the Sage to be "like a child."
As a student, I was the kid who never took notes. I never studied, never did homework, I didn't even own a loose-leaf in high school. I still aced all my tests.
Summer was the antithesis of this.
Summer was the antithesis of this.
She was the kid who took every note, and took notes on her notes, never missed a homework assignment, and crammed for every test, which she also aced.
Which is part of why we work so well together.
Which is part of why we work so well together.
I can create things from thin air, recall seemingly random details from decades ago. Which is useful for creating a business.
Summer can take those random factoids & add structure, put them in a spreadsheet, organizing the information in a way that's demonstratively repeatable.
Summer can take those random factoids & add structure, put them in a spreadsheet, organizing the information in a way that's demonstratively repeatable.
Which is useful for RUNNING a business.
The random bits of chaos happening in my brain do no one any good but me. By recognizing each other's strengths and cooperating instead of competing, Summer gets to stretch out and do things she's exceedingly good at.
The random bits of chaos happening in my brain do no one any good but me. By recognizing each other's strengths and cooperating instead of competing, Summer gets to stretch out and do things she's exceedingly good at.
Meanwhile, liberated from the burden of intellect, I am free to chase butterflies.
Because the goal of the Sage is to empty the mind.
This does not mean forgetting everything I know or discounting the hard-won wisdom I've acquired.
Because the goal of the Sage is to empty the mind.
This does not mean forgetting everything I know or discounting the hard-won wisdom I've acquired.
It means continually putting myself into situations that remind me how much I have to learn. In every meeting I want to be the Child:
The beginner who's yet to become a hardened cynic, the empty cup waiting to be filled.
The beginner who's yet to become a hardened cynic, the empty cup waiting to be filled.
The way of the Sage is not merely to continue to grow in knowledge but to expand in your awareness of your ignorance.
