stuffy and useless academic subject it’s
just a relic of the past but what if I
told you that philosophy might be the
most important component of personal and
professional growth in the 21st century
I wouldn’t believe it either few years
ago I started a company called strategy
of mind it’s a leadership development
and organizational performance
organization but a few fun facts about
myself I have never been an executive
coach I have never been an executive
I have no leadership experience I do not
have an MBA and I have no technical
skills really at all so why am I here
and what is a kid with no skills do
after he graduates from university he
becomes a consultant and tells other
people what to do and that’s what I did
I became a consultant and one day I was
sitting at my desk as a consultant in
what wasn’t the happiest of jobs when a
friend sent me an article in The
Economist called philosopher kings and
the article said that business leaders
would benefit from studying great
writers I’ve always loved great writers
in fact when I was in school I thought
that I was one I’m not
but the article reminded me of a picture
that I had taken several years back as a
student
see I love bookstores and that’s
probably why I love great writers and on
one of my many frequent visits to our
local bookshop I noticed this sign that
they posted during a period of
renovation the sign said mathematics
ends philosophy begins
I tell people that it really was at that
moment sitting at my desk as a
consultant reading the article
philosopher Kings looking at this
picture mathematics ends philosophy
begins that I first had the idea to
launch a philosophy company I studied
philosophy in school I studied
philosophy in graduate school and now
you know why I have no skills it reminds
me of a joke one of my professors told
us after class how do you get the
philosophy major off of your doorstep
you pay for the pizza but in reality I
felt as though I had developed a fairly
comprehensive set of skills and what I
witness sitting there at my desk
thinking mathematics ends philosophy
begins is that there’s a disconnect
there’s a skills gap between the
professional world and the philosophical
world that I was a part of so we think
of philosophy in a professional setting
what does mathematics ends philosophy
begins I’m a manager and I’m looking at
my 3rd quarter numbers and I’d like to
be successful in the third quarter of
next year chances are that I have to ask
myself questions that extend beyond
mathematics questions like how can we
think more strategically about the
challenges we face how can we
communicate better with our customers
and our clients how can we create new
products and services I had the idea
that in order for a business to be
successful in the 21st century and
beyond it really had to apply the
concepts that I had developed throughout
the course of my philosophical training
like the ability to think strategically
like the ability to communicate like the
ability to be creative and also
philosophies more than just that manager
asking questions when I was a consultant
I was paid a lot of money to tell people
what to do but I understand that we’ve
only been together for a few minutes and
I hope in the few minutes thus far
you’ve learned that I in fact know
nothing so I should not be telling
anyone what to do but philosophy was a
method it’s a mechanism for change
people don’t like being told what to do
or how they should think chances are
your parents tell you how to do how to
act and how to think and it probably
drives you crazy just like it drives me
crazy with my parents do it but the most
effective method of learning is learning
through your own collective experience
and philosophy affords that opportunity
Socrates didn’t engage others in
dialogue just to tell them how they
should act or to tell them how they
should think
he asked open-ended questions questions
that were didn’t have binary yes-or-no
answers to encourage them to think on
their own and that’s a very helpful
lesson in business I started thinking
that as a consultant maybe my role
wasn’t to tell this manager what to do
maybe I should apply the skills of
philosophy to help them reach
intelligent conclusions so I started the
philosophy company a couple of years ago
and what happened I saw a lot of the
faces that I see now in the room people
were skeptical of this people were
unsure of this I got one message from
somebody that said a philosophy company
is an oxymoron started by a moron and
that was from my mother but in reality
it’s difficult I sent over 4,000
personal emails not using HubSpot not
using Salesforce no not using any CRM I
sent 4,000 personal emails before we had
our first paying client so for those of
you in the room who are interested in
starting a philosophy company don’t
I became my own first client here I was
telling these organizations that they
had to be more philosophical but they
had to apply the skills of philosophy in
order to be successful and nobody was
buying it so I was the test case and it
was a very helpful lesson for us as a
new business because we had to think
more strategically about the challenges
we were facing we had to communicate
with one another and we had to innovate
products and services one of the most
common questions that I’m asked now is
what book got you interested in
philosophy in the first place what book
started at all and my mature response is
generally Plato’s Republic it was the
first book that I read as an
undergraduate in my very first
undergraduate seminar as a philosophy
student in university I remember the
professor said to go home read book one
and highlight what you think was
important and I came back with what
looked like a coloring book that’s
actually my book
but speaking of coloring book I first
fell in love with philosophy as a child
reading children’s books my favorite
author growing up was a guy named Chris
Van osburgh he wrote books like the
Polar Express and Jumanji he actually
wrote a lot of books and the best way I
can describe him for people who are
unfamiliar is that he’s kind of like a
boar has four children and philosophy
begins in wonder and children wonder
about a lot of things really really good
children’s books help kids better
understand and better conceptualize the
world around them kids ask really good
questions and as adults we sometimes
unlearn how to ask the good questions
when businesses ask good questions
they thrive and they grow when they
don’t they stagnate what I’m trying to
say is that you don’t need to read
Heidegger’s being in time to engage with
philosophy you can save being in time
for later that’s a philosophy joke for
philosophy has become isolated from
society we’ve become alienated from the
subject and that isolation and
alienation is is directly contributing
to the subjects demise it’s led to
missed opportunities for business and
it’s led to missed opportunities for us
as a society I don’t think I need to
take a straw poll in the room but there
are times in our global community that
we have an inability to think
strategically we have an inability to
communicate with one another or we have
an inability to be creative
I remember reading Chris Van osburgh as
a kid and thinking things and you know
granted my limited vocabulary which is
still somewhat limited prevented me from
articulating that activity as philosophy
but that’s what I was doing philosophy
is something that begins in wonder and
it’s not something that you have to rely
upon an expertise or a PhD in order to
be successful in the subject so I’d like
to leave you with three things that you
can do today you can do tonight you can
do tomorrow to reintroduce philosophy
into your life number one think
don’t think what your friends tell you
don’t think what you read online don’t
think what your family tells you just
think definitely don’t think what your
spouse tells you think independently and
isolated number two talk if after
thinking you feel that you have an idea
that’s worth discussing with somebody
else share it with somebody it can be a
friend it can be a family member it can
be a colleague it can be a stranger it
doesn’t make a difference but just have
a conversation engage somebody in
dialogue and lastly number three create
if after thinking and after talking you
feel this an idea that’s worth bringing
to the world write it down it can be a
sentence it can be a paragraph it can be
a book it can be a film it can be a TED
talk and I realized that these steps of
think talk create aren’t necessarily
they seem simple but they’re not it’s
actually a unique component of
philosophy that very little is required
to engage in the subject but the act of
doing so is far more complicated and I
told you that I started a leadership
development and organizational growth
company where we focus on executive
coaching and sort of leadership
development but all we’re really doing
is bringing philosophy into these
organizations I realize it’s probably
not the smartest thing to stand up here
and to tell you our recipe for success
but the reason why we call ourselves a
company that focuses on organizational
growth is because that’s what the
business world responds to but our
method our approach it’s philosophy we
help companies think critically
communicate effectively and create new
ideas
that’s all philosophy is it’s those
three things think talk create is the
model of the Republic they think about
they talk about and they create an ideal
Republic think talk create is the model
of Ted Ted is philosophy and think talk
create was very helpful to David and I
in starting our business it forced us to
stop spinning our wheels we had to think
strategically about the challenges we
were facing way to communicate our
concerns with one another and we had to
innovate the product and services we
offer today
think talk create extends beyond
business it matters to us as a society
we need to think more strategically and
critically we need to communicate better
with one another and we need to innovate
creative solutions to the problems that
so the next time you’re walking through
your local bookshop and you happen to
pass the philosophy section perhaps for
mathematics ends don’t walk past it
maybe it’s even the children’s book
section it sounds silly but the oldest
subject in the world however many
thousands of years ago we first looked
up with the Stars and thought hmm
I wonder what that is the oldest subject
in the world might be the most important
subject for our future thank you [Applause]