BEYOND GENIUS

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Contents

Foreword.............................................................7Preface..............................................................11Introduction.........................................................15Part Two | Historical Renaissance Men................................49Imhotep..............................................................53Chamundaraya.........................................................57Leonardo da Vinci....................................................61Michelangelo.........................................................69Galileo Galilei......................................................77Blaise Pascal........................................................83Isaac Newton.........................................................93Benjamin Franklin....................................................99Thomas Jefferson.....................................................107Part Three | Contemporary Renaissance Men............................119Dave Stewart.........................................................137John Paul DeJoria....................................................153Frank Nuovo..........................................................167Richard Branson......................................................179Quincy Jones.........................................................191Yvon Chouinard.......................................................203Elon Musk............................................................213Steve Jobs...........................................................227Conclusion...........................................................231Acknowledgements.....................................................235

Chapter One

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark." - Michelangelo

The first essential trait is the one we all associate with the concept of a Renaissance Man: he is, by definition, not only an authority in his own profession; he is accomplished in a number of areas. He is, in short, a man of many talents.

This trait is the ante, the price of admission, the bar. One cannot excel at just one thing and be considered a true Renaissance Man.

Unlike the Jack-of-all-trades who is master of none, the Renaissance Man puts the time in to gain mastery of all his interests, and the range can be wide. Galileo invented the protocols of modern science, wrote several earth-shaking books, and was a professor of fine art; Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and invented bifocal glasses.

Renaissance Men know that specialization is not a requirement of success. They ignore the naysayers and the pigeon-holers and pursue all their passions, no matter how many. They challenge the concept that talent must be limited or limiting, and embrace instead the full expression of themselves.

Chapter Two

"The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science." - Erich Fromm

When Benjamin Franklin was a young man, he began the nation's first lending library—mainly so he could get his hands on more books, precious items and rare in those days. Thomas Jefferson (the "living embodiment of an inquisitive mind") owned so many books that his personal library became the core of the Library of Congress when he sold it to the U.S. government.

Curiosity is an indispensable trait of the Renaissance Man. Through reading, personal experience and education, he seeks to know all he can about this world.

At the same time, for the Renaissance Man, an advanced education is overrated. As Albert Einstein put it, "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." Both Leonardo de Vinci and Benjamin Franklin received only basic educations in their youths, and it was only when they grew older that they got their hands on books and taught themselves history, literature, math, and more. With their curiosity driving them to attain knowledge, they each become a self-taught man (or autodidact).

While many people are naturally curious, that doesn't make them all Renaissance Men. The key is a "dynamic curiosity"—a curiosity that leads to an active pursuit of knowledge, a search for answers that leads to more questions, which leads to the pursuit of more knowledge, and so on—in other words: a hunger for learning. We may all be born with unlimited curiosity, but at some age, through family pressures or societal forces, the urge to explore our world is dampened and depleted in most of us. But not in the Renaissance Man.

Chapter Three

"A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people." - Mahatma Gandhi

The Renaissance Man does not live in an ivory tower, in a world of thought far removed from the everyday concerns of his society. Even Galileo had to work for a living, and he spent time in actual towers (including a particular leaning tower).

The Renaissance Man is immersed in his culture. Like Imhotep, he is engaged in his society's development, its goals and aspirations. Like Isaac Newton, he is well read, up-to-date, and interested in other people and places. He pays close attention to the politics of the day. He traces societal forces, sees trends in the arts, sciences, commerce, politics, and the media. He understands and appreciates both high culture and low. And he is more likely than not to see the opportunity in everything he sees and hears.

The Renaissance Man also understands culture to mean refinement and good taste. While he can make do with a loaf of bread or a bowl of rice, he enjoys the fruits of culture: he knows the pleasures of a fine meal of osso bucco over wild rice and a glass of perfectly aged Bordeaux.

And he is discerning—the Renaissance Man rarely engages in small talk just to pass the time. If he takes part in a conversation, he embraces it with his full attention. When he reads, he does not enjoy fluff as much as an in-depth article on a scientific or cultural discovery. The Renaissance Man is constantly pushing himself to experience more of his world.

While the Renaissance Man embodies his own culture, he knows it does not contain the sum of humanity's art and knowledge, or have all the answers. So he travels. He explores. Like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson did in their day, who sought to understand cultures other than their own. It is not unusual for the Renaissance Man to speak and read several languages. He not only values other cultures, but learns from them all he can.

Chapter Four

"When the brain is whole, the unified consciousness of the left and right hemispheres adds up to more than the individual properties of the separate hemispheres." -Roger Wolcott Sperry

Many people live their lives expressing themselves principally from one side of the brain or the other. The left brain is the domain of logic, numbers, of sequential thinking, of language, of organization and linearity. The right brain is the domain of creativity, artistic inspiration, intuition, visual art, and...